Road safety plan “overlooking” eye health

The CEO of Vision Express, Jonathan Lawson, has said that the current Highways England strategic plan for road safety is “overlooking” eye health as an issue.

“We know that each year, there are an estimated 2900 casualties caused by poor driver vision alone. Research also shows that five million drivers on UK roads would fail a number plate test if they had to take it again,” Mr Lawson said.

His comments were made as the multiple looks to make the UK’s roads safer by lobbying MPs as well as increasing public awareness.

Vision Express has met with Labour MPs Barry Sheerman, Andy McDonald and Jack Dromey, as well as the roads minister, Jesse Norman.

The multiple also has parliamentary events planned in Westminster and Holyrood during Road Safety Week (20–26 November) when Vision Express will ask MPs to back its call for driver eye health to become a greater priority for road safety.

Findings from research carried out with YouGov will be published as part of the campaign to demonstrate the scale of the issue.

Mr Lawson added that the campaign is targeting people who drive for work and is offering free eye tests. He also said that research reveals that driving long distances is the third most dangerous occupation in the UK, behind deep-sea fishing and coal mining.