The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Unless requirements in Great Britain have changed in recent years, the only eye test one had to pass, was the ability to read a vehicle-registration plate at a prescribed minimum distance, which does not exclude those having tunnel-vision and/or clear-vision in only one eye, like my father, one of my cousins and a few other people of my acquaintance who hold driving licences. Having vision in only one eye, means that one does not have stereoscopic vision, which can seriously impair one’s ability to judge distance as well as halving one’s lateral range of peripheral vision, from circa 180 degrees to circa 90 degrees of arc. Tunnel vision poses an even greater hazard, which ought to exclude people from driving!

At the moment, so far as I am aware, there is no protocol for registering whether drivers need to wear spectacles or contact lenses when driving, which should be relatively simple to implement, by linking specific parts of the Department of Work & Pensions and NHS – National Health Service databases to the DVLA – Driver & Vehicle Licensing Authority driver database (i.e. National Insurance number, NHS number and Driver number), so that driving licence information automatically highlighted this requirement. I believe New Zealand driving licences already have an aided-vision feature, under the category of either normal or restricted licences.

https://nzta.govt.nz/driver-licences/ge ... explained/

https://nzta.govt.nz/driver-licences/ge ... uirements/

Good vision is essential to driving a vehicle safely. Most applications require proof your vision meets the standards for safe driving. This includes when you are:

• applying for a new licence class or endorsement
• renewing your licence
• reinstating your licence after a disqualification or suspension
• converting an overseas licence to a New Zealand licence.

If you’re replacing your licence, you won’t have to prove this again unless you would like to remove a condition stating you must wear glasses or contact lenses while driving.

You can provide a certificate or pass a check at an agent

You can prove that your eyesight is acceptable by:

• presenting an original eyesight certificate (no more than 60 days old), or
• presenting an original medical certificate (no more than 60 days old), or
• passing an eyesight check at a driver licensing agent.

You may take the eyesight test while wearing glasses or contact lenses.

Your licence will then have a condition that you must always wear these while driving.

If you try to pass the eyesight check at an agent and fail, you must provide a satisfactory eyesight or medical certificate. Your application won’t be completed (and you won’t get a licence) until you have provided the certificate.

You’ll need to prove that your eyesight meets the standards every time you renew or apply for any driver licence or endorsement.

Sight in only one eye can dramatically affect your ability to judge distance.

If you can only see out of one eye, or have only one eye, you must present an acceptable certificate confirming that you’re still safe to drive.

Certificates must be issued by a New Zealand registered optometrist or medical practitioner (doctor).

From the results of comprehensive, regular eyesight tests, one could also determine whether a night-time curfew (e.g. from half-hour before sunset to half-hour after sunrise) should be imposed on drivers of any age, whose night-vision was below par; something about which I wrote several years ago as follows:

Nigel A. Skeet, "Night-Blindness or Nyctalopia: An Insidious Driving Hazard", Letters to the Editor, Transporter Talk, Issue 112, April 2011, Pages 6~7.

Night-Blindness or Nyctalopia: An Insidious Driving Hazard

About 11½ years ago, being concerned about the hidden dangers of drivers having defective or marginal vision, I wrote the following item for the Volkswagen Type 2 Owners’ Club bi-monthly magazine Transporter Talk, of which I was then the “technical editor” (i.e. unpaid staff technical writer), which reads as follows:

Nigel A. Skeet, "Night-Blindness or Nyctalopia: An Insidious Driving Hazard", Letters to the Editor, Transporter Talk, Issue 112, April 2011, Pages 6~7.

At the tender age of 55, I recently went for a routine eye test, having not been retested for several years. As part of it, I underwent a detailed examination of my peripheral vision, which assessed each eye’s sensitivity to low-intensity light or lack thereof, over the full hemispherical range of one’s vision. This resulted in a printed paper chart, which illustrated the zones of high, medium, low & zero sensitivity to light, which would highlight any progressive deterioration in vision (i.e. glaucoma), if such had occurred.

The ophthalmologist confirmed, that my eyes appeared to be in good health, but expressed surprise that my extreme-peripheral vision, had retained high sensitivity, to low-intensity light, that he would normally associate with a much younger person. Perhaps this is why, I can still see well enough, to move about my home at night, using just the dimmed street lighting or full moonlight, filtering through the curtains.

This casual conversation, prompted me to think further, about age-related deterioration of night vision and the more extreme condition of night blindness (known formally as nyctalopia), which can profoundly affect one’s ability, to drive safely at night; recalling a brief letter, just over 15 years ago, in one of my VW magazines (i.e. Prof. P. D. Cook MBE, “Night Blind?”, Readers’ Letters, VW Motoring, February 1996, Page 20), highlighting this often unrecognised night-driving hazard.

« Now that dark evenings are here, I would bring to the notice of your readers the urgency of the problem of night blindness in motorists. Over the past few years, I have helped in numerous cases, where motorists have been charged with driving offences through their condition of night myopia, a problem of which they were unaware. My consultation and report, in some cases, has been able to save them from a custodial sentence, and for this they have been truly grateful. However, in view of the time involved in court appearances, I am no longer able to carry out this service. »

« In future therefore, the best way forward, is to test the motorist for night blindness before the accident occurs, is obviously a much more intelligent course of action and could save lives. The Night Vision Clinic, is open to all who make an appointment. The first step is to send a 9” x 6½” (i.e. about 230 mm x 165 mm), stamped addressed envelope, for an information pack, to: Prof. P. D. Cook, 78 Bollo Bridge Road, Acton, London, W3 8AU, England. »

Given that 26½ years has elapsed since Professor Cook’s letter was published, it’s debatable whether he still offers this service, or indeed whether he is still alive, but the Night Vision Clinic might still exist, which is probably somewhere in the London area; possibly at Moorfields’ Eye Hospital.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyctalopia

https://www.specsavers.co.uk/eye-health ... nyctalopia

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/s ... nyctalopia

https://www.news-medical.net/health/Wha ... lopia.aspx

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/me ... nyctalopia