Vision test for drivers

Press, 1 September 1982, Page 12

Vision test for drivers

PA Wellington Increasing evidence of the contribution of eye defects to road accidents has prompted the Better Vision Institute to call for five-yearly eye tests for all drivers. British research at the Transport and Road Research Laboratory has indicated that eye defects are the greatest contributors to vision-related road accidents, according to the institute's latest journal.

“The role visual failure plays in traffic accidents is difficult to determine, but New Zealand traffic experts now consider that it may play a greater part than previously realised," the institute said.

An Auckland survey had showed that out of 400 people aged between 20 and 60 at least 100 would not have reached the vision standard required by a driving examination.

A school of thought exists which believes that fiveyearly tests are well overdue, the institute said. The Ministry of Transport's director of road transport, Mr W. Shearer, said that all decisions on eye tests were made after consultation with medical experts. It was on the profession’s advise that compulsory eye tests for the over 50s were introduced in 1967, he said.