Assessment of compliance with current driving legislation in Spanish patients with visual disturbances

Purpose: To determine whether patients who do not fulfil some of the requirements of current Spanish driving regulation but still have their driving licence have stopped driving. Furthermore, to assess the extent to which ophthalmologists know such legislation and whether they counsel their patients accordingly. Methods: Two surveys were conducted. For the first one, we contacted 133 patients who did not fulfil either current visual acuity (VA) or visual field requirements. We asked them to answer 10 questions about their driving habits and their subjective perception of visual quality and road safety. For the second one, we contacted 137 ophthalmologists and presented them with 12 questions: 6 of them inquired about current legislation requirements and the rest of them looked at their opinion about the importance of vision in driving matters. Results: 65% of patients (95% CI: [57%–74%]) kept driving despite not fulfilling minimal legal requirements. Continuation of driving was associated with having better VA (p