Driving Vision Tests

The task of car driving requires a licence application, multisensory integration, good health, visual acuity, peripheral vision, practical experience(per log book). The RTA requires a practical driving test for a learner driver or sometimes for licence renewal. The service centre’s testing officer or driving school can assess hazard perception and road rules. Optometry Australia’s 2020 Vision Index found 20 per cent of Australians between the ages of 35 and 54 find it difficult to read road signs. Specifically, 15 per cent of all Australians admit squinting to see while driving during the day while 59 per cent of all Australians are worried about the overall quality of their eyesight.
Legal vision requirements for driving are hard to enforce because of the difficulty in assessing people’s eyesight while they are in the car. Research has shown significant numbers of drivers do not meet vision requirements
Rather than Police officers asking drivers to read a road sign, mobile devices held up to a person’s forehead, showing illuminated letters, replicating the standard six-metre reading test done by optometrists are sometimes done. Drivers’ eyesight on the side of the road is not standardised.
There are enforcement issues as it is known large numbers of people admit to not wearing glasses to drive when they should.
There is a long period from when most people get their drivers licence to the time they finish driving, so regular eye tests are essential.
Some cars are even equipped with “eyesight” software to control braking and steering when collision potential arises
Drivers aged 65 and over represent large segments of all Australian road fatalities. Under new proposals, any driver could be obliged to undergo random roadside eyesight tests given vision impairment can affect people of all ages. Driver licences in most states nominate whether a driver should be wearing glasses. Police can check this during routine stops – there is no mechanism in place to catch people with failing eyesight, unless they need to repeat a vision test after losing their licence, or allowing it to lapse.
If you’re able to see 6/12 without glasses, then you won’t require a conditional licence. If you’re only able to see 6/12 or above with glasses, then the ‘S’ condition will be added to your licence. Generally speaking, you should be able to read a standard car licence plate from about 20 metres away. If you as an average person can see a road sign at 250m away, somebody who is not meeting the legal driving standard won’t see that sign until they are 100m away or closer. Reaction times are less as you are effectively driving above the speed limit. Sometimes, people outside the legal limit will be permitted to operate even with correctional lenses on. Still, only under certain conditions, for example, they can only go during daylight hours or within a specified radius of their home, but this is dependent on individual circumstances.
Some Australian states allow for self-declaration – otherwise, you have your vision checked when you’re 16 and getting your first licence, and then the next time in your 60s, 70s or 80s, depending on the state. In South Australia and the Northern Territory, optometrists report people driving with inappropriate vision to the transport authorities. In other states, it is not mandatory, but an optometrist can do it to promote road safety. Ideally, eye tests should occur for licence renewal, or every 1-2 years age depending on age. The penalties for driving in breach of licence condition S (visual aids required) vary from state to state.
Other conditions like glaucoma (which affects the side or peripheral vision) often do not have symptoms. So many cases are undiagnosed and suffering from this condition, as is the case with diabetes. People often can be blinded by the sun or dirty windscreens, so appropriate spectacle lenses and filters are required.
By day, wearing sunglasses also allows better vision by night because the rhodopsin chemical allowing dark adaption and better contrast sensitivity is not depleted by being bleached out from the bright disabling light.
The sun is also the primary source of harmful blue light which can adversely affect the eye e.g. cataracts and macular degeneration and hence on driver safety.
Drivers have a duty of care to ensure their health, including eye health, is as good as possible. Reasonable care must be taken so actions would be unlikely to injure neighbours, passengers and pedestrians.
More than 480,000 people aged over 40 in Australia whose vision is currently too low for them to drive legally. Over three-quarters of these people could have their vision corrected quickly with a pair of glasses or contact lenses.
The examination findings for a driver’s licence determine Y/N that the standard for unconditional approval is met. Vehicle drivers and car manufacturers have become very focused on safety, and rightly so.
Most are concerned about their car’s abilities but don’t think about the major influential factor in crashes: human error, significantly if reaction time reduced due to poor focusing.
We prescribe the appropriate driving glasses, eyeglasses or contact lenses so driving is safer, more exact and more comfortable and can certify your vision as safe to drive. Some types of transitions lenses are not ideal for driving conditions.

Safe for night driving
XTRActive Polarized
XTRActive New generation
Transitions GEN 8

Not suitable for night driving
XTRActive style mirrors
Transitions Drivewear

Sunglasses are not suitable for night driving
Day driving – Polarized sunglasses are an option
XTRActive Polarized does not Polarize behind a car windscreen

XTRActive Polarized has a slight tint which is usually barely noticeable,as higher indexes and coatings per lower Abbe number can also show some have tint so a 1.67 will be slightly more than a 1.5 however not normally noticeable

Our advice can go beyond eye exams and eye charts. It is more thorough than just ensuring vision standards that need to be met in the respective driver licensing authorities’ relevant eyesight test to avoid trouble seeing e.g. pedestrian crossings, road signs, speed bumps, or cyclists. Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems (AVAS) ideally should be fitted to all hybrid and electric vehicles.
1 in 5 drivers can’t see the road clearly due to uncorrected low vision. The World Health Organisation has declared poor eyesight among the main risk factors for road crashes despite email marketing and traditional health awareness campaigns.
Surveys show that an alarming number of drivers on the road in developing countries have uncorrected vision. Traffic fatality rates are far higher in low-income countries; e.g. in Africa, for example, the rate is nearly triple that of Europe, according to the WHO.
Drivers with visual field defects have double the incidence of road crashes and traffic violations than drivers with a full visual field. Almost half of the people with visual field loss are unaware of their visual impairments.
When buying a car, 5-star safety is among the most important considerations – but drivers don’t consider themselves to be one of those essential safety features. We know that vision is the most important source of information for a driver and that uncorrected vision is a contributor to crash risk.
During the day or night, Glare is the most complained about visual discomfort by drivers and slows both detection and reaction time.
The advantage of wearing polarised lenses outweighs the difficulty of seeing some polarised LCD display panels depending on their polarisation angle. Unlike some earlier displays, cars with the latest heads up displays work well with Polarised lenses ( as have polarisation along the 45-degree line ) Heads up display types by reflection could change the polarisation, however.
Sometimes a contrasting tint or regular tint could benefit in these situations. Ensure you clean and see all your mirrors, windows, and windscreen for maximum field of vision. The correct prescription and tint avoid eyestrain, headaches and difficulty concentrating.
Air conditioning, such hours of concentration without blinking, and wearing contact lenses can all cause eyes to dry out. Carry lubricating eye drops to moisten tired, dry eyes.

• Cataract surgery does  reduce the crash rate
• Visual acuity is a poor visual predictor of driving performance and safety
•  Alternative visual tests including motion sensitivity, contrast sensitivity and visual fields better predict driving abilities.
•  No measure alone accounts for all the variation in driving ability.
• Licencing ideally should be based on performance rather than age or disease status
• Driving at night is dangerous with fatality rates at night are 3x higher than in the day
• Night-time safety risk is highest for pedestrians which are  7x more vulnerable to a fatal collision at night than the day
•  Poor visibility is the leading cause of vehicle collisions with pedestrians, cyclists, and other low-contrast obstacles
• The normal visual field for an eye based on  60 degrees nasally, 100 degrees temporally, 75 degrees inferiorly and 60 degrees superiorly. The ‘horizontal extent’ includes nasal and temporal fields.
• The risk of crash in drivers with restrictive  hemianopia or quadrantanopia is known to be higher if  there is any significant visual field loss (scotoma) with more than four contiguous spots within a 20 degree radius from fixation