TESTING OF DRIVERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23281, 25 February 1939, Page 16

TESTING OF DRIVERS

APPROVAL BY? OPTICIANS CENTRALISATION, OF LICENSING [ BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT I WELLINGTON, Frida.v Although no satisfactory conclusion could be arrived at, it was estimated that the number of accidents caused by defective vision was less than 3 per cent, said Mr. E. R. Boyd in a report on traffic regulations and visual requirements presented to the . annual conference of the Institute of Opticians of New Zealand, held in Wellington. "Members of the traffic sub-com-mittee paid a visit to the Wellington traffic department, and, through the courtesy of the officials, were permitted to investigate the equipment and method used to test the vision of applicants for driving licences," the report staged. "It watii found that the equipment was of a good type and the test was conducted under the best possible conditions. The standards contained in the regulations were strictly adhered to, and in cases where there was the, slightest doubt, applicants were referred to an optician, for a more accurate check "The question ot laxity in examinatiion in some of the smaller centres and towns wa.3 referred to, and members were assured that this would be eliminated by the grouping system then under consideration. Under this scheme all applicants within a certain area would be required to go through ft uniform test at the nearest central department, so that ultimately drivers' licences would be issued only by a very limited number of centres. "It was further discovered that where an applicant obtained a licence only by the use of glasses to bring his vision to the required standard, that fact was not endorsed on his personal licence, although it was recorded on the official register.