Chris Bennett: Time to report visually impaired drivers to DVLA

SMIDSY is an acronym common among cyclists and one that could equally be applied to optical bodies and politicians when it comes to drivers’ vision and road safety.

Sorry Mate I Didn’t See You is the stock phrase used by drivers when they’ve pull out in front of a cyclist or worse. The letters are shorthand for the phrase but also a euphemism for ‘I don’t really care’.

Drivers’ vision (read our In Focus report) is once again the subject of lobbying and campaigning, a state of affairs that should leave politicians, the optometry associations and the regulator holding their heads in shame. It was less than a year ago that this column called on the optical bodies to make reporting visually impaired drivers to the DVLA compulsory. That call fell on deaf ears.