Driving with impairments
What’s the vision requirement for a driver’s licence?
MTO media liaison Bob Nichols replies:
Ontario G and M class licence applicants must have visual acuity not poorer than 20/50, with or without corrective lenses. There’s also a horizontal visual field requirement, but this may be waived if applicant demonstrates on a road test that they can compensate and drive safely. Can deaf people drive? It seems dangerous not hearing outside noises, but I wouldn’t be surprised if political correctness has won out over public safety.
Eric Lai, who served for a decade as a Red Cross volunteer assisting differently-able persons and can communicate in sign language, replies:
I think this is a “teachable moment” for everyone on hurtful assumptions versus true abilities.
Many hearing people make the uneducated assumption that deaf people can’t or shouldn’t drive as they would endanger others since they can’t hear sirens, horns or other traffic.
In reality, a comprehensive U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study shows that deaf motorists are statistically safer drivers than their hearing counterparts. Additionally, since they rely heavily on sight for information cues, deaf people generally have better-developed peripheral vision, which complements a visual task such as driving. MTO states that deaf drivers pass the same tests as everyone else for an Ontario G-class licence, and the Insurance Bureau of Canada advises that hearing isn’t a factor for auto insurance.
You might be surprised to learn that it’s actually a misconception that “deaf” people hear nothing. Few with hearing loss are totally deaf. Most have some degree of hearing and may be able to detect extreme noises or frequencies, such as planes, trains or sirens nearby.
Additionally, wide-angle rear and side mirrors can bolster the view of surrounding traffic, and electronic devices can visually alert drivers to sirens or horns.
Deaf people, in everyday life, are naturally more alert to visual cues for information, such as emergency lights in rearview mirrors or surrounding traffic pulling over.
Nearly one in four Canadians will experience hearing loss in their lifetime. But they won’t lose their licence because of it. For the record, an association advocating for hearing impaired people was invited to comment and present the viewpoint of the deaf community but no reply was received. Email your nonmechanical questions to Eric Lai at wheels@thestar.ca. Due to the volume of mail, personal replies cannot be provided. Freelance writer Eric Lai’s Auto Know column appears each Saturday in Toronto Star Wheels. For more Toronto Star Wheels stories, go to thestar.com/autos. To reach Wheels editor Norris McDonald: nmcdonald@thestar.ca