Changing visual standards in driving: but a high proportion of eye patients still drive illegally

In particular, patients with static long term field defects, particularly those who have a safe driving history who would previously have failed to meet the field requirements, may still be considered for a licence. 2 This prospective clinic based audit is the first to use the licence plate test at 20.5 metres rather than a Snellen chart to quantify the size of the problem in a typical ophthalmology clinic in a district general hospital. [...]drivers with binocular field defects have been estimated to have twice the normal rate of driving accidents in some studies. 7- 10 What is worrying is that patients who attend an eye clinic seem unlikely to have been spontaneously warned to stop driving and doctors should be more aware of their role in protecting both their patients and society from road traffic accidents.