In focus: Public failed by outdated drivers’ vision regulations

Last week, 72-year-old John Place was jailed for four years after he killed three-year-old Poppy-Arabella Clarke and injured her mother Rachel at a pelican crossing. Place, who was not wearing his glasses and only stopped when flagged down by another driver, had been told his eyesight was so poor that he should not drive, even while wearing glasses. Two optometrists had advised him not to drive and he unequivocally said he would keep driving until his wife retired in the months following.

A truck driver with poor eyesight was jailed last month after ploughing his 44-tonne lorry into a JCB digger on the A1, killing flying instructor Stephen Clarehugh. John Rogerson, 72, said he did not see the vehicle, which was doing 20mph in front of him on the road in Northumberland at sunset. Less than three weeks before the crash, an optometrist had said his vision was below the required standard for driving.