Wearing glasses for driving.

[Rob Roy]

I've noticed various passing comments about keeping a spare pair of glasses in the car if you normally wear them when driving. I've never come across this before, can anyone elaborate please.

[nomoss]

Nothing about it on my Permis [:)]

[andyh4]

Required in many countries of Europe but not the UK - Germany Holland and I believe Belgium for starters.

The basis is that if you take your glasses off and sit on them (or otherwise make them unusable), you still have a pair to drive safely

 

EDIT: Nomoss you have to declare whether you are a glasses wearer when you exchange/renew your licence.  Where or if that is encryped in the licence I know not.

[YCCMB]

With the amount of extraneous stuff I apparently need to carry with me in my car "just in case" I end up  myopic and inebriated, broken down in the dark on a busy yet narrow road during a blizzard in a drought, I am wondering whether I need a bigger car or if I should invest in a trailer.

[woolybanana]

Better take off your glasses when you drive , so you dont see all those nasty signs and situations.

 

[sid]

My understanding is that if your licence indicates that you wear glasses for driving then you must have them, in fact must be wearing them, when you drive. I've never heard of having to have a spare pair, but this is recommended; you could break your normal pair by sitting on them etc.

If you wear contact lenses instead of glasses, (and your licence is marked as needing a "dispositif") then I understood that you should carry a spare pair of glasses of the same prescription in case of loss or breakage.

However I've tried to find the relevent Code de la Route if there is one (come back Sunday Driver!)  but found this instead :

 http://droit-medical.com/perspectives/la-forme/532-legislation-conduite-automobile-lentilles-contact 

The final paragraph "Un conseil de bon sens, pas une obligation" sums it up.

 

[Rob Roy]

Thanks. Since I wear glasses all the time sitting on them is highly unlikely, in fact could be well nigh impossible![:-))]

[Rob Roy]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]With the amount of extraneous stuff I apparently need to carry with me in my car "just in case" I end up  myopic and inebriated, broken down in the dark on a busy yet narrow road during a blizzard in a drought, I am wondering whether I need a bigger car or if I should invest in a trailer.
[/quote]

I think you've just about summed it up Betty![:D]

[sid]

[quote user="Rob Roy"]Thanks. Since I wear glasses all the time sitting on them is highly unlikely, in fact could be well nigh impossible![:-))][/quote]

[:D]  I have to admit that the same thought crossed my mind, but I couldn't think of a better example.

I'm in the contact lens category, but I always carry a pair of specs in the car anyway in case my eye gets irritated (as opposed to me getting irritated when driving!). [;-)]

Having been stopped several times for document checks and breath testing, none of the Gendarmes has ever noticed that I'm not wearing glasses or questioned it. My licence photo shows me with glasses, and of course there is the "dispositif" note on there too.

[Jonzjob]

[quote user="Rob Roy"]Thanks. Since I wear glasses all the time sitting on them is highly unlikely, in fact could be well nigh impossible![:-))][/quote]

I can't even stand on my head now, neber mind sit on it [:-))]

I don't really need glasses and I only use mine when I want to see anything [8-)]

Betty, we would be totally lost without our trailer. I mean where else would we carry all these essentials?[8-|]

[allanb]

According to the link given by Sid, it used to be a requirement for contact lens wearers to have a pair of glasses available as well, but the requirement was removed in 1997.  Seems strange to me; I think it's quite a sensible rule and I'm surprised that it was relaxed.

Incidentally, I've needed corrective lenses for many decades, but I can't find any mention of it on my licence; how is it normally shown?  I'm just curious – I normally wear contacts and the photograph shows me without glasses, so there would be nothing for a policeman to get excited about.

[YCCMB]

I can't tell you which one, but it's reflected in one of the letters of the alphabet which appear to show the categories of vehicle you're permitted to drive. I only know this because I have a Russian student, resident in the UK, who recently had to take her UK test to obtain a UK licence as she's been in the UK for over a year. She took her test on an automatic and was wondering where it showed on her licence that she was restricted to driving only automatics as a consequence, and we compared licences and did a bit of googling and found that the letters on your licence conceal all sorts of useful "extra" information.

[sid]

AllanB, are you asking about a French or a UK licence?

The back page of my French licence looks like this: 

[IMG]http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k611/basstrom79/forum%20pics/licencebackpage.jpg[/IMG]

and the application form for a French driving licence asks you whether you wear glasses (or contact lenses).

 

[YCCMB]

Sid, it's numbers on the UK licence as well. Possibly even the same ones...I don't know without going through a google rigmarole. However, on the UK licence, I think there's just the numbers and you have to search the web to find out what they mean. From  memory, they don't elaborate much, even on the paper counterpart.

[Rob Roy]

Betty, I've just Googled to find out and it's only numbers if you've a licence issued since 1997. I've still got the old style pink paper one and there is no catagory for "eyesight correction" as they call it, which is now '01' in the numbers list.

https://www.gov.uk/driving-licence-codes

[YCCMB]

No, I didn't think there was anything on the old paper ones...although I replaced mine when the sellotape holding it together along the creases went crisp [:D]. I know there's something on mine now, so in theory there must be a record of the fact that you need glasses, because I didn't have to supply that information when I changed to the new-style licence, meaning that somewhere in the annals of the DVLC is a record of the fact that I wear glasses, or did at the time of taking my driving test.

Come to think of it, if you take your test at 17 when your eyesight (like the rest of you) is in far better shape, then I guess the fact that you may wear glasses in later life never makes it onto your licence records? Hmm...

[allanb]

Sid: it's a French one, issued in exchange for a Luxembourg one, and it's the old paper type (falling apart and repaired with sellotape, in the usual style.)   Under "restrictions" it shows "70 L" on two of the lines: once for A and once for B; apparently I'm not authorized for anything beyond B.

The back page, where you have 7 lines, only has two: "70 ECH." with a number and a date, and "L LUXEMBOURG".  I presume that ECH means échangé.

So it looks as though my eyesight isn't mentioned on the licence, which is consistent with what Rob Roy wrote, since the preceding licence was issued a very long time ago.   I won't lose any sleep over it.