Mild to medium colour blind people will now get a license to drive

Colour blindness is no longer a barrier for getting a license to drive private vehicles. The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has issued a notification in this matter for necessary amendments to motor vehicle norms.

People with mild to moderate colour blindness can now get a license to drive license. The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has issued a notification in this over two months after a panel of ophthalmologists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, gave recommendations in this regard.

The Ministry has now asked for the suitable amendments to be made to motor vehicle norms. In a statement it said:

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a notification for amendment to the Form 1 and Form 1A of the Central Motor Vehicles (CMV) Rules, 1989 for enabling the citizens with mild to medium colour blindness in obtaining the driving licence. – Road Transport and Highways Ministry

No such barriers in other countries

This decision is one among many measures taken by the ministry to enable people with disabilities to avail transport-related services, especially relating to getting a driving licence. An advisory for people with monocular vision has also been issued.

The step comes after many groups reached out to the government highlighting the difficulties faced by colour blind people in getting a driving license even even as they were able to meet all other criteria, except identifying colours. The various rules regarding declaration about physical fitness (FORM 1) or the medical certificate (FORM 1A) made it hard, said the ministry.

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The matter was then taken up with medical experts who gave their advice. “The recommendations were to allow mild to medium colour blind citizens to be allowed to drive and put restrictions only on the severe colour blind citizens from driving,” said the statement. This is in line with other countries.

Colour blindness or colour vision deficiency is the inability or decreased ability to perceive differences in colour under normal light conditions. In India, the n India, prevalence of congenital colour blindness is about 8% in males and 0.4% in females. The AIIMS panel found that European Union has dropped the provision of colour blindness to obtain driving licenses while in the United States such licenses are not issued for driving commercial vehicles.

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