Traffic regulations provide for obligations and prohibitions that often imply fines for endangering other road users, and also ourselves. Drivers receive 80% of the information while behind the wheel through their eyes: seeing well is therefore an important issue. So much so that There are many drivers with vision problems who decide to correct them by undergoing surgery. A movement that implies certain procedures such as passing a recognition or notifying the DGT: otherwise, they will continue to face a fine of 200 euros.
On the back of the driver’s license are the types of permits that its owner has. And not only that: there is also room for observations in section ’12’. It is there where it is specified whether the person necessarily needs glasses (01.01), contact lenses (01.02), covering one eye (01.05), glasses or contact lenses (01.06) or a specific optical aid (01.07).
The absence of any of these combinations informs the authorities that the driver does not need any supplement for their vision to be correct. Nevertheless, If one of these codes appears and you do not carry it, you will be committing a serious offense punishable by a fine of 200 euros. If you don’t have spare ones, nothing will happen: it is no longer mandatory, although it is recommended.
Have eye surgery… and drive
Glasses, contact lenses or other aids are not the only ways to correct vision. As we said before, there are drivers who decide to have surgery to eliminate nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism and, thus, do without these accessories. That retouching with which the defects of our vision disappear implies a series of procedures necessary for these codes to disappear from the card. If we ignore this process, an agent can penalize us for not carrying them. And no, a receipt from your doctor will not work.
Those drivers who have undergone surgery to correct their vision, have to renew their license. To do this, you have to go to an authorized Driver Recognition Center to pass the recognition and, together with the report of the ophthalmologist who performed the operation, communicate it to the General Directorate of Traffic since it is a modification in our psychophysical conditions.
a month without driving
We must also do so within certain deadlines: you have to wait a month after the medical intervention to start all the procedures because these operations can have secondary effects on vision. In this way, we preserve our road safety and that of other road users. In the case of having a Group 2 permit (C1, C1 + E, C, C + E, D1, D1 + E, D, D + E), the wait must be three months.
This is how he establishes General Regulations for Drivers: “After one month of refractive surgery, providing a report of the intervention, the permit or license may be obtained or extended, with a maximum validity period of one year. After one year from the date of the intervention, and taking into account the pre-surgical refractive defect, the current refraction and the possible existence of unwanted side effects, the subsequent validity period will be set at the ophthalmological criteria.
One year of validity
After this waiting time and with the two documents in our possession (certificate of recognition and report of the operation), the DGT will issue a new driver’s license without the code for glasses or contact lenses. This permit will only be valid for one year. to anticipate the pre-surgical refractive error, the refraction at that moment and the possible existence of secondary effects.
Twelve months after the intervention, the driver will have to go through an examination center again: there the ophthalmologist will establish the validity period of the driving license. From that moment on, in subsequent renewals the code will no longer appear on the back of the permit… and there will no longer be any risk of sanctions.
