Concerns over enforcement of vision standards for driving highlighted

A coroner’s report has highlighted that the system of motorists self-reporting visual issues is “ineffective and unsafe,” with the AOP describing the report as an “indictment of our laws.”

Emma Damen, whose father was killed in an accident involving a driver with poor vision, has also supported calls for change saying: “How many more innocent people have to lose their lives in such tragic circumstances?”

The BBC outlined that HM Senior Coroner for Lancashire, Dr James Adeley, has sent a report to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander calling for action to prevent future deaths, noting that the UK is one of the only countries in Europe relying on self-reporting of visual conditions that affect the ability to drive.

A joint inquest was held into the deaths of four people killed by drivers with failing sight – who had continued driving despite being told not to by health care professionals.

Adam Sampson, chief executive of the AOP, attended the inquest to share research from the AOP’s Don’t swerve a sight test campaign, which saw a third of optometrists report an increase in the number of people they have advised not to drive due to poor vision in the past three years.  

The AOP’s research found that 65% of optometrists believe the DVLA guidance in the 1937 Road Traffic Act is “dangerously out of date” while 63% believe it puts people needlessly at risk of harm on UK roads.

Sampson commented: “The Coroner’s report tells a devastating story for all the families involved. It is also an indictment of our laws, which are failing to make our roads in the UK as safe as they should be.”

According to the 1937 Road Traffic Act motorists must be able to read a vehicle number plate from 20 metres in good daylight.

Sampson said: “Put simply, this is not an adequate test of vision. It is carried out only once with a driving instructor, not a trained eye health professional. A driver can then drive from the age of 17 to 70 and at no point have their vision checked. This approach in the UK is deeply flawed, and far out of step with many other countries who use a full sight test as the means to accurately ensure motorists have satisfactory vision to drive safely.”

The AOP is calling for drivers to be required by law to have a full sight test when they first apply for a licence, with a vision check required every 10 years for most people when renewing their driving licence, and every three years for those over 70.

This inquest should be a milestone moment

The AOP highlighted the results of a public poll in 2024 that revealed that, of those who are motorists, 29% said they would not stop driving if a test showed their vision had fallen below the legal standard.

Sampson said: “Our data, along with the findings of the inquest, support the Coroner’s damning verdict: ‘The system of self-reporting is ineffective, unsafe and unfit to meet the needs of society. The current regime neither meets the developing needs of road users nor adequately protects the lives of road users in the UK.’”

“This inquest should be a milestone moment. It is time the UK stops being an outlier,” Sampson continued.

He added that the AOP would welcome any opportunity to assist the Department for Transport to update the standards “to ensure all drivers are required to have their vision checked and this is achieved using a clinically reliable system.”

According to reports, the Transport Secretary told the Commons Transport Select Committee that sight test requirements for older drivers is something she is “open to considering” as part of the Government’s road safety strategy, anticipated to publish later this year.

Ensuring safe vision for driving

Earlier this year, as part of The Older people edition (April/May 2025), OT explored the challenging conversations around vision and driving, with Professor Julie-Anne Little. The optometrist and past AOP chairman emphasised that everyone has a “duty of care to our fellow citizens” when getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Following the reports, Little commented: “These sad cases bring to the fore the failures in our current system in the UK of self-certification of vision for driving.”

It also illustrates the “grey area” that exists for medical and allied health professionals “to have any power in such cases with the way the current standard is set up,” she added.

“The reality is that many issues that cause vision to worsen are very gradual and symptomatic. So, people don’t necessarily notice when their vision is subtly decreasing, to the point that perhaps they are failing the driving standard. Especially if they have borderline vision which can be okay during the day but an issue at night or in certain weather conditions,” Little explained.

The AOP’s long-running Don’t swerve a sight test campaign illustrates the importance of good vision for driving and calls for the vision standards for driving to be updated.

Discussing the calls for updates to the standards, Little told OT: “I don’t think we’re asking for the moon – we are asking for legislation to be changed to give some opportunity to have a robust certification procedure at the time of licence acquisition or licence renewal. That happens every 10 years and it wouldn’t be a draconian measure to say that, as part of that renewal, somebody else needs to certify that their sight is at an appropriate standard to hold that driving licence.

“Arguably, driving a vehicle is the one thing we do in life where our vision has a consequence to others. We have to ensure we are able to drive safely in a vehicle, because we are putting others at risk as we do so,” she emphasised.

A call for change

Emma Damen, whose father Jim Tassell was killed by a driver with vision below the legal standard for driving in 2021, has supported calls for motorists to complete vision testing.

Damen told OT: “When I read stories like this, my view is: how many more innocent people have to lose their lives in such tragic circumstances that should not happen?”

Explaining her concerns with the self-reporting process, she said: “The problem with human beings is that, if given a choice, there will always be someone who makes the wrong one.”

The problem with human beings is that, if given a choice, there will always be someone who makes the wrong one

“All that will happen is that more innocent people will be killed through a driver’s poor eyesight. More families like my own will be devastated. One of the hardest things is that it should never have happened. My dad would be here if not for someone saying ‘yes my sight is fine’ when they knew it wasn’t,” she added.

Following the recent inquest, Damen questioned: “Now a coroner has written a detailed report and sent it to the government to say that this is not okay. How many more voices are needed before they will implement change? Something needs to happen, and it needs to happen now.”