Purpose: To evaluate the significance of vision-related problems in fatal motor vehicle accidents (FMVAs) based on a systematic investigation process by multidisciplinary road accident investigation teams (RAITs).
Methods: Retrospective registry-based study of all FMVAs during the years 2012-2016 in Finland in which driver causing the accident had a valid Finnish driving licence and the operated motor vehicle required having a driving licence.
Results: There were a total of 968 FMVAs. In only 1.3% of all the accidents, a vision-related problem was considered to have contributed to the FMVA, while an observational failure of 23.6% was the leading cause of all the FMVAs.
Conclusions: Eye-originating vision problems are rarely a causative risk for FMVAs in Finland. Making current visual standards more stringent would unlikely to be effective in FMVA prevention.
Keywords: evaluation; observational failure; ophthalmology assessment; road accident; traffic medicine.
© 2020 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.