An optometrist who provides comprehensive low vision rehabilitation care is the best starting point for both an evaluation and information about how to proceed if the driver wishes to explore this option. Once the patient is fitted with a bioptic system, he or she may be required to receive additional training or rehabilitation, depending on the state's licensure requirements. We can counsel them on the next step. Grover and Barnes emphasize that not everyone who is a candidate for bioptic driving will want to, and not everyone who wants to will be able to. Each patient is unique, and there are multiple issues involved with safe driving besides vision.
Many patients require a multi-disciplinary approach.
Contrary to what most people probably believe, safe driving depends more on our peripheral vision than on acuity, which is why individuals with central vision loss are often the best candidates. With the growth of drivers over 65 in the next several years, this will become an issue of greater importance to both the general public as well as motorists in that age bracket. Patients have been known to relocate to another state with less stringent licensing requirements just to keep driving. The American Optometric Association, founded in 1898, represents more than 33,000 doctors of optometry, optometry students and paraoptometric assistants and technicians in more than 6,600 communities across the country and in foreign countries. All Rights Reserved.