Driving and Eyesight

Many people that have ever been involved in an accident and the other person that hit them happened to be someone that was of an older generation, may state that the reason that the accident happened was because the older person simply could not see well enough to drive. And there has been many incidents over the years in which the main culprit for why this happened was because the other person was not wearing their glasses or contacts, or perhaps the person was one of those people that claim that they can see even though an optometrist would disagree.

Those that can remember their drivers test remember that they have to take a visual test to ensure that they could actually see at least twenty feet in front of them. Which for many people twenty feet was a bit scary as they do not want someone hitting them from the back only because they didn't see them when they were more than twenty feet away. However, the times of the visual test seem to be fading as more and more states are cutting this from their drivers test. What will this mean?

Well for those that really can't see, congratulations, as you just earned yourself the right to drive without proving that you can see, which may be a bit stressful to those that have problems. As long as the person tells the office that they can see, then the license will be approved for them to drive. For those that are on the road with these people, then it can be a bit nerve racking to know that the person behind you may not really see your car, they may be seeing two of it and just going with the flow. But why are states no longer doing the visual test?

The main reason is budget cuts. For example, New York is putting this rule into action in hopes that more people will simply renew their license online. Other states have pointed out that without having to have someone there to vision test that they save money on that one person that they would have to pay to be there and pay benefits to. But is this safe?

AAA seems to think not as they are one of the groups that is going against the rules that the states are passing, and there are several doctors that are right there with this group stating that this is just asking for trouble. Many times when the eyesight deteriorates, the person does not notice since it does this slowly, which is what most are arguing about this law. So what are going to be the repercussions of this new rule?

Right now, it seems that states are going to be getting more money into their pockets instead of having to share this with county governments since they are pushing online renewal of the licenses. However, another point that is being brought up is the fact that people could see Car insurance rates increase as the companies may deem that person more of a risk because they have not had their vision checked.

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