Taxi drivers' vision is checked worldwide

Picture credit: Rex Features/Chris Lobina

Taxi drivers in London are among those with the highest rates of normal vision according to a new global study by Essilor.

Ninety-four per cent of the city’s cabbies were said to have normal vision and were only behind taxi drivers from Los Angeles (95 per cent) and Hong Kong (99 per cent), in findings from 21 major cities worldwide.

The capital did not fare so well in data that showed the period of time since the driver’s last eye test. Sixty-two per cent said they had an eye test within the last two years, but 20 per cent revealed that they had not had their eyes examined in the past five. Just 1 per cent of drivers in Paris said the same, while Tokyo’s taxi drivers were the most diligent, with 98 per cent having an eye test in the last two years.