Vision and Driving: The United States

Minimal visual standards for obtaining driving licensure in the United States principally use 2 measures: visual acuity and visual field. Although research studies have established a correlation between performance on these measures and safe driving, the correlations are weak and mostly retrospective. These measures remain in place in screening centers largely because they (especially visual acuity) are practical. A newer test of visual attention, called the useful field of view, may be more predictive of safe driving than the traditional measures, but it has not been widely applied in licensing bureaus.

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