Visual legal standards for motorists were claimed to be 'ineffective, unsafe and unfit' during an inquest into four peoples’ deaths caused by poor vision.
Following the inquest at Preston Coroner's Court, Dr James Adeley, HM senior coroner for Lancashire, sent a report to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to recommend actions to prevent future deaths.
Dr Adeley said: 'The four fatalities shared the same feature that the driver's sight was well below the standard required to drive a car.
'The current system for 'ensuring' drivers meet the visual legal standards is ineffective, unsafe and unfit to meet the needs of society as evidenced by the deaths of Marie Cunningham, Grace Foulds, Anne Ferguson and Peter Westwell, where the DVLA continued to provide licences to drivers who had failed to meet the legal sight requirements.'
Dr Adeley called out the UK licensing system as the ‘laxest in Europe’, as it relies upon self-reporting of visual conditions affecting the ability to drive - which all drivers sentenced for the deaths in the inquest failed to comply with.
The government reportedly said they accepted the rules 'need to be reassessed', and changes to eyesight requirements for driving will be considered along with wider efforts to improve safety as part of the government's road safety strategy, which is expected to be published by the end of the year.
Two public petitions have been filed on change.org that advocate for mandatory eye tests for senior drivers since the inquest: Mandate Regular Eye Tests for Senior Drivers, and Mandate Vision Tests for all Drivers.
