Drivers lacking awareness of vision requirements

Better screening and greater public awareness of the importance of vision to driver performance are needed to improve road safety in the UK, a leading international authority on vision, ageing and driving has told Optician.

Speaking after her keynote lecture at the College of Optometrists’ Optometry Tomorrow conference earlier this month (News, 13.03.15), Professor Joanne Wood criticised the onus being on the patient to self-report changes to their vision.

She said: ‘Self-reporting of visual problems is wrong because it could potentially put people off going to the optometrist. If they don’t know whether they have a problem they have nothing to declare. It shouldn’t be up to patients – they should have appropriate vision testing.’