Driving Vision

• Eye Sight Certificate
• Distance Vision
• Night Time Driving

Statistics indicate that one driver in five has vision which is below the legal requirement for driving. However, with spectacles or contact lenses most of these people can easily achieve the standard necessary for safe driving.

Eye Sight Certificate

We are able to provide Eye Sight Certificates for your Drivers Licence application or renewal. The certificate is valid for 60 days from the date of examination.

It is your legal responsibility as a driver to make sure that your vision meets LTSA eyesight standards.

Distance Vision

Good distance vision obviously helps you to drive safely. For a driver with good vision, in good conditions, even the simplest reactions take at least 0.4 of a second. Poor distance vision becomes more dangerous as speed increases because the faster you travel the less time you have to react to what you see.

If you have good distance vision eyestrain and loss of concentration are much less likely. We all want to travel safely on the road and good vision is just as important as having a car in good condition. Your car requires regular servicing and a warrant of fitness, make sure you also have your eyes examined regularly.

Help yourself by keeping your windscreen, windows and sunglasses or spectacles clean and in good condition. Dust and scratches can cause enough flare to greatly reduce vision on bright days and at night.

Passing other vehicles and changing lanes requires good distance judgment, especially in busy traffic. Your judgment and depth perception is at its best when you have good vision in both eyes.

Signal colours play an important part in road safety. Drivers need to be able to instantly recognise traffic lights, lane indicator signs, hazard warning lights and stop lights. People with normal colour vision usually have no difficulty adjusting to the colour changes caused by sunglasses or tinted spectacle lenses. However dark blue is a tint colour to avoid because it can make it very difficult for some people to tell the difference between red and green traffic lights.

Night Time Driving

To drive safely at night you need to be able to see well in low and variable light conditions. Night driving also requires the ability to recover quickly from the glare of headlights. Do not look directly into oncoming headlights, your vision will recover more quickly if you look slightly to the left of traffic travelling towards you. Make sure your own headlights are clean and properly adjusted.

Night vision deteriorates after age 40. Older drivers can compensate to some extent for the reduction in the quality of their night vision by driving more slowly. Most people do not realise that their eyes are much slower to adjust to low night-time light levels following exposure to bright light during the day. A few hours outdoors in the sun (at the beach or skiing) can slow the dark adaptation process so much that after several hours night vision may still not be normal. This temporary loss of dark adaptation can be avoided if appropriate sunglasses are worn during the day. Sunglasses should never be worn when driving at night.

The ability to "see out of the corner of your eye" and so be aware of other road users around you is also very important for safe driving. Normally our "field of vision" is about 180 degrees, when travelling at 100 km/hour our field of vision is effectively reduced to only 40 degrees. Make the best use of your side and rear view mirrors and make sure these are properly adjusted and kept clean. Remember that you must be more alert when travelling at speed.

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