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Show Thousands of accidents occur on highways at night . Many are caused by drivers who have trouble seeing in the dark BY GLENN KITTLER very night, the eyesight of some five million will become impaired to the extent their affliction can cost lives. These are victims of nyctalopia: the inability to see in dim light. An additional five million Americans probably suffer from the same condition periodically. And most of these ten million victims dont know that they have it. g If while you cant see a turn in the road until you are on it, if you cant read road signs as you pass them, if the lights of oncoming cars distract yoi, if you have trouble finding your seat in a theater, if after being in a dark room for two or three minutes you must still grope your way and if you have difficulty discerning objects across the street when you step out into the night, youve got it. The danger about nyctalopia is that the peowho have it think its normal to have difficulty ple the dark. It is, but the person with norin teeing mal vision should be able to see adequately in a matter of a few minutes. But unless the nyctalope is on a long night drive or finds himself stranded in a theater aisle or must fumble too long for a light switch, he isnt troubled much by his condition and he doesnt feel its anything serious. He is, therefore, unaware of the really serious trouble riot only with his eyes but with his he is in Tliis night-blindne- ss night-drivin- entire system. - - - - - The medical problem with night blindness is that doctors cant diagnose it unless the victim specifically complains about his weakened vision in dim light. Nyctalopia doesn't cause any observable changes in the tissues involved in seeing, so when a doctor beams a light into your eye to examine the interior structure he cant tell whether youve got it or not. People with 2020 vision can and do have it. Thus a nyctalope can get a drivers license, a pilots license, even pass his Armed Forces physical examination and be considered fit for night combat simply because the various tests are given by day or in rooms. well-light- ed Avoidable accidentt The threats to human life created by night blindness are tragically obvious. The National Safety Council reports that during 1964 there were 22,400 automobile accident deaths a day during the daylight hours. At night, despite the great decrease in traffic, there were 25,300 deaths although many of these were due to other causes, such as driving while intoxicated. The death rates are even more indicative. In cities, there were two vehicle miles; at deaths by day per night there were seven on the illuminated streets. In rural areas, there were five deaths by day, and at night, again despite a great decrease in 100-milli- on -- vv . traffic, there were 13 deaths on the dark highways. And the threats to lije are not limited to car accidents. Because they cant see where they are going in the dark, nyctcdopes are more prone to injure themselves, even fatally, through any number of accidents in the home as well as out of it. Moreover, the Pentagon has records of combat pilots who shot down American planes because they couldnt recognize them during night attacks. The real tragedy is that deaths and injuries due to night blindness might have been avoided if the victims of it had the slightest idea that their subnormal vision was an ailment which could probably be cured as easily as a headache. The retina, the third and innermost layer of eye tissue, is a complex network for nerve fibers which fan out from a central area at the rear of the eye. Concentrated at the back of the eye are two types of nerve cells, called cones and rods. The, cones distinguish color and detail and pick up faraway objects; the rods, which are situated in a circle around the cones, are color blind, perceiving only shades of gray, and are used for peripheral vision seeing out of the comer of your eye and being aware of objects to the sides of the specific object you are looking at. Though both cones and rods function in daylight, the cones do most of the work, but as the illumination dims the cones lose (to ago . THIS WEEK Mogotin $ptbr 12, 143 -- . 7 |
