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Vision Tests Help Decrease New Mexico Car Crashes

The clarity of your vision can change at any time in your life, and in order to avoid car crashes, drivers need to have their eyes checked at least once a year. The numbers of drivers over sixty-five years of age continues to increase, and it is expected that these drivers’ risk for accidents will increase as well due to their failing eye sight. The CDC indicates that car accidents in New Mexico and in the rest of the nation are the leading cause of injury to seniors between the ages of sixty-five and seventy-five.

It is very important for older drivers to see their optometrist or ophthalmologist regularly for a vision test in order for them to keep their driver’s licenses and their sense of independence. Unfortunately, many states have relaxed rules regarding vision screenings for older drivers renewing their driver’s licenses. New Mexico, however, has more frequent vision-screening requirements for elderly drivers than most states. According to the New Mexico Department of Motor Vehicles (MVD), senior drivers have to renew their driver’s licenses in person every year after the age of 75.

A vision test is conducted during the course of the examination, and in some cases a written test is required for senior citizens. The New Mexico MVD accepts 20/40 vision in at least one eye. This standard is acceptable with or without corrected vision, and many people can get their eyesight corrected with glasses, contacts, or LASIK surgery.

These vision tests are a preventative measure for elderly drivers and other motorists, taken in order to help minimize car accidents in New Mexico.

If you have been injured in a car accident in New Mexico, call the law office of Keller & Keller today and speak directly with a New Mexico personal injury attorney at (505) 938-2300.