Should Legally Blind People Drive?!

No I don't think they should drive because it is dangerous for others as well as for them.A blind person legally is not supposed to drive.If I am a blind person or partially sighted I will never drive,I will never go on the streets and risk others lives as well as mine.

Yes I feel sorry for partially sighted people and it's not fair that they have this condition but how can they possibly believe it is safe to drive and how can the govvernment seriously let thm drive! It is shocking and plain stupid as lets face it we know they will fight for equal rights but, there is equal rights and people just being selfich - I suppose they would feel differently if there family member was killed or knocked down by another partially sighted person! Also I cannot beleive they only got a suspended sentence - after all they still took their full attention from the road and whilst doing so caused an accident so there fore should receive full punishment! It makes me so mad that they don't like to be called different or like to be seen as an invalid yet when they cause an accident they soon play up to their disability!!! Grr! x

About 10% of individuals who are legally blind can't see at all. The rest range from horrible sight all the way to poor but workable sight.In North America and Europe, the definition of 'legal blindness' is anyone with a visual acuity of 20/200 or less. The 20/200 means that this person needs to be 20 feet away from an object to see it with the same clarity that a sighted person can see from 200 feet away. It doesn't mean that they can't see it from more than 20 feet away, it means with the same clarity a a sighted from 200 feet. So, depending on where in the legally blind range a person falls and what type of correctional lenses can be obtained, I can see that some, but not all, legally blind people are perfectly ok with driving. It would probably be a minority of them. The news stories we have been seeing about this tend to be a bit sensational (as with many news stories). No one in government is suggesting that anyone who is legally blind can now drive. But if some is at the up end of the range, and get the appropriate correctional glasses, then they might be able to.

Legally blind, partially sighted people can live a relatively "normal" life, but you have to pass a vision test to get a driver's license. How could they do that? I don't think they should even be able to apply for a drivers license if they are legally blind.

Legally blind people's vision is not sufficient to drive. Just in the bike case. The driver took the eyes off the road was the claim. However, before this was done the driver should already have seen the person on the bike. Something is very wrong there. It's difficult enough for a person with proper eye sight to react in a timely manner. Somebody with impaired vision to the point of legal blindness should not participate in traffic like that. I used to have a kid in class whose vision was so bad, he needed to have his tests and exam questionnaire blown up to double the size and still needed a magnifying glass to read them. Yet, he drove a bike home and neckbraking speed! He was zipping through traffic as if it wasn't there. I asked him why he was driving so fast. It was because he couldn't see the dangers and was trusting that everybody else would see him. For him, the road was essentially free of cars! And no, he was not allowed to have a driver's license, but he was still participating in traffic posing a risk to other drivers.

one word. NO.

i don't think so... legally blind people can put a danger to him or herself and also to other road users if he/she is allowed to drive... it is safer for them to let other people to drive for them or take public transport if they have to... i will be very sad and devastated if one of my family member was killed by a legally blind people and he/she only gets a curfew in their house as the punishment... they shouldn't be driving at all from the first place... take care and have a nice day...

This realy depends on who's view you are taking into consideration. Being a diabetic and knowing that one day I will be in the legally blind category one day. I can right now say as a person that can still see. Please do take my licence away when I get to that point. But when I get to that point I am sure my feelings will be different. I have caregived for a lady with alzheimer's. couldn't remember her husbands name. Would walk to the mail box and not find her way home. But yet the family refused to stop her from driving. always wondered how this lady made it home very time. Then one day I went with her, and I was amazed. This lady was a total different person behind the wheel. It was like she zapped back into reality. So it realy does depend on the person in most circumstances.but when your talking about not seeing at all then well, we got to draw a line somewhere... Jewel http://www.footwork-reviews.com

I agree that blind people shouldn't drive. I think in cases like this, the welfare of the community should be placed above the rights of an individual. He or she can still get around anyway by taking public transportation or getting driven around by family and friends. The curfew is useless because people who are legally blind see better during the day but their vision is still impaired!

[i]LOL, I cant imagine that a blind can drive? Maybe his car has automatic programming that can deliver passenger to the destination. [/i]

Legally blind people should not be driving under any circumstances.They need to let other people drive them if they are having trouble with their vision.

No. I think that is not safe. I think the driving should be left to people with eyesight.

I believe if they are partially sighted, like if they can see shadows maybe. Then I think that it would be ok for them to drive, but if they are like completely blind, I would say for the sake of safety for them and for other drivers that they should be able to drive.

lawl. hell no. don't cause more disaster to the traffic.

I definitely don't feel that a person who is legally blind should be allowed to drive. I had a girlfriend who has sight in one eye, she is blind in the other. She wears corrective lens in the eye that she can see out of and the prescription is extremely strong. I do not know how she passed the vision test to get her license, but she did. We live in the State of New York so I really don't understand. Every time I got in the car with her I prayed I would get home in one piece. She could not see things on the side of her and had almost gotten us killed I don't know how many times. She had numerous accidents where she totalled the car and yet still was able to keep her license. Thankfully, no one was ever hurt. The point is SHE NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN BEHIND THE WHEEL OF A CAR!!!