Most people know that dyslexia can cause reading difficulties, but how many know that dyslexia can have an adverse effect on driving skills?
30% Longer
These results are bound to cause some controversy as people wonder whether it's safe to allow people with dyslexia to get behind the wheel. According to the study, the reaction time of those with dyslexia is 30% longer than for the typical driver. In the UK, drivers who just exceed the drinking limit of two pints of beer, tend to have a 10% longer reaction time. Experts are wondering if those with dyslexia should undergo testing beyond standard driving tests before receiving driver's licenses.
Simulated Roads
Hermundur Sigmundsson of Trondheim's Norwegian University of Science and Technology administered two tests to a group of 17 volunteers, including six individuals with dyslexia. The first test had the participants drive for 4 minutes along a simulated rural road at 50-80 kilometers an hour. The second task required the volunteers to drive on simulated city roads at lower speeds for10 minutes.
Traffic Signs
As the participants drove, a simulator flashed traffic signs within the drivers' visual field. The drivers were asked to respond to these signs by pushing a button or saying the word, "Now," and their response times were recorded. When driving in the rural road simulation, the signs were located straight ahead, while during the urban simulation, the signs appeared in random locations.
Delayed Reactions
During the rural road simulation, the 6 dyslexic drivers needed an average of 0.13 seconds longer to react than did the non-dyslexic participants, and took 0.19 seconds longer to react while using the more complex urban simulation. In both the urban and rural simulations, the control group—the non-dyslexic participants—needed 0.6 seconds to respond. This means that the drivers with dyslexia experienced a delay of 20%-30% reaction time.
Sensory Information
These results jibe with earlier studies in which dyslexia was found to affect the method by which the brain processes sensory information. Those with dyslexia are known, for instance, to be clumsy as children, and are often later in achieving developmental milestones such as crawling, walking, or riding a bike when compared with their more typical peers.
Cellphone Usage
The UK has banned certain activities known to slow a driver's reactions. Drunk-driving has long been illegal and cellphone usage while driving has also been outlawed. Cellphone usage while driving has been found to slow a driver's reaction by 45%.
Issue Warnings
But driving impairment expert Oliver Carsten from the UK's University of Leeds says that it isn't sensible to outlaw driving while dyslexic. Carsten says it makes better sense to issue a warning to dyslexic drivers rather than forbidding them to drive. Meanwhile Sigmundsson says that larger studies must be performed to confirm his results before taking any action regarding the dyslexic population and driving.
Other Factors
A spokeswoman for the UK's Department for Transport specified that reaction time is just one cognitive function used while driving. Furthermore, quick reaction time has not been found to be a good predictor of driving excellence. Young drivers in their teens, for instance, have shorter reaction times but tend toward more accidents due to overconfidence. Drunk drivers have other impairments in addition to their slowed reaction times. Their peripheral vision may be impaired so that they cannot see objects on their periphery. They also tend to be more aggressive when driving.
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