Do eye tests in older drivers prevent road traffic injuries and fatalities?
Subzwari S, Desapriya E, Babul-Wellar S, et al.Vision screening of older drivers for preventing road traffic injuries and fatalities. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2009; issue 1Demographic data in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand suggest a rapid growth in the number of people over the age of 65 years, as the ‘baby boomer’ generation passes retirement age. Older people today are more likely to have a driver’s licence and will take more trips than a comparable group 10 years ago. Meanwhile, drivers aged over 65 years have more fatal crashes per mile driven than any other demographic group, except teenage males, probably because of what is termed ‘low mileage bias’. There is universal agreement among researchers that vision plays a significant role in driving performance, and that there are age-related visual changes. Vision testing of all drivers and in particular of older drivers, is therefore an important road safety issue. The components of visual function essential
