| There are a number of ways to avoid traffic accidents, and one of the most sure-fire ways is with perfect vision. When you are driving, your sight is your life. It may sound a cliché, yet it’s an undeniable fact.
Through our eyes we receive an amazing 90% of the information from our surroundings. If your vision fails, then the fundamental processes needed for good and safe driving will fail you too. When you’re driving, you carry out up to 50,000 decisions and movements, some dangerous, which require a high level of concentration. It is therefore vitally important that your sight functions at full capacity level, 100%, a level that will ensure a high level of perception and attention so thereby reducing the risk of an accident. Like a well-tuned instrument, vision must allow us to see simultaneously short and long-distances, we must be able to have a wide vision, and to see quickly and perhaps most importantly, an ability to see well at night. We drive approximately a third of the time at night, but more than half of all accidents happen during these hours. Visionary ability diminishes during the night-time hours. Even those with perfect vision can having problems seeing at night.
Quicker Visual agility is essential for evaluating our surroundings in a split-second. Circumstances change at the speed of light when we drive, and we must be able to adapt to changes in an instant.
Long-distance It’s also essential that our eyes are able to see objects or possible obstacles at some distance and for us to react in time, whether it means braking urgently or avoiding an obstacle.
Near-distance Not only is good long-sight important to ensure safe driving. Having good short sight vision is also vital as cars tend to drive very close to one another, so quick reaction times are essential. Also pedestrians tend to step out into roads when you least expect. Good short sight and good brakes are essential.
Changing your glasses or contacts How you see conditions how you drive. Not being able to see too far into the distance, or close-up, or blinded by car lights or street lamps, can all be corrected with a good pair of glasses. Anti-reflective lenses will sort out the problem of head-light blinding, and changing your prescription will sort out any other visual problems you have.
Factfile 1 in every 20 drivers has bad vision, but is unaware of it. 1 in every 3 drivers is able to see better, but ignores it. Factors that alter vision during driving: Tiredness, night-time driving, alcohol and tobacco reduce the field of vision and also reduce the ability to calculate distances and speeds. |