By 2025, the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) wants to implement age-restricted licenses for elderly drivers.
The dullness of it all, however, is only half the story. The exciting part is how they’ll decide who gets to keep their license: virtual reality.
A three-year research program has been launched as of Monday, which will use VR technology to see whether drivers aged 65 years and older can operate a vehicle. The project’s overall cost is expected to be around $3 million (3.6 billion won).
Why now?
South Korea does not impose any particular restrictions on senior drivers’ licenses, contrary to the laws of other countries throughout the world.
The expiration of a driver’s license under the Graduated Licensing Program is now determined by two criteria: the three-year license renewal period for individuals age 75 and older, and the optional return of the driver’s license to those over 65 years old.
The KNPA, on the other hand, has raised concerns about the number of incidents linked to senior drivers and the country’s aging population.
According to police records:
- In comparison to drivers in their 30s, drivers over the age of 65 are 1.86 times more likely to be involved in a traffic accident.
- The senior age group is responsible for 2.75 percent of all induced deaths, which is the highest percentage among all age groups.
- Between 2008 and 2018, the number of seniors holding a driver’s license has risen by 300% (from 1 million to 3 million).
According to the researchers who are involved in the research, key safety concerns have been highlighted, such as the fact that vision declines with age, particularly when there isn’t enough light — for example, while driving at night.
What will VR be used for?
A virtual reality headset will be used to assess driving, cognitive, and memory functions very similarly to howvirtual reality technology is utilized in dementia clinics to evaluate the brain activities of older individuals.
It’s been revealed that the new system will be utilized with a similar academic research by separate experts, which has completed an experiment testing out virtual reality technology as a way to assess driving performance.
The researchers carried out driving simulator tests to determine the participants’ visual capability under a variety of driving circumstances and conditions in order to assess their attention.
Three unanticipated events were devised to put the drivers’ abilities to the test in virtual simulations. Two situations were simulated: daytime highway driving and nighttime highway driving. As you can see below, three unexpected circumstances were created …….
Source: https://bestgamingpro.com/south-korea-tests-virtual-reality-to-determine-who-can-keep-driving/