TORONTO — The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) is recommending that people with reduced vision and other health problems should be allowed to drive in limited circumstances, not barred entirely.

The OMA is lobbying for a special modified licence that would allow such people as cataract sufferers to drive during daylight hours, or only on secondary roads.

It argues that the change would allow older people to remain independent.

“As it stands now, it’s either off or on. There’s no grey area,” says Albert Schumacher, the association’s president. He says that allowing them to drive would help the province push its home-healthcare agenda. He adds it would especially help residents in the country.

The issue of seniors driving is becoming an increasingly political issue. Canada’s population is aging, and the aged are known to be more active and conservative voters.

Nonetheless, some argue that older drivers, with slower reflexes and easily tired, already present a possible hazard on the roads.

In a high-profile incident, an 84-year-old woman in Toronto last year dragged and killed a middle-aged mother more than a kilometer after hitting her without realizing it.

The OMA proposal comes at a time when the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario is considering revising its policies.