Mobility4all: Slow motorised traffic for visually impaired people.

Mobility impairments have huge impact on quality of life for both social and economical reasons [R1-R4, P1]. This application addresses the fitness to participate in slow motorised traffic (8-50 km/h) in partially sighted people. The existence of a visual impairment might limit the practical use of slow motorised vehicles, like a mobility scooter (8-25 km/h; 5-15 miles/h) or a micro car (45 km/h; 30 miles/h) and hence restrict mobility. Since there are no legal restrictions with respect to vision for driving a mobility scooter or a micro car, visually impaired people are free to use these vehicles. Nevertheless, many people with visual impairments contact one of the rehabilitation centres with specific questions about this subject, indicating that they experience limitations with respect to participation in slow motorised traffic. For improvement of rehabilitation services it is important to have good knowledge of these limitations and to gain insight in the relevant visual function parameters required for safe participation in slow motorised traffic. To achieve this, our proposed study consists of two parts: The first part is an experimental study with 80 visually impaired volunteers and 40 controls in a driving simulator. In this part of the study we focus on the influence of visual function parameters on practical driving performance at various speeds, while controlling for. cognitive and motor performance and the capacity to compensate for loss of visual function. The second part is an observational cohort study in which we follow all clients that contact one of the rehabilitation centres of Royal Dutch Visio or Bartiméus with specific questions regarding participation in slow motorised traffic. In this cohort we identify the actual barriers that are experienced to use a slow motorised vehicle and record the rehabilitation intervention that is provided as well as the resulting outcomes. For both parts of the study we take the International Classification of Functioning, disability and health (ICF) as a starting point [A1-A2]. In this ICF-model (visual) functions, facilitators and barriers with respect to independent participation in slow motorised traffic can be ordered. Our project investigates the involved function parameters as well as the relevant personal and environmental factors, to accomplish an evidence-based advice on the best choice of slow motorised vehicle and safe speed. Eventually, this should lead to removing the practical barriers for driving a slow motorised vehicle, optimization of individual independent mobility options and improvement of social participation.