Vision tests for driving should not focus solely on age, MP says

Driving license renewal should focus on vision standards rather than age, Vikki Slade MP told MPs during a Westminster Hall debate on Thursday 23 April

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Viki Slade MP gives a speech from the green benches in Westminster Hall

parliament.tv

Lucy Miller

27 April 2026

Mandatory sight testing for the over 70s would be “short-sighted” without a wider focus on vision standards, Vikki Slade MP told parliamentarians during a Westminster Hall debate (Thursday 23 April).

Slade, the MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, raised the issue of driving standards and vision during her Reforms of the Drivers and Vehicles Licensing Agency debate.

“Vision can deteriorate at any age, so testing should be linked to licence renewal, which currently takes place every 10 years for most drivers,” Slade told MPs.

“The UK’s eyesight testing regime is out of step with other nations and is largely unchanged since 1937. It relies heavily on self-declaration and a basic numberplate test, with no mandatory eyesight checks after passing the driving test,” she said.

She added that there have been 62 deaths linked to poor vision in the decade to 2023, but questioned how many of these were caused by drivers over the age of 70.

Slade’s debate came in the context of the Government’s road safety strategy, which was published in January 2026 and includes proposals on mandatory sight testing for drivers over the age of 70.

The proposal came after a 2025 prevention of future deaths report described the current system for enforcing vision standards as “ineffective and unsafe.”

The AOP has campaigned on the issue of vision and driving for eight years, via its Don’t swerve a sight test campaign.

Slade noted during her speech that she has met with the AOP to discuss the issue.

“Vision loss does not follow a special birthday,” she said.

She emphasised: “Focusing solely on age risks undermining public confidence and missing the real issue. If safety is the goal, an age-based approach alone misses the mark.”

Reforms to sight testing are not about targeting older drivers but about prioritising safety, Slade said.

Slade told MPs that more than 4000 bus and lorry drivers have had their driving licenses revoked in the past three years.

Few of these are likely to have been over the age of 70, she noted.

She also revealed that her constituents have raised safety concerns around issues including night driving, which is not assessed as part of the driving test, with her office.

One constituent has told Slade that they have family members who are no longer fit to drive but will do so unless a “medically trained person” makes the decision that they cannot, she said.

Optometrist and MP for Leicester South, Shockat Adam, has noted that he frequently sees patients whose eyesight “is far below safe driving standards,” Slade revealed.

Adam is unable to inform the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency or patients’ GPs of their inability to see properly, Slade told MPs.

Slade closed her speech by asking: “Why does the strategy focus almost exclusively on older drivers, rather than on vision standards?”

She also noted that a wider opportunity is available via regular sight testing, as eye tests can detect conditions including glaucoma, cataracts, cancer and lupus.

“Allowing optometrists to share their results digitally with ophthalmology services could reduce pressure on the NHS and allow people to be diagnosed earlier, thereby lessening the impact on their sight, while also improving road safety,” she said.