BOSTON — Losing one’s driving privileges often means losing one’s independence. No wonder so many people with impaired vision dread the eye exam at the local motor vehicles registry. But a new book by a researcher at The Schepens Eye Research Institute aims to help people with impaired vision drive safely and as long as possible.
The book, "Driving with Confidence: A Practical Guide to Driving with Low Vision," (World Scientific, February 2002, $28 hardcover, $18 paperback) provides essential information to help people stay on the road for as long and as safely and legally possible.
The book is authored by low-vision expert Eli Peli, O.D., senior scientist at The Schepens and associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, with his brother, Doron Peli, a freelance writer.
"The idea is to provide information to patients who are concerned about losing their legal right to drive. The book addresses whether and when they should stop driving, and what they can do to retain their right to drive for as long as possible, or even regain it if they have lost the right to drive on the basis of an eye test at their local Department of Motor Vehicles," Dr. Peli says.
The book combines useful information on Department of Motor Vehicle vision regulations in every state (the regulations vary widely), as well as a thorough explanation of equipment and low vision devices that can help a person retain the right to drive. The book also explains the partial restrictions offered by Departments of Motor Vehicle (such as limiting a driver to day-time driving, or allowing a driver with limited vision to drive within a certain familiar radius from home).
"The number of visually impaired people in the United States is about three million, of which probably about one million are so severely impaired that they can’t and shouldn’t drive. But of the remaining two million, there is probably a fair number that are legal to drive, depending on what state they are in," Dr. Peli explains. "Regulations vary according to state – a driver may be legal in one and not in another."
The book explains the various types of equipment that can aid drivers – and which states accept their use. It details such aids as bioptic telescopes, mounted on glasses, to help read road signs and see faraway objects (particularly useful for patients with macular degeneration) and peripheral visual field devices with prisms (compensating for field loss due to stroke or other brain injury). Dr. Peli also provides tips on using anti-glare devices and electronic navigation systems.
"Bioptic telescopes have probably been the most important advances in terms of the visually impaired," Dr. Peli says. He advises people to consult low-vision experts (a list in the back of book can help find experts locally) and gaining some experience using visual aids before going for an eye or driving test.
"With the population of older drivers constantly growing, we, as a society, are going to have to pay increasing attention to assuring that people can legally – and safely – stay on the road for as long as possible," Dr. Peli says.
The Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is the largest independent eye research center in the nation, both in size of faculty and support from the National Eye Institute. The Institute, begun in 1950, has a renowned faculty of more than 60 scientists, including immunologists, molecular and cell biologists and physicists who investigate cures for blinding diseases and aids for people with low vision. Many diagnostic techniques and devices, surgical methods and medications related to eye disease were developed by Institute faculty.