BiOptic Driving Webboard
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From: jimmi.gruen@home.se
Remote Name: 212.151.115.72
Remote User:
Date: 08 Jan 2004
Time: 03:16:24 -0000
Hi. I'm 19 years old and have albinism. I live in Sweden. My visual acuity is 20/130 in my left eye and about 20/160 with my right eye when wearing ordinary glasses. The glasses improve my vision slightly but the difference isn't that big. I've been told since I was a kid that I'll never be able to drive, and that's probably true. The mimimum requirement for driving here is 20/40, biotpics not allowed as far as I know. The fact is, I haven't seen bioptics mentioned anywhere so I assume they aren't allowed. It seems like some people in the US with similar visual acuity are actually driving, with the help of bioptics. Is that really true? I mean, someone could be crossing the road some distance ahead and the driver wouldn't see him and so would not have enough time to stop. Is it posible to see traffic in the other lane on a two-lane road when overtaking for example? Or seeing signs in time to switch lanes? Or do people just open the window, shout and scream, honk the horn, and hope that everyone will get out of the way? :) Is it just some kind of loophole that people exploit and that will soon cease to exist? Because I can't imagine someone with e.g. 20/130 driving safely at 100 km/h unless bioptics really make a big improvement. Too many things that can occour suddenly. How likely is it that this kind of driving will be banned in the near future? Of course, I have never tried bioptics so I don't know what kind of improvement they make. Just seems a bit unsafe. Even though I wouldn't be allowed to drive with bioptics where I live, I would like to try bioptics. Just to see what they would do for me, and how much they would improve my vision. Right now, I have no idea what it's like since I haven't had a chance to try bioptics. The problem is, the people I've talked to here, hardly even know what bioptics are. Who should I talk to here in my country or elsewhere in Europe? Is the improvement different for each individual, even if they suffer from the same condition and have similar visual acuity? So for example, if two persons with albinism and e.g. 20/200 use bioptics, the bioptics may improve vision a lot for one of them and do almost nothing for the other? Or is the improvement always about the same? Is it likely that bioptics would improve my vision enough to drive, had I lived in the US in a state that allows bioptic driving? Thanks for any answers.