I'm actually the last person who should be answering this question, since I am guilty of driving longer than I should have. I drove for 9 years after I was diagnosed as being "Legally Blind". In all fairness I could see well enough, even though I was "Legally Blind". There comes a time when you have to ask yourself "Do ya feel lucky, punk, well do ya?" (For those who aren't familiar with that saying, it's from a Clint Eastwood movie). I was lucky, very lucky. I eventually hit someone, after countless close calls. I'm sure we've all had close calls haven't we? It was my good fortune that he wasn't hurt, you may not be so lucky. I decided at that point to start to change my life so I wouldn't have to drive, and risk the chance of killing someone. I've been reading a lot of stories from people who describe there vision and how they feel uncomfortable driving. Let me tell you, these people should not be driving at all. The one thing all VIP's go through in the beginning, is denial. Think of it this way. You get up on a beautiful Saturday morning, with your partner, have breakfast, and talk about what you are going to do for the rest of your life. There's no milk left, so you decide to drive to the store and buy some. There you are driving along, thinking that your life isn't as good as you would like, but it's still better than most. All of a sudden WHAMO!, you just ran over a pedestrian! They stepped off the curb, right in front of you. You didn't see them at all, and we all know why. You've just seriously injured that person, or even worse, YOU'VE KILLED THEM! How wonderful is your life going to be NOW! So, should you be driving? Only you can answer that question. Stubbornness can be useful, or it can lead to STUPID mistakes that ruin your life. Think about it.

Do I or don't I

Wrestling with the truth

Inge Malone

Now down to 110 degrees of vision, I have hit the RP stage of questioning the safety of driving. This is a huge, personal decision that one can only make for oneself, and a very difficult one as you tell (rather, FOOL) yourself: "Hey! I'm not THAT blind, yet." Unfortunately, I have a bad problem with backing out of parking spaces, because try as I might, I still can't see all of my blind spots (of which there are many!). In the past several weeks, I have almost backed over enough people to count on one hand....okay, TWO hands...and after visiting Geof's site, it fully occurred to me that one day I might back over a CHILD. What an awakening! -- as it should be for EVERY RP VICTIM who is questioning the safety of driving! One thing that helped me immensely was to start backing INTO parking spaces, so I get the fullest view possible going out. Amazing! (Now, if I could just learn how to back into a slot without crunching off the neighboring car's bumper...) Another important tip: ALWAYS make sure your car's windshield wiper fluid level is FULL. There is nothing more terrifying than being on an unfamiliar road after dark, rush hour traffic, it starts to rain, your windshield turns in to a blur of red and white lights, you CAN'T SEE WHERE THE ROAD IS, and voila! -- no windshield wiper fluid (for which my hubby is still in the doghouse!)! I would like to correspond with anyone who would like to share driving concerns and methods of making it safer for all of us.