Colour blind may now be eligible for a driving license

According to a media report, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) is preparing draft norms that could allow colour blind people to drive private cars and those with mild or moderate colour vision deficiency to drive commercial vehicles.

The norms are being prepared after a panel of ophthalmologists from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) gave their recommendations on this issue. Colour blindness is the inability or reduced ability to perceive colour differences in normal light conditions. It is reported that the panel found that the European Union has dropped the provision of colour blindness for applying for a driving license while in the United States, colour blind applicants are not issued commercial vehicle licenses.

Colour blindness could affect around 3% of the population in India and the prevalence of congenital colour blindness is about 8% in males and 0.4% in females.

Source