The new eyesight requirements set by European Union for heavy good vehicle and passenger transport drivers were implemented in the beginning of September 2011. The requirements comprise for example visual acuity, visual fields and contrast sensitivity. Taxi drivers must meet those requirements.

The purpose of our thesis was to investigate the high and low contrast visual acuities of taxi drivers in the Oulu area. We wanted to find out if the acuities changed when measured in laboratory and in real working environment. In addition the aim was to examine if the visual acuities met the requirements set for the passenger transport drivers.

We used the quantitative method in our study. We measured the visual acuity of 34 taxi drivers. The visual acuities were measured with Lea Numbers Test using the test charts with 100 % and 2,5 % contrast. We analyzed the material using the IBM SPSS 19 programme.

The findings revealed that the visual acuities measured with high contrast test chart were good or excellent. When comparing the visual acuities measured in laboratory and working environment we found out that in 28 eyes out of total 68 eyes the high contrast visual acuity changed notably. The low contrast visual acuity changed with 22 taxi drivers. The new requirements were met well.