Anyone who submits a learner drive application must have their eyes tested. Professional drivers have to see a doctor regularly. Other drivers only have to undergo regular medical checks from the age of 75. So it is possible “that the road traffic office does not find out until the 75th year of the person concerned that they have to wear a vision correction, although they may have been dependent on one for many years and already voluntarily wears it to drive motor vehicles”. This is what GLP Councilor Dominik Peter wrote in a new interpellation.
Eye check in the event of an accident as with alcohol consumption?
The situation worries him. He wants to know from the government “how often the lack of visual aids is the reason or co-reason for traffic accidents”. But also whether the visual performance of those who caused accidents and victims of accidents with personal injuries is systematically checked by the police (similar to alcohol consumption).
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How did the councilor and lawyer Peter come up with the subject? Knowing of an accident in which poor eyesight played a role? Peter waves him off: “No, I want to get my boat license. With a view to this, I was asked by the road traffic office to send in my driver’s license so that they can enter the condition “wearers of glasses”. Of course, I’ve been wearing the glasses while driving since I’ve had one, but there was no entry back then. So I think it’s very good that the office asked. “
“Then my approach has already paid off”
This experience triggered in him the question of how many people who wear glasses or wear lenses do not have this entry either, and how many accidents possibly happen because someone does not wear the glasses while driving or has not taken an eye test, although himself vision has deteriorated. After an accident you often hear the phrase “I haven’t seen him!” If there were numbers that could make people more aware of them and there were just a few fewer accidents, says Peter, “then my approach has already been worth it.”
Visual impairment: 9 percent more accident risk
Statistics already exist at the federal level that show how many road traffic accidents there have been for which the police officially recorded this as a cause or a contributory cause. In addition, there is likely to be a significant number of unreported cases, says Marc Kipfer, spokesman for the Advice Center for Accident Prevention (BFU), “because every accident does not check whether the glasses are still appropriate and whether there are other problems with vision.” In the past nine years, between 21 and 37 slightly, seriously injured or fatalities (the majority are slightly injured) have been attributed to this problem in traffic throughout Switzerland. According to Kipfer, a scientific meta-analysis was able to show a nine percent increase in the accident risk for all visual impairments.
According to studies, static visual acuity alone correlates “only weakly or not at all with the accident occurrence,” Kipfer continues. Possible explanations are, for example, that the mileage is reduced, unfamiliar places are avoided, or an adequate supply of visual aids.
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