Vision Assessment of Drivers of Passenger Service Vehicles Operating across Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality

The main purpose of the study is to establish the vision of the drivers of Passenger Service Vehicles operating across Bushenyi – Ishaka municipality in Uganda. A cross-sectional descriptive study with both quantitative and qualitative techniques was used. Semi structured questionnaires were administered to 392 participants and the data was analysed at three (3) different levels; Univariate, to find out the proportion of respondents with reduced vision for driving, Bivariate, to assess the effect of individual factors on accident involvement & Multivariate, to assess for the effect of the potential confounding variables. Participants underwent eye examinations comprising visual acuity, colour vision test using Ishihara Pseudo-Isochromatic plates, confrontational visual fields, external and internal Ocular eye health examinations. 87% of the drivers of Passenger Service Vehicles met the visual requirement for driving (visual acuity greater than 6/9 in both eyes) while 13% had inadequate vision for driving (visual acuity less than 6/9 in both eyes). The commonest cause of reduced vision was refractive error (71%) and the factors associated with it according to the respondents were the family history of blindness, old age and accidents (trauma). Poor visual acuity was significantly associated with road traffic accidents (P-0.004). This study implies that the number of operators of passenger service vehicles in Bushenyi District with visual acuity less than 6/9 for driving is high and the level of awareness and utilization of eye care services by the drivers of Passenger Service Vehicles in Bushenyi is low.