Rolling deathtrap on Britains roads as coroner warns up to 2.1million with bad eyesight are still driving

As many as 2.1 million motorists with bad eyesight could be on British roads – as a coroner warned that lax licensing rules could have deadly consequences.

Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire, issued a prevention of future deaths report after finding that four people had been killed by drivers with poor vision.

The UK licensing system is the laxest in Europe, Dr Adeley said in a letter to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander. 

And an inquest in Preston heard Mary Cunningham, 79, Grace Foulds, 85, Anne Ferguson, 75, and Peter Westwell, 80, all died in traffic collisions where the driver had defective eyesight.

The four fatalities shared the same feature that the drivers sight was well below the standard required to drive a car, Dr Adeley stated in his report.

Tests for visual ability to drive have not changed since the 1930s – with the threshold remaining being able to read a registration plate from 20 metres away – or around 66ft.

Audi driver Glyn Jones, 68, ploughed into friends Mrs Cunningham and Mrs Foulds as they crossed a road in Southport on November 30, 2021.

He was unable to see due to a condition called severe bilateral keratoconus, but he ignored medical advice that his eyesight was too poor.

A coroner has warned that as many as 2.1 million motorists with bad eyesight could be driving on British roads

Mrs Ferguson was killed by van driver Vernon Law, 72, who had been to an optician a month before the crash in Rochdale in July 2023 and was told he had cataracts in both eyes. Following her death, her husband took his own life. 

Meanwhile, pedestrian Mr Westwell was struck and killed by a Honda Jazz driven by Neil Pemberton, 81, in Langho on March 17, 2022.

Pemberton made no attempt to brake and was speeding at 48mph in 30mph zone.

 The inquest heard Pemberton had a long history of severe bilateral eye disease and was twice warned he should not drive before he began to inform optometrists he was a non-driver. He repeatedly failed to self-report his condition.

In his prevention of future deaths notice, Dr Adeley informed the Department of Transport: In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken.

Dr Adeley is concerned that the licensing system is the laxest in Europe because the UK is one of only five European countries to use the registration plate test. It is also one of only three to rely upon self-reporting of visual conditions.

At 70 and every three years after, a driver self-reports on a licence application that they can read a plate at 20 metres.

The coroner observed: Self-reporting of visual conditions permits drivers to lie about their current driving status to those performing an ophthalmic assessment and avoid warnings not to drive.

Experts estimates of the number of motorists with substandard vision range from 1.7 per cent to 5 per cent – or between 720,000 and 2.1million.