A road safety organisation backed by the police has criticised current eye test requirements for drivers and called for mandatory eye testing once they turn 70 and every three years thereafter.
Rob Heard, a former traffic police officer and founder of the Older Drivers Forum, a not-for-profit organisation run by Hampshire Constabulary Road Safety Team, says the current requirements for elderly drivers are inadequate.
“We’re one of the worst countries in Europe,” he said. “There are only two times in a driver’s career when their eyesight must be tested: the driving test and when a police officer tells them to read a licence plate at 20 metres. Compared with other countries where regular eye assessments are mandatory, our rules are out of date.”
Heard’s comments follow news that a senior coroner presiding over a case involving a 95-year-old motorist who knocked down and killed a mobility scooter user on a pedestrian crossing has written to the secretary of state for transport and the head of the DVLA concerned about the lack of limits and assessments on elderly drivers.
In her prevention of future deaths report, coroner Penelope Schofield highlighted the fact that although drivers over 70 must apply for a new licence every three years, they are not required to undergo a medical check to establish their fitness to drive.
Instead, they are allowed to self-declare their state of health. This, wrote Schofield, raised the possibility that should no checks be carried out, “a driver may be oblivious to their enduring medical condition and this may pose a serious risk to other road users”.
Responding to the coroner’s letter, the Department for Transport said: “It is the law that all drivers must ensure that they are medically fit to drive at all times and notify the DVLA of the onset or worsening of a medical condition that could affect this. We have some of the safest roads in the world and we keep licensing standards up to date to make sure that is maintained.”
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As an oldie I recently went out after dark and had great difficulty not with oncoming headlights as you might expect but wih the lighting around a shopping centre it was wet and chucking it down and with light reflected from every direction imaginable I was rendered pretty well blind and my LED headlights did very little to alleviate the problem eventually I escaped this nightmare scenario and have no intention of returning. Has any one ever worked out why so many oldies seem to wear their entire wardrobe it must hinder their movement and reaction times?
In approx 25 years driving & cycling - I've seen way, way more dangerous incidents involving older people aged approx 75+ than any other age group. This is a really big problem and I'm convinced there is a worrying proportion of those who cannot see much further than the bonnet ....
While I accept that as we get older we need to have our eyesight assessed, but I've known quite a few who drive without needed correction who are/were well below what could be considered old age.