Drivers over 70 ought to have obligatory eyesight checks, says knowledgeable

Drivers over 70 should have compulsory eyesight tests with some being unable to read a number plate from just three metres away, a former police officer and road safety expert has said.

Rob Heard, a road safety consultant and the founder of the Older Drivers Forum, said that around 10 per cent of drivers have deficient eyesight, with sight loss significantly worsening after the age of 70.

65 per cent of Brits are in favour of mandatory driving re-tests for over-70s, according to YouGov polling estimates.

Mr Heard was a police officer for 20 years and a lot of his work revolved around traffic incidents which exposed him to the dangers of older drivers.

In one case he worked on, an 89-year-old man drove on the wrong side of a dual carriageway for over a mile and killed a 28-year-old coming in the opposite direction.

The pensioner felt that he was fit and healthy to drive but was prosecuted for death by dangerous driving after an investigation found that he was blind in one eye and below the legal eyesight limit in the other.

The judge at his trial said that the police should work on reducing the risks around elderly motorists.

Mr Heard founded the Older Drivers Forum after noticing that a lot of work was being done to combat the high accident rates for young drivers but not a lot was being done for older drivers.

Fatality rates for drivers under 30 have decreased in the last 10 years but have risen for older drivers. 

Drivers over 70 are much more likely to be killed in a collision than younger drivers, Department for Transport data shows.

The data also reveals that out of every collision last year, 23 per cent of deaths were people over the age of 70, an increase of 19 per cent for men and six per cent for women since 2013.

There are no mandatory checks for UK drivers on their skills or health but they are supposed to inform the DVLA if they are no longer fit to drive.

Drivers have to reapply for their licence when they turn 70 and confirm they are medically fit to drive but it is a matter of trust that they tell the truth when they complete the application.

They are then required to reapply every three years but they do not have to have an official medical test to prove visual or physical fitness.

Mr Heard told The Times: ‘Certainly when we get to the age of 70, rather than just ticking the box that we’re fit and healthy to drive, thinking about it and maybe going out and getting an assessment. At the age of 70, I think we should be looking at having one with every renewal.’

He worked with the police to form the Police Fitness to Drive Assessment as he identified that the course offered for the offence of careless driving – which can be taken instead of facing prosecution – might not be fit for purpose, especially for older drivers and those with an adapted vehicle.

Mr Heard’s fit-to-drive test is now offered as an alternative to facing prosecution.

If the persons driving is deemed overall as safe then they are free to continue driving. But if it is found to be unsafe it will be advised that they retire from driving, with around 80 to 90 per cent having their licence revoked by the DVLA.

If they are found to be a bad driver despite being medically fit to drive they will be given some lessons, with around 50 per cent demonstrating a safe drive after and the remainder either still being unsafe driver or deciding to give up.

Mr Heard has also been keeping track of statistics of drivers stripped of their licences under Cassie’s Law, which allows officers who are concerned about a person’s driving to require them to demonstrate on the spot that they can read a number plate at 20 metres. 

The police can contact the DVLA urgently and have a licence removed in minutes if a driver fails the eyesight test.

The law was named after Cassie McCord, a 16-year-old pedestrian who was killed when 87-year-old Colin Horsfall hit her with his car. 

The DVLA were notified that Horsfall had failed a police eysight test two weeks before the fatal incident but he was still on the road because the old process took too long.

Mr Heard has been tracking the issue via freedom of information requests and said there were ‘far more’ licences revoked from drivers over 70. 

He added: ‘It does show that, even though a lot of people do have regular eyesight tests, those who stick their head in the sand come to the attention of police.

‘They think, I’m only going to the doctor, I’m only visiting a friend down the road. Some of those we test can’t read a number plate at three metres, or have lost their central vision and rely completely on peripheral vision.’

He said Britain is ‘one of the worst countries in Europe for eyesight regulation’ and estimates that 10 per cent of drivers would fail the 20 metre number plate test.

Coroners have warned twice in the past two years that drivers not having to undergo mandatory health checks when they reapply for their licence may be contributing to deaths on the road.

Last August, coroner Simon Milburn wrote to the Department for Transport about the issue in a report on prevention of future deaths after five-month-old Louis Thorold was killed in a car accident in 2021.

Louis mother, Rachael Thorold, was pushing him in his buggy in Cambridgeshire when a car, driven by Shelagh Robertson, 75, turned right and was hit by a van. 

The van came off the road and hit Louis and his mother, trapping the baby boy underneath the vehicle. It was later discovered that Robertson had undiagnosed dementia.

Milburn wrote: ‘In this case one of the drivers involved in the collision was driving with undiagnosed dementia, which affected their cognitive ability to perceive hazards on the road. 

‘I am concerned that if drivers beyond the age of 70 continue to drive without independent medical scrutiny of their continued ability to drive, there is a risk of deaths occurring in similar circumstances.’

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: ‘We are committed to delivering a new Road Safety Strategy – the first in over a decade. We will set out next steps on this in due course.

‘Our roads are among the safest in the world, and we are determined to maintain these high standards for the benefit of everyone on the roads.’