Research finds seven million drivers have not had recent vision check

Approximately 7.6million drivers have not had a vision check since reading a number plate at 20 metres away when passing their driving test, according to research.

These findings were published during Road Safety Week and carried out during Vision Express’ Vision Van tour earlier this year. More than 1,000 UK residents were tested in the mobile testing van as part of the company’s Eye Tests Save Lives campaign. The research also found that 65% of people were found by optometrists to be wearing the wrong prescription and 52% of motorists confessed to not always wearing their vision correction aids while driving.

Jay Ghadiali, director of professional services at Vision Express, said: ‘Even more data is on the horizon on this issue, but we cannot sit on our hands and allow drivers to continue to flout their legal responsibility to ensure their sight is adequate to drive. We already have robust research to show the scale of the problem of poor driver sight and it must be acted upon.’