A variety of causes contribute to the high occurrence of road accidents, including poor road infrastructure, overspeeding, insufficient enforcement of traffic restrictions, and drivers’ disregard for safety standards.
However, a recently released report highlighted a factor that seemingly flies under the radar; vision impairment.
The report by Vision Spring, titled, “Vision impairment and traffic safety outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” noted that road traffic injuries are the most common cause of mortality among those aged 5–29 years, posing a significant public health risk that might worsen without continuous action.
By 2030, it is projected to be the seventh largest cause of mortality for all age groups.
“Road traffic injuries caused 1.35 million deaths worldwide in 2016, and the burden is especially great in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), with annual fatality rates per 100 000 population of 24.1 in low-income countries, compared with 92 in high-income countries (HICs),” the report reads.
“Globally, although only 60% of cars are driven in LMICs, 93% of traffic deaths occur in these countries. In LMICs, 30–86% of hospital admissions for trauma are due to road crashes,” it adds.
This problem is more prevalent in Nigeria, where the population is vast and urbanization appears to be out speeding the necessary regulations needed to manage such a bustling region.
The report also highlights that a hidden cause of road accidents in the country is visual impairment.
Compared to its neighbor; Ghana, Nigeria has an alarming rate of visually impaired drivers on the road, as per the studies conducted by Vision Spring.
In Nigeria, visual impairment among commercial drivers in 11 (37.9%) studies ranged from 1.2% to 26.1%, and in Ghana from 2.5% to 6.8%.
Monocular blindness ranging from 1.0% to 5.0% was reported among drivers in five studies in Nigeria and one in Ghana.
The report also mentioned other eye problems such as cataract, color vision defects, uncorrected refractive errors (including presbyopia), as major factors contributing to road traffic injuries.
“Although terminology was not defined consistently, the prevalence of visual field defects among drivers varied from 2.0% to 37.3% in ten studies, from 4.0% to 20.4% (second eye) in Nigeria, 6.8% in Ghana (constricted field).
Verma and colleagues reported peripheral defects in 2.0% and altitudinal defects among 21.9%.
There was very little data for prevalence of other vision anomalies among drivers in LMICs: abnormal stereopsis was reported among 18.2% of drivers in Nigeria and 15.4% in Ghana,” the report reads.
“A substantial proportion of drivers included in the studies received licenses without undergoing vision testing, although vision testing was mandatory in all countries included in this review,” the report read.
“The proportion who did not receive vision testing ranged from 10·6% in Ghana to 85·4% in Nigeria,” it added.
