vision in left eye only

[Fide]

Am new to this site so someone kindly point me in the right direction if I'm on wrong board.

I would like to come back to cycling after a few decades. I am quite nervous in general (that's what old age does for you!) but mostly about having sight only in my left eye. (I should point I manage daily life with vision in one eye fine and I am able to drive a car fine too.) It would be so much better if I had sight in the right eye but, as it is, to look back over my shoulder e.g when turning right or pulling out past a parked car, means to turn my head right round so I can see over my right shoulder with my left eye. This is cumbersome and can cause loss of balance. As I say this is one of many reasons making me nervous about returning to regular cycling, but clearly the most important one. If I could deal with this I would be encouraged to deal with the others. I have tried mirrors on the handlebars which are not that effective really as they move when you move the handlebars!

Is there anyone out there cycling with vision only in the LEFT eye? Is it dangerous or is it just a case of lots of practise to increase confidence? After all I did it in my twenties...

[531colin]

Why not look over your left shoulder?

[frank9755]

Have you thought about a mirror?

I'm short sighted in my right eye but don't normally wear glasses / lenses as my left eye takes care of the distance stuff. However, it's not so well placed for looking over the right shoulder. I use a mirror on my utility and touring bikes which I find a great help. There are some good ones nowadays which don't shake or fall off.

I do sometimes look over my left shoulder, especially when turning left, but for the last-minute glance before a right turn, a view down the right side is important.

[fatboy]

I can recommend mirrors. My site in my right eye isn't as good as my left and I use varifocals which go off focus when looking out of the corner of my eye so looking over my shoulder is a pain. However a mirror is dead handy (although it vibrates at speed and becomes less handy). I had a period of double vision and I rode a coupld of times with an eye patch over my right eye. I sort of managed but I hadn't had years to get used to it. I'm sure that you'll be fine.

[MikeMarsUK]

There are a couple of regular riders in my saturday group who each have an eye missing (however my memory isn't good enough to recall which eye). They both use mirrors (as well as shoulder-glances on their good side). They do well enough that it doesn't seem to affect their cycling or confidence in any way (and they both are occasional ride leaders).

Perhaps you could install several mirrors (perhaps one on the handlebars, one on the frame, and one on the helmet) at first, then remove the one(s) which turn out to be less useful?

[byegad]

A glasses or helmet mounted mirror on the left will allow you to scan 180 degrees behind you and safely scan the area you would normally see with your right eye looking over the right shoulder. (The important area you need to check before moving to the right.) I use one on my recumbent trikes as turning your head tends only to be useful if you want to look at the road behind you.

[Fide]

It's encouraging that there seem to be other people who are managing with sight in only one eye.

I like the idea of trying a number of mirrors. I recently saw something called a bike eye which looked interesting.

The helmet mounted mirror with the mirror on the left sounds very promising too. I'm presuming you buy the mirror separately and attach it to your helmet, will go and check this out.

Soon I'll have no excuses for giving it a go!

[Swallow]

A club member has only one eye and manages perfectly well, I suffer from arthritis and have difficulty looking around and wouldn't be without a mirror but make sure you get a good one that doesn't distort the view and be aware they make things appear further away than they actually are

[ferrit worrier]

Are you using "Drops" or straight bars I'm sure there is a mirror that fits in the end of the bar tube? or what about one of those that sits on the down tube, so you can see between your leg and the frame?

Malc

[Nutsey]

My sight is terrible, and I can't ride with glasses on because I have no peripheral vision, so it must be really bad having no sight in the eye at all. I would have to use mirrors if I used my glasses on the bike, but went for contact lenses instead. For you I would second what others have said above - buy mirrors.

[Fide]

I have got a small round mirror on the end of the right handlebar but it feels pretty useless really. Will investigate some different types of mirrors, feeling more encouraged now, thanks.

[larfingravy]

Welcome and I hope you get soem good advice about returning to cycling.

Regarding your limited vision I have to admit that I did not know a person with one eye was still allowed to drive.
I thought the loss of depth of field vision would have precluded you from being issued a driving licence.
No offence intended it is most probably my ignorance of the subject.

[frank9755]

Welcome and I hope you get soem good advice about returning to cycling.

Regarding your limited vision I have to admit that I did not know a person with one eye was still allowed to drive.
I thought the loss of depth of field vision would have precluded you from being issued a driving licence.
No offence intended it is most probably my ignorance of the subject.

The only test of vision in the driving test is still, as far as I am aware, being able to read a number plate at (I think) 50 feet. You can use as many or as few eyes as you like to do so - that is not tested.

[irc]

Welcome and I hope you get soem good advice about returning to cycling.

Regarding your limited vision I have to admit that I did not know a person with one eye was still allowed to drive.
I thought the loss of depth of field vision would have precluded you from being issued a driving licence.
No offence intended it is most probably my ignorance of the subject.

I have a friend who rides technical off road faster than me despite only having one eye. He rock climbs and ice climbs at harder grades than I did when I was climbing. He passed the advanced driving test after losing his eye.

I've no idea how he does the MTB riding and rock climbing where close up vision is important. In normal driving though you should be looking for hazards that are so far away that depth of field/binocular vision doesn't come in to it.

[Fide]

I have only ever had vision in one eye, I take the point about depth of vision but it just doesn't seem to affect my driving (touch wood) and I've been driving for 20 years. The only time I have ever felt disabled by it is when playing ball games and watching 3D films.