Vision and Driving: An Underestimated but Fundamental Relationship for Promoting Road Safety worldwide
Vision is an undisputable contributor to the explanation of many human-factor related traffic crashes happening every day. Effective April 1st 2020, the call to ensure good vision for all road users in the world is now included in the United Nations’ recommendation to governments for enhancing national road safety systems and achieve UN 2030 road safety goals.
This article describes the key reference study conducted in Spain, providing a pioneer country-scale situation of driver’s visual health. More than 3,200 drivers all over the territory had their vision tested by a specific drivers’ eye test protocol, measuring ametropia, visual acuity, visual field and resistance to glare. The study shows overall an estimated 29.5% of Spanish drivers presenting visual issues, that need to be attended.
This high level of visual issues prevalence revealed in a mature country confirms the importance to adopt the updated UN recommendation to ensure good vision in national road safety systems worldwide. In particular, by generalizing appropriate regular drivers’ eye exams and address their visual issues.
