A DRIVER WHO CAN’T SEE what’s happening is clearly a risk to all road users. And yet, authorities have shown little interest in testing drivers’ eyesight at regular intervals.
In Britain, as in Australia, eyesight tests for drivers are not compulsory, but one road safety organisation, GEM Motoring Assist, is calling on the British government to introduce compulsory eyesight testing for all drivers at regular intervals. We think it’s time the issue was addressed here as well.
According to GEM, a detailed test of a driver’s visual acuity and field of view should be required every ten years. Of course, eyesight can vary considerably over time, and some drivers have never had more of a test than “cover one eye and read the chart”.
Clearly, a system where a driver can read a number plate aged 17 and carry on driving for 50 years or more without any eyesight check whatsoever is outdated. In fact, I know of one example where a driver was involved in a serious accident, incurring significant head and other injuries. When he came out of the coma, he suffered double vision, serious headaches and other issues (one of which was one leg 2.5cm shorter than the other, but that’s another issue altogether). However, according to his licence, he was fully entitled to drive and didn’t have to undergo any testing to assess his capabilities. In fact, as he aged, his vision deteriorated until he suffered a form of tunnel vision. Despite this, he continued to hold a licence until he voluntarily surrendered it. Of course, these days a GP is required to report any issues that affect ability to drive, but in a case such as this, such a report may very likely not be made.
Quite apart from out-of-the-ordinary events that can affect a person’s ability to see clearly, vision can degrade sharply as we age. “We start to lose the ability to see things clearly,” explains UK optometrist Professor Steve Taylor. “Older drivers find it difficult to see clearly in low light conditions, but when there is plenty of light, they then have trouble with glare. Cataracts can affect your ability to see by cutting down the light intensity. If the cataract is in only one eye it can affect your ability to judge distances. Glaucoma causes losses in your visual field, creating blank spots in your vision where, for instance, a pedestrian could step out into a blind spot. Media changes spread the light, making it harder to see, and it takes you longer to recover, after a headlight has gone past, for example.”
In Australia, the same rules apply. The testing methodology is crude and outdated as it only measures visual acuity (sharpness). In the US, eye testing is more comprehensive, with many states also examining a driver’s field of view (how far out to the sides the vision goes) to check whether motorists can see and react to what’s happening around them.
So what do you think? Should eye tests be compulsory for drivers every ten years? Or is this simply another imposition on drivers?
If you’d like to learn more about issues affecting older drivers, retirement, health, superannuation, travel and much, much more, subscribe to YourLifeChoices (it’s free) at https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/ and listen to the podcast (including interviews with seniordriveraus) hosted by Kaye Fallick and John Deeks at https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/podcasts/mind-your-own-retirement
Yes eyes should be looked at every ten years. But older we get in our eighty’s we tend to forget that eyes are so bad and should done every year..
Thanks Mary. Your comment confirms what we keep saying: older drivers are responsible, even when it means more inconvenience for them. Drive safely.