Stricter eye tests drivers > 70

[fastpedaller]

sometimes require up to 5 screen actions to change the heater temp or turn on the lights

Seriously?

YES

[Bmblbzzz]

Eyesight is, of course, very important, but only part of the issue, and unless any test is very different from the present one it won’t trap what I perceive to be important for all of us when driving, and for older drivers especially, the cognition question.

Agreed, but I don't even know what would be a cost-effective test for vision, let alone perception/cognition/awareness.

We've made a beginning towards this with the hazard perception part of the driving test. It's fairly crude but it at least shows an awareness of the issue.

[Jdsk]

Eyesight is, of course, very important, but only part of the issue, and unless any test is very different from the present one it won’t trap what I perceive to be important for all of us when driving, and for older drivers especially, the cognition question.

Agreed, but I don't even know what would be a cost-effective test for vision, let alone perception/cognition/awareness.

We've made a beginning towards this with the hazard perception part of the driving test. It's fairly crude but it at least shows an awareness of the issue.

Agreed.

Jonathan

[PedallingSquares]

Post removed by moderator for breach of Forum Guidelines.

[briansnail]

Are there any stats available about the numbers of people who develop cataracts in old age?

This is the crux of the problem.A "regular eye test " will advise of the need for possible cataract surgery in 5-10 years time.In daylight there is no problem,At night lots of elderly car drivers will be safe.
Some will not be.

Motoring organisations will not go on the record on websites etc to back stricter eye tests.This would be an open invitation to lose motoring members.In hard times all organisations want to maintain numbers.Adopting a dangerous political stance is not always good business.However their prime motivation is to members.So there is a likelihood that they will NOT back STIFFER eye tests for the elderly.

The reasons why opticians will not advise clients to or not to drive.Is simply in some cases its a grey area.They probably do not know.

[Jdsk]

...
Motoring organisations will not go on the record on websites etc to back stricter eye tests.This would be an open invitation to lose motoring members.In hard times all organisations want to maintain numbers.Adopting a dangerous political stance is not always good business.However their prime motivation is to members.So there is a likelihood that they will NOT back STIFFER eye tests for the elderly.
...

Have you checked what the AA and RAC have said on this?

Thanks

Jonathan

[axel_knutt]

How many people, who drive, do you know who doesn’t get a regular eye test?

All the younger people I know who don’t have any cause to wear glasses, except those who have to take eye tests as part of their work

I'd been driving for about 20 years before I went for my first eye test, and my eyesight was so good the optician was astonished that I'd noticed any difference. It was too good to be worth prescribing for, but I'd noticed I was pausing for a second to read the print on electronic components, which is far smaller than anything you get elsewhere.

I'm blind as a bat now without my spex, but by the time I started wearing them I'd quit driving anyway. What intrigues me is that I can still read the smallest print on the opticians cards (with my spex on), but I wouldn't be able to do my job if I was still at work. I don't have a lot of faith in eye tests, they're not good enough, my problem is that the left eye is worst, and 2D text on a card isn't testing 3D vision. I was at the hospital a couple of weeks ago, and bizarrely their test for 3D vision isn't even as fine detail as the inadequate 2D test. You couldn't make it up.

God knows what the vision of people who only satisfy the standards for driving must be like. My cousin is blind in one eye, but she has a licence even with limited field of vision to the left.

[briansnail]

n its Vision to 2030 Strategy, the DVSA said it plans to "explore ways to improve how we check people’s eyesight before driving tests."
The current test involves drivers simply being asked, in good light, to read a licence plate from 20 metres away.

Remarkably, it is currently against the law for driving test examiners to check eyesight in bad weather or before or after sunset.

One suggestion from the Driving Instructors Association (DIA) is that the test could involve varying levels of light, to better assess motorists’ vision in different light conditions. extract from honest John -noted car blogger

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