Vision is key to safe driving

The single biggest factor in vehicle safety isn't the latest technology, air bags, electronics or driver skill. According to Dr. Philip Hessburg, chairman of the internationally recognized The Eye and the Auto symposium and president of the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, the single biggest factor in vehicle safety is the driver's vision, which provides motorists more than 90 percent of the information used to drive.

Reduced visibility is a factor in 42 percent of all vehicle crashes, and safety research reveals collision risk usually increases by 50 to 100 percent during precipitation.

Much of the elevated risk during rainfall appears to be related to visibility, since collision rates quickly return to near normal after the rain has stopped, even if roads continue to be wet. Snowfall has an even greater effect than rainfall on collision occurrence.

"The primary inputs for most of your driving decisions are related to what you see," said Hessburg. "Virtually everything comes to your brain through your eyes."

Some examples of primary visual inputs include:

+Turning, merging and changing lanes. +Recognizing the presence of pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcycles. +Traffic and road conditions.

One of the easiest ways to help drivers' vision is also one of the least expensive solutions: checking and replacing worn wiper blades with new blades.

"There is no excuse for knowingly reducing your driving vision with worn or poorly maintained wiper blades," said Hessburg. "The costs are very low and the benefits of better vision are very high."

This story is provided by North American Precis Syndicate Inc.