Remember to drive with eyes wide open the next time you’re passing through New York state.
According to The New York Times:
New York drivers worried about having to read a line on an eye chart to renew their license can rest easy.
Starting on Wednesday, the Department of Motor Vehicles will no longer require New Yorkers to pass a vision test before renewing a driver’s license. Instead, New Yorkers will “self-certify” that they can see what’s on the road when they renew their licenses, the agency’s commissioner, Barbara J. Fiala, said in a statement issued Monday.
There’s no need to wade into whether or not this is a good idea. But it is worth noting the differences between the advanced, highly technical eye exams our expert Carrollton optometrists provide here at Eyecare and Eyewear and the far less sophisticated eye exams being allowed by the New York DMV.
In other words, proper eye exams require far more than just an eye chart tacked to a wall.
Simply put, the importance of an eye exam is not just to get a rough measurement of your eyesight (20/20? 25/20?) – it’s to spot serious eyesight issues and do so before they become too advanced for effective prevention or treatment. What good is a rudimentary eye exam that says your eyesight is “good enough” to drive, but fails to show you that your eyesight is primed to deteriorate precipitously in the upcoming months?
While most forms of eyesight loss happens gradually, other forms of eyesight loss happen more quickly – which could leave unaware that it’s become unsafe for you to drive. Eyesight loss also doesn’t happen uniformly for each person and can vary vastly depending on the condition causing eyesight loss. So if you’ve got a serious eye issue looming, you might not be able to see, say, fast-moving hazards on a highway at twilight as easily as a small “E” on a wall chart 20 feet away.
Most important, however, is the fact that many serious eyesight issues can be treated or cured if caught early on. There’s just no reason to eschew eye exams – contact us to schedule an eye exam in Carrollton soon.
