Road safety measures must include eye checks

The State Transport Commissioner will be introducing mandatory eye testing before issuing licences

Amid concerns that the vision impairment of drivers may be a contributing factor to road accidents in the country, the Wadala Regional Transport Office (RTO), as part of its month-long road safety campaign, ‘Sadak Suraksha Jeevan Raksha’, screened 326 autorickshaw and taxi drivers. Over 100 drivers were found to have vision impairments like cataracts, retinal issues and dry eyes.

The State Transport Commissioner will be introducing mandatory eye testing before issuing licences.

There is a proposal for all RTOs to have an in-house ophthalmologist, who will conduct mandated eye tests for all applicants seeking fresh or renewed driving licences. The Road Safety Month began on January 15 and will continue till February 14.

Private vehicle drivers too, need to get their vision checked at regular intervals, to ensure road safety. It is not enough to say, ‘I can see fairly well’ or ‘I do not seem to have any problems’. Let doctors do the checking, instead of simply assessing yourself. It is important that retina or cataract issues are addressed at an early stage.

There are vehicle fitness or pollution test drives, so why not do some tests for drivers too? We send our cars for servicing, checks, etc, as it should be. Why not check if our eyes are in good condition too?

Eye checks should become part of the road safety package. Targeted advertising towards regular checking will ensure awareness, a realisation that it is dangerous to drive if you feel even slightly uncertain about vision and bring about a sense of responsibility about this aspect. Let’s all start working on this, weaving it into all road safety programmes.

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