Role of ECP and Elderly Drivers

"Most eye doctors consider it their responsibility to ask older patients about driving problems, but this hit-or-miss approach may not be nearly enough to clear the roads of unsafe elderly drivers, new research suggests,” reports Midwest Lens. “By 2020, as the U.S. population ages, the number of drivers over age 65 will reach 40 million, according to the study. Many will have failing vision, reduced mobility and perhaps cloudy thinking, thus posing a serious public health issue, the researchers said. For two new studies, researchers surveyed more than 400 ophthalmologists and optometrists in Michigan with patients older than 65. The researchers asked the doctors for their views on whether to ask patients about driving, how to decide if a patient’s vision is inadequate and whether they referred patients to primary care physicians.” Read more