Now that the kids are back in school, we all finally have a chance to breathe…which is obviously NOT the case! I would say our schedules are “full,” but that feels like an understatement. Overflowing is probably more accurate. Between pick-ups, drop-offs, practices, quick dinners, and last-minute schedule changes, we are on the road A LOT. And over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed what seems like more wrecks than I can ever remember. So many, in fact, that it’s become a routine topic of conversation in our car.
The kids ask, “Why are there so many wrecks?” “What happened?” or simply, “Why?” Most of the time, we don’t know. There are countless reasons accidents happen—distractions, weather, traffic, fatigue, and plenty of others. But as an eye doctor, there’s one that naturally comes to mind: you have to be able to see well to drive safely.
Interestingly, wrecks aren’t the only thing I’ve noticed more of lately. I’ve also seen a surprising number of patients who don’t have backup glasses. Sometimes it’s a contact lens wearer who tells me, “I don’t wear glasses.” Sometimes it’s a kid who routinely breaks or loses their glasses. And sometimes it’s simply someone whose old pair is so outdated that they can’t really function in them anymore.
Here’s the problem: contacts tear. Eyes get irritated. Glasses break. Frames get lost. And these things rarely happen at a convenient time. We’ve even had patients drive themselves to our office because something happened to their contacts or glasses and they had no backup option. We’re just one eye doctor’s office, so I have to imagine this happens everywhere.
All of that to say: if you don’t have a good pair of backup glasses, consider this your reminder.
You may wear contacts 99% of the time. You may never lose your glasses. You may think you’ll never need that second pair. And hopefully you won’t. But backup glasses are one of those things you don’t need—until you really need them. Keep a pair somewhere safe, make sure the prescription is reasonably current, and if the day comes when your contacts or primary glasses aren’t an option, please don’t get behind the wheel if you can’t see clearly. I certainly hope missing backup glasses isn’t contributing to all those wrecks we’ve been seeing. But either way, this is one very simple problem we can all prevent.
Drive safe. Keep a backup. And See Sharp.
