Dyslectics – a danger in traffic?

Researchers believe that dyslectics with motor-movement problems are more frequently involved in traffic accidents than drivers without such ailments. This hypothesis is now being tested. Photo: Rune Petter Ness

Dyslectics who suffer motor-movement problems seem to need more time to react in traffic than non-dyslectics. If this assumption is correct, then the consequences may be that dyslectics need to have additional driving lessons.

By Trond Oldertrøen

One in ten Norwegians suffer from dyslexia. Many also have motor-movement problems. No-one has ever investigated how this group of people function as drivers. Researchers think that it is likely that people from this group are more frequently involved in traffic accidents than are non-dyslectic drivers. This hypothesis is now to be tested. Senior lecturer Hermundur Sigmundsson, from the Centre of Technology and Society at NTNU, is in charge of this pioneering project about traffic safety in collaboration with Oxford University in England.
Researchers at Oxford University seem to have found the neurological cause of dyslexia. The nerve cells which send visual information from the eyes to the visual area in the cerebral cortex, transfer this information more slowly in dyslectics than in other people. As a result, dyslectics have problems in perceiving rapid changes in their surroundings. Sigmundsson therefore believes that there is every reason to suspect that this group of people will encounter difficulties in negotiating traffic.
– Very few of us will ever experience a situation in which our surroundings are more rapidly changing that in traffic. It therefore follows that the ability to perceive rapid changes in the environment is of great importance for the individual driver, and thus for traffic safety in general.

Need more time to react
If Sigmundsson’s research team finds that its hypothesis is correct, this might have major consequences for driving schools.
– More driving lessons or, possibly, a ban on driving might be the result, says the researcher. He emphasizes, however, that the intention is not to bar drivers who suffer from motor-movement problems.
– It is quite possible to improve reaction times by means of focused training of the visual system or through more experience of real traffic situations.
The conclusion of this investigation will not be available before next summer.

Pilot project
In view of the fact that every tenth Norwegian suffers from dyslexia, and that many of these individuals also have motor-movement problems, Sigmundsson was quite surprised to find that there had never before been a study of this sort in Norway. Nor has there been much research internationally on the connection between traffic safety and visual processing of information, says the researcher, who has been working with motor-movement problems since 1995.
A sample of about 50 to 100 people will participate in the project. The reactions of these people will be tested while driving a simulator at SINTEF. Then they will go through two neuro-physiological tests, both of which have been developed by Oxford University. The first test will measure the subject’s ability to perceive rapid changes in his or her surroundings, while the second one will be more like a control test. The aim is to map out the individual’s capacity for visual-information processing.
The project is financed by the Public Roads Authority.

Contact at NTNU: Hermundur Sigmundsson
Tel: +47 73 59 06 17
Email: hermundurs@svt.ntnu.no