1 2 A Call for New Transportation License Test Reforms Sandy H. Straus ESRA Consulting Corporation to The Department of Transportation Washington, D.C

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A Call for New Transportation License

Test Reforms Sandy H. Straus

ESRA Consulting Corporation

to The Department of Transportation

Washington, D.C.28 September 2005

© Copyright 2005 ESRA Consulting Corporation. All rights reserved.

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•Neither ESRA Consulting Corporation (ESRA), its affiliates, its associates, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. References herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by ESRA or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of ESRA or any agency thereof. This report is for informational purposes only. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information contained herein with other sources. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by physicians. Reliance on any information in this report is solely at your own risk. ESRA Consulting Corporation is not responsible or liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary, or other damages arising from any use of any product, information, idea, or instruction contained in this report and all publications and presentations and/ or implementations therefrom. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from ESRA Consulting Corporation. All materials © Copyright 2005 ESRA Consulting Corporation. All rights reserved.

ESRA Consulting Corporation Disclaimer

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•Notice is hereby provided that a patent application has been filed

on one or more of the systems and methods described herein.

• Notice is hereby provided that ESRA may be involved in development and/ or marketing of products in the systems and/ or methods described herein.

• In the event that consideration is given to any component in the system described herein in which ESRA may have a marketing arrangement or other involvement, at the time of such consideration, full disclosure will made.

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OUTLINE Goal

Motivation Objective Methodologies Visual Acuity, Vision ESRA DAT™ and ESRA DVAT™ Driving simulators Relative Accident Involvement Ratio Bathtub curves Recommendations Conclusions

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GOAL

To develop an efficient balance between safety and security to ensure the utmost quality of our nation’s transportation infrastructure.

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•Inadequate and inaccurate current license testing technologies.

•No comprehensive license testing methods exist in other transport sectors.

MOTIVATION

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Promote safety through:

• automated testing.

• improved vision screening techniques.

OBJECTIVES

Photo © Copyright 2005 Systems Technology, Inc.

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1. Collect and analyze collision data.

2. Survey all motor vehicle directors.

3. Present design of an experimental automated test system.

4. Highlight the significance of vision screening measures other than standard visual acuity.

METHODOLOGIES

Photo © 2004 United States National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health

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None of the vision testing equipment

currently in use:

• screen licensees for vision and cognition problems.

• promote road safety. • reduce collisions, injuries,

and fatalities.

CURRENT STATE OF THE ART

Photo modified from http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/accident_story/3-5-04.html

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•a measure of the ability to visually distinguish fine details.

•accounts for less than 0.1%of the visual field (Fink and Sadun, 2003).

VISUAL ACUITY


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•Vision measures other than standard acuity needed for assessing at-risk drivers.

•Our systems promote older drivers to safely operate motor vehicles longer.

VISION


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TRADITIONAL SNELLEN-TYPE

CHARTS• typically conducted in normal

light conditions. • unable to detect eye diseases

and dementia.• Alzheimer’s Disease and

dementia linked with visual acuity under low luminance.Photo © 2004 United States National Eye Institute, National

Institutes of Health

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Normal Vision

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Age-Related Macular

Degeneration

Diabetic Retinopat

hy

Cataracts Glaucoma

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What do these diseases now have in common?


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No license test screening component for Glaucoma or Age-Relate Macular Degeneration (AMD), two of the fastest growing diseases that can result in vision loss.


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• antiquated 1937 visual standards.• 1925 report approved by the

American Medical Association.• widespread implementations and

modifications of the Snellen Eye Chart of the 1860s.

Current MVD Vision Standards:

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HEALTH INSURANCE STATUS

•More than 80 million Americans lacked health insurance (American Public Health Association, 2002- 2003).

•Many drivers are not aware that they suffer with vision loss, visual impairment, or cognitive impairments.Photo © Copyright 1983 Center for

Disease Control.

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HEALTH INSURANCE STATUS

• In the USA, it is illegal to operate a vehicle without a license and insurance.

• It is not illegal to lack health insurance.

Photo © Copyright 1983 Center for Disease Control.

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We call for a radical departure from the traditional and inadequate testing currently in place.

TEST RECOMMENDATION


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•Bye-bye, long lines. Hello, ESRA. ™

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We proudly introduce the

ESRA Dynamic

Vision Assessment for Transportation™

DVAT™ © Copyright 2005 ESRA Consulting Corporation. All rights reserved.

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Automated vision function test

Automated vision condition test

Driving simulator vision status test

Computer network to allow for complete computer automation features, tests, score reports, records, and databases


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We also proudly introduce

ESRA Dynamic

Assessment for Transportation™

DAT™



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ESRA Dynamic Assessment for Transportation™ (ESRA DVAT™)

Vision attention/ cognition test

Knowledge, safety, laws, and identification test

Operation skills test

Computer network to allow for complete computer automation features, tests, score reports, records, and databases



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•May be beneficial to novice licensees.

•May be useful for screening at-risk licensees and others with dementia, especially Alzheimer’s Disease.

ESRA DAT™ DRIVING

SIMULATORS*


Safety studies and potential liability issues need to be addressed for all driving simulator usage as discussed in “New, Improved, Comprehensive, and Automated Driver’s License Test and Vision Screening System” by Sandy H. Straus.

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ESRA DAT ™ DRIVING SIMULATORS FEATURES

–weather and light conditions.

–Self-customization driving scenarios.

–simulated visibility and contrast reduction due to

fog, rain, and snow.


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ESRA DVAT™ and DAT™

•cost-effective.•objective.•environmentally

friendly. • long line reductions.

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We used RAIR to quantify millions of collisions among Arizona and Florida drivers of all ages through databases of two-vehicle accidents.

RELATIVE ACCIDENTINVOLVEMENT RATIO

Photo modified from http://www.daihatsu.com/motorshow/geneva05/sirion/bigimg/safety/img/02.jpg

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(D1 i,j /ΣΣD1 i,j )

RAIR i,j = ___________

(D2 i,j /ΣΣD2 i,j )Where: i = type of drivers; j = type of conditionsD1 i,j = number of at-fault drivers of driver type i for type j conditions.

D2 i,j = number of not-at-fault drivers

of driver type i for type j conditions.

RAIR CALCULATION


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•RAIR Age 80 to 89 years most likely at-fault in collisions compared to all other age cohorts.

•RAIR Ages 50 to 59 years most likely at-fault in environmental factors and manner of collisions.

RAIR CONCLUSIONS


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These results are consistent among drivers cited for collision involvement due to visual defects.

RAIR VISUAL DEFECT

CONCLUSIONS


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Drivers ages 80 to 89 years are about twice as likely to be at-fault when compared to the cohorts ages 16 to 19 years in several categories of collisions.

RAIR OLDER DRIVER

CONCLUSIONS


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We find that many of our results follow reliability engineering principles based on bathtub curves.

RAIR BATHTUB CURVE

CONCLUSIONS


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Failure rate

Early Failure Period

Wear out Failure PeriodUseful

Life Period

time• f(t)= b θ(θtt)b-1 exp [-(e(θb)b - θtb –

1)] • for b> 0, θ > 0, t > 0

Bathtub CurveFAILURE PROBABILITY DENSITY

FUNCTION


Begins at age 50

years. Begins at age 20

years.

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• where:

• b = shape parameter,• t= time,• θ= scale parameter

• f(t)= b θ(θtt)b-1 exp [-(e(θb)b - θtb – 1)]

• for b> 0, θ > 0, t > 0

FAILURE PROBABILITY DENSITY FUNCTION

DEFINITIONS


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Develop a new vision standard for driver’s license issuance and renewal.

VISION STANDARD RECOMMENDATION

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Ensure that the ESRA DAT™ or ESRA DVAT™ system provides:

• instant scoring. •short and effective on-site

testing. •score reports linked by

network.•bilingual capabilities.

RECOMMENDATION

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ADDITIONAL FEATURES RECOMMENDATION

The ESRA DVAT™, and ESRA DAT™ can incorporate other features:

• biometrics, • automated written tests, • and/ or cognition skills tests.

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MEDICAL RECOMMENDATION

• Combine forces with medical agencies and officials, as well as other transport licensing bureaus, on developing a method of assessing scores submitted through the ESRA DAT™ and ESRA DVAT™ Systems.

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Shorten the periods between driver’s license issuance and renewal for vision testing, in particular for:

LICENSE TESTING RECOMMENDATION

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•Drivers age 15-19 years (every two years).•Drivers age 50-70 years (every two years).•Drivers age 70 years and

over (every one year).•All other drivers (every four

years).

TESTING RECOMMENDATIONS

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We call for new and uniform federal visual standards and vision tests in all the United States.

VISUAL STANDARD RECOMMENDATION


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A completely automated system can be used to identify all licensees, irrespective of their residency. This would simplify the licensure process and paperwork.

AUTOMATED SYSTEM RECOMMENDATION


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FEDERAL VISUAL STANDARD

RECOMMENDATION

Federal visual standards would also eliminate those who may not visually or cognitively qualify for a license in one state from obtaining a license in another state.

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•Federal visual standards support similar recommendations as these relate to driver's licenses and other documents introduced through the 9/11 Commission and by the McCain-Lieberman bill introduced in the U.S. Senate, The Intelligence Reform Bill, and H.R. 418.

FEDERAL VISUAL STANDARD RECOMMENDATION


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•New vision screening methodologies and standards are now needed to:•promote safety, •predict visual impairment, and •evaluate possible restriction or confiscation of transportation licenses.

CONCLUSIONS

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•Self-assessment tools, education courses, and, e.g., driving skill programs can only complement the new ESRA transportation license test designs and reforms.

CONCLUSIONS

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•Safe, improved, and comprehensive testing is now needed.

•ESRA automated systems and methodologies will ultimately benefit all sectors of transportation.

TESTING CONCLUSIONS


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These ESRA systems and procedures may also reduce the incidence of fraud as these relate to license issuances such as hazardous materials transport.

HAZMAT CONCLUSION

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•The ESRA DAT™ may be the first of its kind in any transportation agency in the world to implement the most sophisticated technology available.

ESRA DAT™ CONCLUSIONS

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•New policies are now needed at the federal and state levels to immediately implement transportation license test designs and reforms as envisaged by ESRA.

FINAL CONCLUSION

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• Please refer to the ESRA reports,

SPR 559: New, Improved, Comprehensive, and Automated

Driver's License Test and Vision Screening System

FHWA-AZ-04-559(1) for further information, including the

safety and research of these products and others. These reports are downloadable at: http://www.esracorp.com

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With special thanks to:• Arizona Transportation Research Center

•Arizona Department of Transportation

•Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles

•United States Department of Transportation

•Federal Highway Administration

•Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

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1650 South Dixie Highway, Third Floor

Boca Raton, Florida 33432

USA

Telephone: ( 5 6 1) 3 6 1 – 0 0 0 4

http://www.esracorp.com

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Documents

1 2 A Call for New Transportation License Test Reforms Sandy H. Straus ESRA Consulting Corporation to The Department of Transportation Washington, D.C