Police escort for contact lens driver

Archives Admin · #1 (**permalink**) 08-09-2005, 01:05 PM

A motorist was asked to drive under police escort to an optometrist to prove he was wearing contact lenses.

"I couldn't believe it," Silverstream writer Michael Romanos said, after being pulled over by Wellington area traffic boss Senior Sergeant Richard Hocken for not wearing a seatbelt while on his way to do some shopping yesterday.

A condition of his licence is that he wears either glasses or contact lenses while driving.

"He asked me to prove I was wearing contacts and when I said I wasn't going to take them out, that I needed to have wetting solution to put them back in, he said he would follow me to an optician . . ."

He then drove to optometrist Raymond Mah, whose business is several kilometres north of where he was stopped in Fergusson Drive, followed by Mr Hocken.

Mr Romanos wears hard lenses which are smaller than soft lenses, and more difficult to see. He is "almost totally blind" without them.

"I went along as a bit of a lark but I wasn't very happy."

Mr Hocken said that, legally, he could not force Mr Romanos to accompany him. It was the first time he had asked a motorist to go to an optometrist to prove they were wearing contacts.

Drivers wearing lenses usually "wiggled them with a finger" or "popped one out" if requested, he said.

"I had not been able to reasonably confirm Mr Romanos was wearing them. The issue he had was getting it back in, so it just seemed like the most pragmatic way of dealing with it. I didn't want him to take one out and then drive without it. That would have been defeating the purpose."

Receptionist Janice Wagstaff said yesterday's incident was the first of its kind in the 20 years she had been working at an optometrist.

She had given Mr Romanos tissues and solution, "but whether he used it or not I don't know. It was the first thing that happened on Monday morning. I could tell he wasn't particularly happy."

He received a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt.

Snitgirl · #2 (**permalink**) 08-18-2005, 01:30 AM

hilarious!! Guess he should've just put his seat belt on in the first place!

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Police escort for contact lens driver

Contact Lenses