New Eye Test Rules To Affect Drivers

Thursday, 12. February 2009

New legislation is to be introduced in 2011 regarding the eyesight of drivers. The legislation was passed in 2006 and is set to come into force by member countries in 2011. It is expected that the new legislation will lead to earlier detection of cataracts, glaucoma and other disorders as well as prevent accidents. The Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (FMO) explained that drivers will have to get their eyes tested every 5 years for a commercial licence and every ten to fifteen years for a private licence. The individual countries can apply specific rules where they may want drivers to be tested more frequently as a result of medical issues, being new drivers or over 50. The new driving licences, which will be standard throughout the EU, will identify to the police, when stopped, that the driver should wear glasses or contact lenses. The new directive splits drivers into two groups those that can see and those that can’t, only joking, they will be tested for mental and physical fitness, distance visual acuity (monocular and binocular), visual fields and a red/green colour test. The two groups will be private drivers and professional drivers with the private driver requirements obviously less stringent than the professional driver requirement. They estimate that 10-15% of road accidents will be avoided with the introduction of the compulsory eye tests. For more information on the application in the UK you can obtain a guide from Specsavers Corporate Eyecare by phoning 01481 232486. By Graham Hill