You can usually drive with 20/70 vision, but whether you need a restricted license depends on whether 20/70 is your uncorrected number or the best your eyes can do with glasses or contacts. If corrective lenses bring you to 20/40 or better in your stronger eye, you qualify for a standard license in nearly every state, with a corrective lens restriction noted on the card. If 20/70 is your best corrected acuity, most states will still license you, but only under a restricted license that limits when, where, and how fast you can drive.
The 20/40 Standard Most States Use
All 50 states require a vision test for driver licensing, and almost all of them set the minimum best corrected visual acuity at 20/40 in the better eye for a standard, unrestricted license.1EyeWiki. Driving Restrictions per State Three states are more lenient: Georgia accepts 20/60, and New Jersey and Wyoming set the bar at 20/50.2American Medical Association. Legal Vision Requirements for Drivers in the United States
So the question that matters is which 20/70 you have. Uncorrected 20/70 is a routine prescription range, and glasses or contacts can typically push you well past 20/40. You drive normally, with a corrective lens restriction on the license that requires you to wear them behind the wheel. Best corrected 20/70, where your vision tops out at 20/70 even with the right prescription, is the harder situation. That number falls below the standard-license threshold in all but three states, so you’re looking at a restricted license or no license at all, depending on where you live.
Restricted Licenses for 20/70 Best Corrected Vision
Many states let you drive on a restricted license when your best corrected acuity sits between 20/40 and 20/70. The most common restriction is daylight-only driving. Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Oregon all follow some version of this pattern. Other states layer on more conditions. Montana caps restricted drivers at 55 mph on interstates and 45 mph elsewhere and prohibits driving in bad weather. North Carolina limits drivers at 20/70 to roads with speed limits of 45 mph or less and bars interstate highways entirely.1EyeWiki. Driving Restrictions per State
The qualifying range isn’t uniform either. Massachusetts issues restricted licenses for corrected vision between 20/50 and 20/70. Pennsylvania’s restricted range runs from 20/70 to 20/100. Texas allows restrictions at 20/70 based on a vision specialist’s recommendation, which can include daytime-only driving, speed caps, or other tailored conditions.1EyeWiki. Driving Restrictions per State Not every state offers a restricted option at 20/70, so your DMV or an optometrist familiar with local rules is the right place to confirm what’s available where you live.
What Restrictions Look Like on the License
When a state issues a restricted license for reduced vision, the restrictions are printed on the card itself, and violating them is treated like driving without a valid license. The restrictions you’re most likely to see:
- Corrective lenses required. Most states use a “B” code, meaning you must wear glasses or contacts any time you drive. A citation can follow if you’re caught without them, and repeated violations can lead to suspension in some states.
- Daylight driving only, often defined as a half-hour after sunrise to a half-hour before sunset.
- Speed caps, commonly at 45 or 55 mph, which effectively keep you off high-speed highways.
- An outside rearview mirror on the side of the weaker eye, if there’s a significant difference between eyes.
- Road-type limits that prohibit freeway or interstate driving.
These are enforceable by any officer who pulls you over. Driving at night with a daylight-only restriction is a citable offense on its own, even if nothing else about your driving is a problem.
Peripheral Vision Can Disqualify You Separately
Acuity gets most of the attention, but peripheral vision is a separate test with its own cutoff. Most states require a horizontal visual field of roughly 110 to 140 degrees using both eyes, though the exact number varies.1EyeWiki. Driving Restrictions per State A driver with normal vision has about 180 degrees, so the threshold is roughly 60 to 75 percent of a full field. If you have functional vision in only one eye, the requirement is usually narrower, around 70 degrees temporal and 35 degrees nasal in the seeing eye.
This matters for 20/70 drivers because the conditions that reduce acuity, including macular degeneration, cataracts, and diabetic retinopathy, often narrow the visual field as well. You could clear the acuity bar for a restricted license and still fail the field test, which disqualifies you regardless of acuity. Glasses and contacts sharpen the image inside your existing field; they can’t widen it.
Bioptic Telescopic Lenses
If standard correction can’t get you to 20/40, bioptic telescopic lenses are a second route. These are small telescopes mounted in the upper portion of regular eyeglass lenses. You look through the regular lens most of the time and briefly tilt your head to glance through the telescope to read a sign or spot a distant detail. All but a few states allow driving with bioptics.
Rules vary, but a typical setup requires that your acuity through the carrier lens meets a floor around 20/100, and your acuity through the telescope reaches at least 20/40 to 20/60. Many states require training with a certified bioptic driving instructor, a road test with an examiner experienced in evaluating bioptic drivers, and ongoing specialist evaluations. First-year restrictions are common and often include daylight-only driving, speed limits, and no highway driving. After several years of a clean record, some states let you petition to remove certain restrictions.
Iowa, Utah, and Connecticut are among the states that don’t allow bioptic driving. If you’re licensed with bioptics in a state that does permit them, interstate reciprocity generally lets you drive with those lenses elsewhere. Asking your eye doctor whether bioptic evaluation makes sense is a reasonable next step if conventional lenses leave you short of the restricted-license threshold.
If You Fail the DMV Vision Screening
Failing the DMV’s vision test isn’t the end of the process. In most states, you’ll be referred to an optometrist or ophthalmologist who can perform a thorough evaluation and complete a state-specific vision report. That report documents your best corrected acuity, visual field measurements, any diagnoses, and whether the specialist considers you safe to drive, sometimes with recommended restrictions.
Many states route borderline cases through a medical review unit or medical advisory board staffed by physicians. They weigh the clinical findings against the licensing standards and decide whether to issue a restricted license, require an on-road driving test, or deny the application. A DMV kiosk reading of 20/70 is pass/fail against a chart, but medical review looks at the full picture: whether the condition is stable, whether it’s expected to worsen, and whether your visual field compensates for reduced acuity.
If medical review denies your application, most states offer an appeal or re-evaluation path. A second specialist opinion, treatment that improves acuity, or an on-road test demonstrating competence can all reopen the question. A denial isn’t necessarily permanent.
Commercial Driver’s Licenses Are Different
If you’re asking about a commercial driver’s license, the answer tightens. Federal rules require at least 20/40 acuity in each eye individually, 20/40 binocularly, a field of at least 70 degrees horizontally in each eye, and the ability to recognize red, green, and amber traffic signals.3eCFR. 49 CFR 391.41 – Physical Qualifications for Drivers Personal-vehicle rules only measure the better eye; the CDL rule measures both.
A 2022 FMCSA rule added an alternative vision standard for drivers whose worse eye doesn’t meet the acuity or field requirement.4Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Qualifications of Drivers; Vision Standard, 87 FR 3390 (Jan. 21, 2022) Under that alternative, the better eye still has to hit 20/40 acuity and 70 degrees of field, the condition has to be stable, and the driver has to have adapted to the vision change. A medical examiner makes the call after reviewing an ophthalmologist or optometrist evaluation.5eCFR. 49 CFR 391.44 – Physical Qualification Standards for an Individual Who Does Not Satisfy, With the Worse Eye, Either the Distant Visual Acuity Standard With Corrective Lenses or the Field of Vision Standard, or Both If 20/70 is the best you can achieve in your better eye, a CDL isn’t available under current federal rules.
Keeping Your License as Vision Changes
A restricted license for 20/70 vision isn’t a one-time clearance. Eye conditions can be progressive, and today’s 20/70 could be 20/100 in a few years. Annual exams, at minimum, are the single most useful habit for anyone driving with reduced vision. Catching changes early gives you time to adjust prescriptions, pursue treatment, or modify your driving before you cross a threshold that triggers license action.
Most states expect drivers to self-report significant vision changes to the DMV. A smaller number require physicians to report patients whose vision has fallen below driving standards; others protect doctors who report voluntarily. Either way, when the DMV learns of a change, it can require retesting, a fresh medical review, or an on-road evaluation. Driving without the corrective lenses your license requires, or outside the limits of a restricted license, can mean traffic penalties and complications in any accident claim that follows.