One in 10 drivers can barely read a number plate from the minimum distance required by law, random eyesight tests found.
Eyesight charity, the Eyecare Trust, teamed up with the police to stop drivers and carry out spot checks.
They found 4.8% of the 546 people asked were unable to read a number plate 67ft or 20.5m away, while 9.7% struggled to make out the letters.
One man had to be taken within two metres of the number plate in order to be able to read it.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2278299.stm
On a previous thread, the case for 'oldies' was discussed - having to just sign a form saying they were still capable of driving...
Legal question - is there any test of drivers who have been in accidents to determine whether they can see properly?
I know the local system for 5-yearly license renewal includes an eye check, and a possible 'must wear glasses/contact lenses when driving' clause on the license.
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Ian,
The only test for eyesight that can be imposed on any driver is to ask them to read a number plate from a distance of 20.5 metres. You can have severe tunnel vision and restricted neck movement which for all practical purposes makes you lethal on the road, but no authority has the power to revoke your licence provided you can fulfil the basic test above.
Crazy, but true.
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I have worn glasses for thirty years and would not normally walk down the road without them. Just been outside, 20.5 metres from neighbours car and, albeit squinting through my better eye, read his plate. People are on the road with that vision or less. Truly scary.
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One of the great 'hangovers' from our Police State days is the random traffic roadblock.
All tests conducted - lights, tyres, license, road tax etc.
Also booze, drugs, etc, and eyesight.
If (a) your license says "glasses" and you ain't got 'em
or (b) you can't read the plate
No more driving for you, matey - and a hefty fine to boot.
I much prefer this system, which gets some drunks, loonies, incompetents, visually-challenged types off the road, to the namby-pamby civil-rights type approach favoured by some 'civilised' nations I could name.
It isn't harrasment, it's common sense!
(ducks below parapet)
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Simon it is indeed scary.
Used to have a girl in the office who was notorious for getting lost on the way to visit customers, always ringing up for directions back to base. Then we found out why, she was so short sighted she couldn't read the road direction signs, yet had obviously passed the number plate test on test day then never bothered afterwards.
We share the roads with these people, scary or what!
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Slightly off thread but re the last para of Ian's post,Backroomers may wish to know that if you need glasses for driving, when in Spain you are required to have a spare pair with you!
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>>Slightly off thread but re the last para of Ian's post,Backroomersmay wish to know that if you need glasses for driving, when in Spain you are required to have a spare pair with you!
Same here innit??>>
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Nope. But if you need corrected vision to drive, and drive without your lenses or specs on, you're breaking the law.
FWIW, my vision with specs is much better than my wife's, and she doesn't "need" them. We both have bi-annual checks, largely because of me and my dodgy peepers.
Chris
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Ian is quite right as to the state of drivers eyesight and same applies in UK.
For information UK law on this is as follows:
Driving with uncorrected eyesight is an offence under Sect 96 Road Traffic act, 1988 punishable by a Fine of up to £1000, discretionary disqualification, obligatory endorsement and 3 penalty points.
Power to test is also within the Section and empowers a constable having reason to suspect that a person driving may be guilty of the above offence, may require that person to submit to a test using no other means of correction than used at the time of driving. Refusal is also an offence with the same punishment.
The necessary standard is an ability to read in good light, with the aid of corrective lenses if necessary, a registration mark fixed to a motor vehicle containing letters and figures
79.4mm high at a distance of:
12.3 metres for a motor mower/pedestrian controlled vehicle,
20.5 metres in any other case.
(Motor Vehicles (Driving Licence) Regs, 1996
In defective eyesight cases there is no provision for the seizure of a Licence, which can only be revoked by Secretary of State after notice has been served. IIRC Magistrates Clerks inform DVLA of any such convictions for them to take action and it is not unknown for Plod himself to draft a letter to them.
Just a point when did you last have your eyes tested properly by an Optician? Quite a few by accounts on site missing seeing speed cameras?
DV -oo- D.
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Only last Saturday as it happened. As OAP get one for free and this one only confirmed state of eyes as being identical with the one I had three years ago. I have worn specs since first at school when I could not read the blackboard and had to sit in the front row. Standard test at optician now includes peripheral vision capabilities as well as other possible defects.
The current form for applying for licence is in my opinion quite pathetic for old stagers as it only requires a signature from the applicant. At 70 when my old licence (clean since 52) expired I wanted to keep my 7.5tonne class so had to take a medical. I think it should be compulsory at that age and for each following three year application backed up by proper optician inspection as the eye test at GP is only reading from the standard card.
I personally am of the opinion that full eyetests should also be a regular requirement for a lot more drivers than just the old stagers. This from observation on a daily basis of some drivers I encounter who obviously have faulty vision + perception+_ ability to read road markings.
Happy Motoring Phil I
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Just a point when did you last have your eyes tested properly by an Optician? Quite a few by accounts on site missing seeing speed cameras?
So, you can get X-Ray Specs now ?!?!?! ~O^O..::::::
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Optician didn't hide that board with all the tiny letters on behind a tree.
GJD
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Just a point when did you last have your eyes tested properly by an Optician? Quite a few by accounts on site missing seeing speed cameras?
My father used to claim that I got my points because of bad observation and that I should pay up like a man because it showed i wasn't thinking.
Now he's on 6 and I have a clean ticket. ;-)
Schadenfreude.
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Parp, Parp!
Note: All Toad posts come with an implied smiley.
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