Motorcycle Consumer News

MOST MOTORCYCLISTS CAN see, although there is a Blind Motorcycle Speed Record group (search You-Tube). Billy Baxter, Stuart Gunn and Ben Felten are working on setting the record. Still, the rest of us count on vision when we ride.

Motorcycling poses various threats to vision, including eye injury. I’ve been impacted at freeway speeds by pebbles, rocks, tumbleweeds, and once, a crow, at about

80 mph. Damage can sometimes be repaired, but it’s recommended to stick with your OEM body parts as long as possible, by protecting them.

The current standard for impact protection in eyewear is ANSI Z87.1- 2015, similar to Snell certification for helmets. The standard was updated most recently in 2015, and before that, 2010 and 2003. High-velocity-im-pact-protection-rated eyewear adds a plus (+) sign on both the lens and frame. If manufactured after 2010, look for Z87+ marking for high impact; without it, the lens provides a lower level of impact protection. Safety glasses with a plus are designed to withstand impact by a quarter-inch steel ball at 150 fps, or 102 mph. That sounds adequate. In addition, face shields are often labeled VESC- 8, tested by a 1.56-ounce steel projectile with a conical point striking the shield at 20 mph, which must not penetrate. A video of the testing: youtu.be/1dyKSyyDcxU.

PHYSICAL INJURY CAN cause the lens in your eye to become less clear, but other causes are much more common.

Cataracts (foggy eye lenses) cause about
half the cases of blindness world-
wide—about four-times that of second
place, glaucoma (high eye pressure). A
common cause of cataracts is ultravio-
let (UV) light exposure—a problem for
motorcyclists. Most of us have some-
thing between our eyes and the sun, but
only sunglasses labeled U2 or higher
block sunlight’s UV. Most faceshields
also block UV—it’s always best to verify.

MOST CATARACTS OCCUR with age, when the clear lens gradually becomes less transparent, often yellow or brownish. Fixing them is a relatively painless and low risk surgery, which is why cataracts cause a lower percentage of blindness in developed countries. Statistics indicate that patients are happier with the results of cataract surgery than any other kind of surgery.

Before we had modern anesthesia and surgical techniques, cataracts were treated by puncturing the eyeball with a pointed object and pushing the lens out of place until it fell to the bottom of the eye. This was called “couching” and didn’t work especially well. Johann Sebastian Bach had it done in both eyes, then died (blind) within four months. George Frideric Handel had the same procedure, and lost his vision the next year. Clearly, there was room for improvement.

Modern cataract surgery started after
WWII, when Dr. Harold Ridley noted
that acrylic plastic (Plexiglas) frag-
ments in the eyes of WWII aviators
didn’t cause inflammatory reactions.
He invented the intraocular rigid
lens, which was a huge improve-
ment on the “Coke-bottle” glasses
required previously, after removing
the cloudy lens. A folding lens came
later, requiring only a tiny incision in
the eyeball, allowing patients to go
home the same day.

AS WITH MOST things, there are
several choices for lens implants.
Monofocal, or fixed focus lenses,
are most common. Since their focus
cannot be changed by the eye mus-
cles like that of a normal lens, most
people use glasses for either reading or
distance. However, some people have a
distance lens implanted into in one eye,
and a reading lens in the other. Before
doing so, patients often wear glasses
that give the same effect, to see how
well they tolerate different lenses. Some
newer lenses can see both near and far.
One is called accommodating and the
other is multifocal. There are advan-
tages and disadvantages to each, best
explained by your ophthalmologist.
This reminds me of a rider I saw in the
70s wearing sunglasses and a bath-
ing suit, leaning against the backpack
bungeed to the sissy bar, hands behind
his head, with both bare feet on the han-
dlebars. It was reassuring to see he was
sensible enough to wear eye protection.
You should be at least as sensible and
I hope this article encourages you to
protect your eyes from injury and ultra-
violet. Z87+ UV-rated glasses are readily
available for less than $10 online. I use a
tinted pair for daytime and a clear pair
for night riding. MCN