| From www.roadsafety.org.uk Good Motoring Magazine Fit to drive?
Medical conditions and drugs can bring on many conditions that affect our ability to drive safely. Andrew MacKay reports
Most of us will have experienced that moment when the car in front doesn’t seem to be making normal progress. Perhaps it is stuck in third gear or having some mechanical problems, we say to ourselves. On the other hand, we will also be familiar with the hot hatch descending on our rear bumper like a Starfighter from outer space looking for a cool gap in the oncoming traffic so that it can roar past.
Yes, we wonder why these motorists are on the road, we reckon they are a danger to society and should not hold a driving licence. They are, of course, extremes and thankfully in a minority but sitting between these two outer edges is a much larger group who by way of one ailment or another are not fit to drive.
It is a big problem for our doctors as it is a difficult task determining whether a person is fit or unfit to drive a vehicle. Driving employs many functions such as vision, mobility, reflexes and reasoning and most of these tasks can be tested and measured against national standards. However, cognition, the mental ability to perceive, think, reason and remember does not have an accurate test that measures this function with any great authority. Unfortunately, many years of driving experience are cancelled when a driver suffers cognitive impairment.
Of equal concern is the recent revelations that around 10% of drivers would fail their driving test because their eyesight doesn’t meet the necessary standards. What’s currently required is for drivers to be able to read a car’s number plate at 20.5 metres, about the length of a cricket wicket. The test is not conducted with any degree of sophistication or the use of accurate measuring devices or indeed with a certain pattern of letters or numbers.
Peter Charlesworth has a company that trains dispensing opticians and optometrists in the latest techniques and keeps them up to date with developments in products. He is a fully qualified optometrist and for seven years he combined this job with lecturing at Bradford University so he knows about the significance of ageing or illness and their affect on eyesight.
“The driving test really only involves that very small part in the middle of the retina that is seeing the fine detail. It is not concerned with peripheral vision that allows you to see a car overtaking or approaching from one side,” he says. “When someone has a stroke it affects one side of the brain and that’s why that person may have difficulty with mobility in the left leg or using their left arm or vice-versa.”
If a stroke affects someone’s vision it causes everything on one side of the visual field to go out of sight. An individual may feel that they can still see very well and that there is nothing wrong but there are areas that have gone black. A simple test is to waggle your hands at your ears and if you can see them with your peripheral vision then everything is fine. However, if you only see one hand it means that you have a large blind spot on one side.
On the road, it might mean that you do not see a car approaching from the right-hand side or a pedestrian or parked cars on the left. Many people that have had strokes crash into parked cars but they could still pass the number plate test.
Some diseases of the eye cause redness or pain but others such as glaucoma just creep up over months and years. It arrives unannounced and brings significant impact on your ability to see. If left untreated, it eats away at the peripheral vision and if allowed to go its full course will cause irreversible damage. Regular eye tests will identify glaucoma. Treatment, usually drops, will halt its progress.
Life expectancy rates have risen and so too has the incidence of cataract and it is one of those events that is likely to happen to everyone as they grow older. This clouding of the lens inside the eye can be caused among younger people who are taking steroids to treat arthritis or other inflammatory diseases.
There’s been a great deal of debate about the use of varifocals when driving and many of us are in a state of confusion about what is being said. “Varifocals give drivers the best of both worlds,” says Peter Charlesworth, “We constantly alternate between intermediate and long distance vision when driving and good quality varifocals will do an excellent job.
“If you buy poorer quality varifocals or they have not been made particularly to suit you, two things can happen when driving. If you look into your side mirror and you don’t move your head, you may get a blurry view because you are looking through the bottom corner of your glasses. If you move your head everything should be alright.
“Also when you are reversing you must learn to move your head a little more otherwise you will get the same blurry affect. But if your varifocals have been properly dispensed you will not experience distorted peripheral vision.”
As mature and experienced motorists we must have our eyes tested at least once every two years. It may highlight a problem in our health and it may indicate that we require a stronger pair of glasses but more than anything it will prevent us from being a hazard to other road users.
Killer pills: you may not always know how a medicine will affect your driving
Many medicines, whether you were prescribed them or you purchased them over the counter, can adversely affect your ability to drive safely. The big danger is that you may not always know whether or how severely - a medicine will affect your driving. Subsequently your impairment may only manifest itself when you suddenly need a fast, accurate response to avoid a crash.
When you are given any new medicine, do check with your pharmacist or doctor to make sure it's safe to drive while taking it.
Warning signs - How do I know if the medicine I am taking is likely to affect my driving? Some medicines can make you:- • drowsy or tired • dizzy, lightheaded or faint • unable to think clearly • have reduced coordination, including shaking and feeling unstable or shaky • edgy, angry or aggressive • sick, nauseous or otherwise unwell • have blurred or double vision
If you experience any of these effects or other effects that make it difficult to drive, speak with your doctor or pharmacist before driving. Information courtesy of Road Safety Scotland, www.roadsafetyscotland.org.uk © Copyright 2002 GEM |