Fredxx wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Steve Walker wrote
alan_m wrote
Jimmy Stewart ... wrote

Further to my close up eyesight getting better recently known as
"second sight"......I'm just back from the Optician and all is Ok
...no diabetic changes.... pressure OK ....blood supply to rear of eye
OK ....cataracts not getting any worse....slight change in my
prescription.....BTW they no longer hand you your prescription
before you leave any longer...I suppose this is to try and stop you
wandering off to the cheap suppliers...I suppose they are legally
bound to give you it if you ask ? ......

Yes they are meant to give you the results.
I usually buy a very cheap pair of glasses to keep in the car for
emergency use. I once had the screw fall out of my glasses frame
followed by the lens dropping out whilst driving and the spare pair
allowed me to carry on with my journey.

Some countries require you to carry a spare pair when driving.

We only have that for flying.

I am due an eye test soon, but up to now, although my long sight has
never been good and short is deteriorating, I've always fallen on the
legal to drive without glasses side

My state is much worse. I have just failed the eye
test due to cataracts even tho I can read the smallest
street signs like the name of the street fine.

I'm sorry to hear that.

So am I. I knew that I was going to have to pass
the eye chart test on the license renewal and since
I can see fine and dont get any symptoms with the
cataracts, was planning to memorise that line I am
marginal on that you need to pass here. I forgot
that they require the GP to endorse that I am fit
to drive when you pass a specific age here. That
fell due a couple of months before the license
renewal so it wasnt easy to memorise the line
in the doctors room since I couldnt ever remember
seeing it in his room. The eye chart in the rego office
is behind each checkout, so easy to bodycam photo.

How did they test the severity of the cataract?

They dont, they just get you to read the eye chart.

But all the optometrists always comment on it and
have done for years now and last year the ophthalmologist
I needed to see after a significant eye injury said that
the cataracts are quite severe now and that I would
likely fail the license test.

Does it stop you driving during the day too?

Yes, there is no distinction between day
and night driving here with the eye test.

Some friends with partial cataracts would avoid driving at night.

Yeah, some do get visual symptoms at night. I dont.

The other problem is that the waiting time for cataract
surgery is 12 months for the free one on our equivalent
of the NHS here. I will likely pay for it to be done quicker
on the private system. And thats 12 months per eye,
although you can drive again with just one eye done.

- although I frequently have a spare pair in the car anyway.

I have never done that but at one time had prescription sunnys
which are close enough to that. I now use clip on sunnys.