Legally Blind........ and DRIVING a vehicle!! (dental, lens, glasses, eye)

[ConeyIsBabe]

When I first heard that term "legally blind" I couldn't understand how anyone who was blind would be driving a vehicle. But, I guess it is only a medical term which describes a level of sight or loss of vision.

But still...... it scares me to know that there are individuals who have been designated legally blind who do get behind the wheel of a car and continue to drive and I know two people who do so

Any comments ?

[subsound]

I'm legally blind without my glasses, so is my wife and my dad...we all drive. Of course, that's without our glasses...none of us would ever drive without them. Considering that I run into doors without them, I would be seriously nervous if some one is driving with uncorrected vision of that magnitude.

[JanuaryGirl]

A lot of people are "legally blind" without contacts/glasses. It's not really a big deal, many of them have near-perfect or better corrected vision.

[melaniej65]

Actually folks, legally blind refers to CORRECTED vision not uncorrected (glasses/contacts) vision- so those who have corrected vision within these standards are legally blind.
[T]he term "blindness" means central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens. An eye which is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees shall be considered for purposes in this paragraph as having a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less.

Incidentally, there are programs that do teach blind persons to drive (must fall within certain parameters and have the necessary specialty equipment when driving. I used to beg the driving instructor at my school for the blind to let me drive on school grounds ( drove for over 20 years before losing my vision) but I did not meet the requirements.

The definition for legal blindness comes from the National Federation of the Blind and they DO know the legal parameters.

[FrozenAngel]

This one hit home. My son went to visit my Aunt (snowbird in FL) who had developed macular degeneration. When he returned home he informed us that we had better go and bring my Aunt home because her driving was horrible and she was too blind to even realize it. He said, "the only way she knows when the red light has turned green, is to wait for someone behind her to finally beep for her to go!"

I didn't want to know how she knew when the green light turned red! We went and brought her home before she killed someone.

[Okiegirlfriend]

Good for you! My sister has MD in one eye. She has a cataract in the other. She quit driving about 15 years ago when she had a wreck at the age of 53.

[Johnny72227]

There are MANY degrees of legal blindness, ranging from seeing nothing at all, to seeing a great many things.

I have been legally blind since birth. My best corrected vision is about 20/200. I have severe light sensitivity as well. Still, I have never needed a cane or a dog or an escort. I have never fallen down a manhole either. I live a pretty normal life. The biggest difference between me and people who have normal eyesight, is that I have trouble recognizing a face that's over 15 feet away, or reading the words off a television or t-shirt that's more than about 8-10 feet away.

That's it.

I actually resent the use of the word "blind" when referring to those who have varying degrees of vision. It perverts people's opinions and leads them to false conclusions about this condition. Fact is, there's a BIG difference between not being able to see ANYTHING vs. having vision at all---whether it's 20/20 or 20/200.

And by the way, just a footnote: I have known legally blind drivers who use bipotic scopes while driving and are far more careful and attentive to the road than all the "great vision" drivers who are texting and talking on cell phones and reading newspapers while driving into oncoming lanes.