The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has issued new guidance for driving and cataracts.
The changes have been announced following advice from the AOP on the DVLA’s public facing recommendations.
New guidance for car and motorcycle drivers (group one) states that license holders now only need to tell the DVLA about cataract if they do not meet the relevant visual standards for driving.
Previously, the DVLA advised group one drivers to tell the organisation if they had cataract in both eyes. However, the AOP advised the DVLA that this was unnecessary for many drivers with mild bilateral cataracts, provided they were able to meet the normal group one visual standards.
The new guidance for bus, coach or lorry licence holders (group two) follows the same advice for group one, unless drivers in this category have an increased sensitivity to glare as a result of the cataract.
The AOP advised the DVLA that previous guidance to drivers in group two, which told them to inform the DVLA if they had cataract in either eye, was unnecessary for drivers with mild cataract if they met the visual standards.
Speaking about the changes, the AOP’s professional advisor, Henry Leonard, explained: “This is a helpful step forward and we are now working to get some further revisions made to the Visual disorders: assessing fitness to drive advice. These suggestions specifically relate to the advice on monocular vision, diplopia, night blindness and blepharospasm. We look forward to these coming to fruition in the coming months.”
Advice on completing a D4 ‘Medical examination report for a lorry or bus driving licence’ form has also been published by the AOP.
Comments (1)
You must be logged in to join the discussion. Log in
Anonymous07 October 2021
That’s good now & seems like common sense prevails. One could have an asymptomatic tiny grade 0.5 cortical cataract in the inferior nasal part of lens, having 6/6 va in that eye, but in the past you’d have to inform the DVLA over something that was this trivial. Also I’ve seen many a case (almost everyday) where a eg 67yr old was told 3 yrs ago by an Optom about a small cataract in their eye/s & you examine them 3 yrs later & record 6/5 va R&L in a fit, active, healthy individual, dilate the Px & you see a pretty clear lens optically with no spots or opacities, no real or obvious yellowing after using the slit lamp & backing this up with a direct ophthalmoscope & retinoscope & you think where is the cataract, as the old record only describes the lens as a ‘haze’(when also the retinal photos taken post dilation today also look so clear with no obvious cataractous haze either). What do you tell the Px? Surely the cataract hasn’t gone into ‘reverse’ or maybe it has -I rest my case.
Report Like 113