visual fields for DVLA

[Maya18]

hello all,

It’s me again.

So I took a few practice VF tests today at Specsavers. It’s left me confused.

So pls can I ask. How many dark spots (missed spots) can you have and I’m confused as to where these darks can be. I know it’s 120 degrees horizontal and 20 degrees vertical.

I was told today I can only have max of 5 darks spots in the whole vf. I hadn’t read this anywhere and feeling unsure of if to use my results today to appeal.

Any light on this would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[PGLR]

I did read that 55% of appeals succeed. So has to be worth a try if it's necessary. You may well be fine. It's a distressing thinking about losing our licence, I'm already feeling it now. Best wishes and hope it's good news for you.

[Maya18 in reply to PGLR]

Thank you. I’m struggling with not driving. I drive for work so I si need to get my license back. If I’m safe ☺️

[Jazzers]

Hi Maya18, if you were told that you could only miss a max of 5 dots in the whole test, then that was completely wrong. There is no minimum number that you need to acheive for the whole test. Instead, what is critical are the positions of any missed points. The DVLA criteria should be at this link gov.uk/guidance/visual-diso...

You will see that it refers to 2 areas of the field. 1 -The central vision area (20 degrees circle)and the need to minimise the size of any cluster of joined up points (single - not joined up - missed points and clusters up to 3 are deemed likely to be OK)

2- The peripheral field and you need to have 120 degrees, which can be 50 on one side and 70 on the other or 60 and 60. The criteria here is missed points on the meridian line and the detailed acceptance criteria is described on the website attached.

Of course the other criteria for the Esterman test is reliability and you need to have minimum number of false negatives and positives. I don't know the precise criteria for this but perhaps some others do who have had some experience of failing on this criteria.

I am a 'borderline pass' and have been for the last 7 years or so. I tend to miss in excess of 30 points and thankfully have managed to continue to get a 1 year licence, so the information you received regarding a maximum of 5 misses is not correct. As I say, it is where the misses occur and to what extent they form clusters. Have a look at the DVLA website information and if you haven't done so yet, have a look back at many of the previous excellent discussions on this topic on the this forum. I think you'll be more reassured.

I hope all that makes some sense and very best wishes for the real test.

[bathrugby in reply to Jazzers]

I made a conscious effort to have as few false positives as I could. I done this by totally focusing on the centre dot, and concentrating really hard. The technician can tell if your line of vision is moving, as they are observing you during the test. I found this out after a recent VF test during a glaucoma appointment. They informed me that I was wandering , and became close to taking the test again. Good luck, and if in doubt appeal.

[Maya18]

Thankyou for responding. You know, I thought that was incorrect too but then I thought they are the professionals and maybe I missed something.

I’m going to have another bunny test appointment then will pick which ever day I feel can get me through x

She also says they send 3 vfs.

1 without glasses and 2 with??? I’d not heard of this either. I thought they only send the best vf.

Getting lots of different info so feeling overwhelmed x

I’ll have a look at other discussions on here. Thank you so much x

[Jazzers]

My experience has always been that they allow 3 tests. I tend to do one with my varifocals, one with no glasses at all and the final one with reading glasses (the light is only 300mm from your eye so there is an argument that readers are better than distance vision lenses).

However it depends on each individual's eye prescription needs but it is worth being aware that DVLA have said that this is acceptable and don't be put off if you want to use different glasses and experiment to find the best when you do the practice tests. Thickness and position of frame can also be an issue and it is for this reason that DVLA suggest you may do best without glasses.

As Specsavers cannot assess whether a test is successful or not (although they should be able to judge when someone has clearly passed!), they send all 3 to DVLA as they are the ultimate assessors of any test.

[Maya18]

Thank you.

With my previous VF for dvla I had an over 20% false positives I think that’s why I failed as my vfs aren’t looking to bad (to me)

Luckily I did better at my dummy tests. Just need to do better with the dark spots I think!

[Quissy]

Which machine did they use? The one where your eyes follow a red light or the one where you look straight ahead.

[Maya18]

straight ahead x