Assessment of compliance with current driving legislation in Spanish patients with visual disturbances

Abstract

AbstractPurpose: To determine whether patients who do not fulfil some of the requirements of current Spanish driving regulation but still have their driving licence have stopped driving. Furthermore, to assess the extent to which ophthalmologists know such legislation and whether they counsel their patients accordingly.Methods: Two surveys were conducted. For the first one, we contacted 133 patients who did not fulfil either current visual acuity (VA) or visual field requirements. We asked them to answer 10 questions about their driving habits and their subjective perception of visual quality and road safety. For the second one, we contacted 137 ophthalmologists and presented them with 12 questions: 6 of them inquired about current legislation requirements and the rest of them looked at their opinion about the importance of vision in driving matters.Results: 65% of patients (95% CI: [57%–74%]) kept driving despite not fulfilling minimal legal requirements. Continuation of driving was associated with having better VA (p < 0.005), better subjective perception of visual quality (p < 0.0000001), having had a previous conversation with their ophthalmologist about driving (p < 0.05; OR = 3.50) and not being pressured by their families for driving cessation (p < 0.05, OR = 2.67). Regression models showed that subjective perception of visual quality was not a good predictor of objective VA neither among non‐drivers (R2 = 0.228) nor drivers (R2 = 0.072). Most ophthalmologists (72.3%) correctly answered no more than 3 out of 6 questions about the requirements of current legislation. Only 7 (5.1%) had received specific training about these matters. Most of them (97.1%) agreed that sufficient visual quality is of great importance for driving safely.Conclusions: Most drivers who keep their driving licence despite falling below the minimum legal requirements to drive continue driving. Current evaluations for licence renewal could be insufficient. Family pressure seems to be important in driving cessation. Ophthalmologists play a role in patients' counsel about driving, but their knowledge seems to be limited. New training initiatives could be beneficial.