Choosing a car and adaptations

As a bioptic driver – how did I decide on a car choice and adaptions?

Now that I am a bioptic driver in Australia, I am often asked how I decided on a car choice and whether I made any adaptions to the car to support the driving task. So here is a blog on these matters. If you have suggestions and tips feel free to add comments below! I am always looking for new tech to improve the driving experience and safety.

Choosing a car

After getting my learner licence in July 2016, I started to learn to drive in a Nissan Navara 4x4 dual cab ute as that was my partners car at the time. It was a large vehicle with lots of blind spots. I had a reversing camera installed to assist with reversing and parking, it helped, but altermately after driving in smaller cars with instructors and finding them easy to drive I realized learning to drive in this vehicle will take me much longer to get things perfect than in a smaller car. My instructor would say if I learnt to drive in that car then I would be able to drive any car! In retrospect, now I have been driving my small car for over two years I have reduced confidence in driving my partner’s large dual cab ute but I continue to drive it from time to time to keep my skill set in touch with the larger vehicle.

I wanted my own car that was my car to learn to drive and the car I would be sitting my test for the Provisional licence and to use everyday. Having that second car meant my partner or other people with an open drivers licence could sit with me to drive. After taking driving lessons in a Hyundai i30 and Toyota Yaris, I wanted something in-between. It had to be small enough to be easy to park with not too many blind spots and not too small to lack safety and comfort features. I wanted something that had the best safety features I could afford. I was aiming for $10-15,000. But importantly, the car had to fit my road bike and mountain bike (not both at once though!) so I could drive to bunch ride meeting points, criterion racing and mountain bike parks.

With this I researched vehicles in this range in the second hand market. We spent several weekends going to car yards and test driving many different cars including new cars as I had my eye on the Suzuki Swift that was on sale. The day I arrived to test drive a Toyota Yaris at Gold Creek Motors in Gunghalin I saw a little white car behind the fence that was not there the last few times we visited so took it for a drive too. I was drawn to it as I always wanted a white car. My thinking is that white cars are easier for other drivers to see and cheaper insurance premiums. After the test drives and taking each car home to see if my bikes fit in the boot with the seats down – I bought the white Ford Fiesta! I was very pleased to learn it has five airbags and had a year and half warranty left! The car yard dropped it off to my place the next day.

From time to time I do drive my partner's car a Ford Ranger Wildtrack. Because I do not drive it regularly I'm not confident driving it. But it helps that it has some awesome features that compensate for its size, such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, forward collision alert, parking sensors and reversing camera. Here is a picture of me driving this car.






Here is a video of me driving this car. The trip was about an hour from Goulburn to Canberra. This car has a lot of adaptive features that make for easy driving. The mirrors are very big so I do not need to add blind spot mirrors.

Car adaptations

Lets face it, the world is built for 4 out of 5 people of the population without disability. So its reasonable adaptations are made to remove disability barriers to support participation. This is exactly what I am doing here. Sure, I can drive a car without these adaptations but adding them in my view frees up the cognitive processing to allow me to concentrate on observation skills.

Many people believe the reason older drivers have more accidents is because of failing eye sight. This is not supported by the research. Such misinformation also contributes to the stigma faced by all low vision drivers. The issue for older drivers is reduced cognitive processing with age. The reason the driver does not see the car in their blind spot is that they do not turn their head to look enough because cognitively they are consumed with what is happening in front of them. Thus in my view it makes sense to support these drivers with adaptions around freeing up cognitive processing for the driving task as this might allow them to experience the independence of driving longer. Getting back to low vision drivers, a 2005 International Council of Ophthalmology report states that people with vision as low as legally blind be given individual consideration for driving and include extra tests such as cognitive, functional and on road tests. In addition to the below on car adaptations, extra training supports low vision and older drivers such as those I talk about in my post about what I have learnt about safe driving practices.

As a new driver I wanted to adapt my car with features that would support safe driving practices. Here are the adaptions I made and why.

Blind spot mirrors

Blind spot mirror sitting on top of driver side mirror

Blind spot mirrors sit on top of the mirrors and allow me to see almost all around my car. I love these! They were recommended by my first driving instructor who was a disability driving instructor in NSW.

These are the ones I use but there are many others to choose (Medium Hercules Auxiliary Wide Angle Side View Blind Spot Mirror):
https://www.autobarn.net/her01205.html

If you are interested in something like this, do your research on what option might suit you best. You may know that many non-disabled drivers buy a stick on blind spot dot mirror that is placed on the bottom corner of each side mirror. For me this is too small as I cannot distinguish the detail easily for comfort of use.

Digital heads-up speedo display

Digital heads up display showing '0' on windscreen. The unit can be seen attached to the dash matt on the dash. Under the dash matt is a foam sponge cut as a wedge to prop up the unit so the image on the screen is not distorted.

As I cannot see the analogue speedo to make a clear reading of my speed I installed a digital heads-up display. The unit sits on my dash and an opaque silver sticker is placed on the windscreen that makes the numbers have more contrast.

There are many types of models available. I wanted one that had the biggest possible number display with the highest contrast possible and the quickest user input to output display. The model I have is now discontinued but I bought it from Supercheap Auto for about $100. Importantly I wanted one that plugs into the OBDI port as that runs from the engine. I did not want a GPS model as there is a lag from user input to output display and relies on GPS availability.

In using a heads up display I found sometimes it is difficult to see, particularly when driving towards the sun. Thus I put in strategies to compensate. These include changing my driving route at certain times of the day or using cruise control. After driving for a couple of years I can judge my speed with relative accuracy and can maintain speed with other vehicles – where this is a short distance and I am familiar with the route.

I always make concerted efforts to ensure I am at or below the speed limit. This can be complicated in areas with multiple speed limits on one road or road works or unfamiliar areas. Later I'll post a blog about how manage this because there are techniques you can employ to improve your chances of maintaining accurate speed monitoring.

Here is a link to a similar model:
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/gps-car-audio/car-audio-accessories/scosche/scosche-heads-up-display-for-obdii-port/498297/

Dash Matt

Another issue with the placement of the unit on the dash is it needs something to attach. Also, the dark dash reflects back onto the back of the windscreen, more so at certain times of the day. To address these I bought a customised dash matt and no more issues! Here is a link to where I got my matt:
https://www.fitmycar.com/au/dash-mats

Parking sensors

Digital display of parking sensors

As a new driver I wanted front and rear parking sensors installed so I can learn to judge distances when parking – but not totally rely on them. Most new cars come with these even on the base model of cars but my 2015 model did not and even though people said my car is small so I don’t need them I still wanted them installed. I’m glad I did because I love that I can park in really tight places and my ability to judge is getting better.



The model I chose has both visual and voice output. In the picture you see 0.6 on the display along with a line flashing at the corner that is 60 centermeters near an object. It also beeps and says verbally to me "point six meters".

This unit is stuck to my windscreen on top of my rear view mirror. There are four round parking senses placed on the back bumper bar and four placed on the front bumper bar.

Here is a link to where I purchased the sensors and they also install them and match your paint:
http://www.thecarkitcompany.com.au/products/parking-sensors.html

Dash cam

Dash cam

Lastly, the video dash cam shows both through my front windscreen and on me as it is a dual channel dash cam. It also has ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist Safety) features such as forward collision alert. However I found those features didn’t work well for me and distracting so turned them all off. If I had to choose again, I would choose a simple model without extra features (like extra cost!).

As part of my cabin drill routine for starting the car and turning it off I plug in and pull out the dash cam from the cigarette lighter port. That way the camera is always on when I am driving. I have two high capacity memory cards that I exchange from time to time. The dash cam rewrites when it reaches the end of the card. I have to keep an eye on them as sometimes the device states the card needs formatting. If that doesn’t work, I format the card using a program on my computer.

From time to time I’ve captured some ordinary driving behaviour including pulling in front of me, being brake jacked on the freeway, driving in the bike lane. I also periodically check on my driving videos to analyse ways I may be able to improve my driving practices. The main reason though I had this installed is to protect myself. As a bioptic driver that difference would be used against me should there be an accident involving me. The cam means I know I am always on video and that keeps me honest to be the best driver I can be. It also means I catch others puting my life and other people's life in danger and if I am blamed for an accident I have the footage for the record.

Suggest you do research on what model would work for your needs and budget. Here is a review I found that might get you started:
https://www.dashcamownersaus.com.au/buying/buying-guides/choosing-a-dash-cam/


I hope this information is helpful for anyone looking to consider how they can apply technology to their car to support safe driving practices.

What modifications have you made to your car? I’m always interested to learn about tech that may help.