The Singapore Family Physician

Back to issue Vol 39 No. 1 - Sexual Health

Practical Assessment of Colour Vision to Certify Fitness for Driving

Phoon Kwong Yun Ian
Chang Wei Tee
The Singapore Family Physician Vol 39 No 1 - Sexual Health
63 - 66
1 January 2013
0377-5305
A patient with red-green colour blindness came to the polyclinic for a medical examination for the purpose of applying for a vocational driving license. He had been driving a private vehicle for years. As he could not read all the plates in the Ishihara, the attending doctor decided not to certify him fit, but referred him to an ophthalmologist. This upset the patient. A review of the guidelines suggests that for colour-blind patients, the Ishihara should not be the standard to assess a patient’s fitness to drive. We propose a simple colour chart that is more practical for this purpose.