Wednesday, 2 October, 2019
Do you have commercial drivers within your business?
Do you know if they can see well enough for commercial driving?
As retirement age increases and people are working longer, COHS is finding more and more drivers who are developing age related eye changes.
Those changes can seriously impact on a person’s driving vision and their ability to drive within legal requirements.
As part of last week’s National Eye Health Week, the doctor-led team at COHS is continuing to reiterate the importance of regular vision checks to improve eye health.
Founder and Director of COHS, Dr Nicola Dann, said: “Some people can develop cataracts earlier than others. Increasingly, we are finding drivers who are showing early symptoms, which can impact significantly on their ability to drive.
“The condition can cause difficulty with night driving or may require more frequent changes for distance glasses prescriptions than would normally be expected.”
She added: “We have, in some cases, picked up on Commercial Class 2 drivers who don’t meet DVLA minimum standards at their initial medical. They may require distance glasses due to a natural, age related change in their vision. However, if not diagnosed, that change could lead to serious consequences if the driver was involved in an accident at work and poor vision was found to be a contributing factor.”
Not only do regular checks help with vision, but they can also improve general health and wellbeing. A sight test can detect early signs of conditions such as diabetes, and high blood pressure can also be detected through regular checks.
If you feel your drivers would benefit from an eye test as part of a driving medical, then please contact us to find out more.