Lancs Coroner Submits Report to Dept of Transport

Totally agree.
Were these people all men by any chance?

The son of a friend was knocked off his bike at 8.45 on a busy school destination road by a car driven by an elderly man.
A police officer arrived and asked the man to read the number plate on the car a few yards away.
The response was " What car?"
I'm a driver aged 70 + and would welcome a compulsory annual sight test for my age group.

I’m shocked at the cost of my car insurance, I’m 76. When I queried how much given my years with no claims, I was told my age group are involved in serious accidents, yes, more than young boy racers
Reading this gives pause for thought

Iam64

I’m shocked at the cost of my car insurance, I’m 76. When I queried how much given my years with no claims, I was told my age group are involved in serious accidents, yes, more than young boy racers
Reading this gives pause for thought

Actually, the statistics don't bear this out.
Young male drivers do top the list of those involved in serious accidents.

Over 75s are the next highest.

A proviso - having cataracts does not necessarily mean someone should lose their licence until after an operation.

Cataracts often develop very slowly and early stage cataracts just mean someone might find night driving more difficult as headlights can dazzle.
An optician or optometrist should advise someone if they feel they should not be driving and, if they feel the patient might ignore the advice, should be able to report them to the DVLA as can a GP.

I do know someone who has dementia and he carried on driving well past the time he should have been stopped and he was a danger to himself and others. Luckily he was stopped before he happ an accident.

I have given up driving because I feel my eyesight is not good enough, though at an eye exam two weeks ago I was told I was legal because I could still read the top two lines. However, I would not feel safe and would not like to put other people’s lives at risk by driving. I think the bar is set too low!

Compleely agree for regular eye tests every five years for drivers of all ages and every 3 years for over 70 together with a basic cognative test.

Yes, all men.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/17/visual-legal-standards-for-uk-motorists-ineffective-and-unsafe-inquest-finds

The coroner made the remarks on Thursday at the inquests in Preston of Marie Cunningham, 79, Grace Foulds, 85, Peter Westwell, 80, and Anne Ferguson, 75.

Cunningham and Foulds were hit by Glyn Jones, 68, in his Audi A3 as they crossed the road in Southport, Merseyside, on 30 November 2021. Jones was aware for some years before the collision that his sight was insufficient to meet the minimum requirement to drive a car but failed to declare it to the DVLA. When he was jailed for seven years and four months, his sentencing hearing was told he could not see his steering wheel clearly.

Westwell was hit by Neil Pemberton, 81, as he crossed the road in Langho, near Blackburn, on 17 March 2022. Pemberton, who was jailed for 32 months, had a long history of eye disease and was informed on several occasions by different clinicians that he should not drive, the inquest heard. He also repeatedly failed to declare his sight deficit on licence applications to the DVLA.

Ferguson died when she was struck by a van driven by Vernon Law, 72, in Whitworth, Rochdale, on 11 July 2023. A month before the incident, Law was told he had cataracts in both eyes but he lied to an optometrist that he did not drive. Law, who was jailed for four years, knew he had problems with his eyes for years before the collision and also failed to declare his sight issues on licence applications to the DVLA, the inquest at County Hall heard.

Adeley said: “The four fatalities shared the same feature that the driver’s sight was well below the standard required to drive a car.

The rules are clear:

www.gov.uk/driving-eyesight-rules

Perhaps the time has come for opticians and eye doctors to send the results of eye tests and conditions which do not meet the legal standards for driving to the DVLA as self-certification isn’t working. I fear these cases are just the tip of an iceberg.

loopyloo

Totally agree.
Were these people all men by any chance?

Yes.

M0nica

Compleely agree for regular eye tests every five years for drivers of all ages and every 3 years for over 70 together with a basic cognative test.

I have an eyesight test every two years at least.

An eyesight test costs nothing for over 65s and they are entitled to a test every two years.

However, the cost of spectacles should be looked at at they do seem very high and I'm sure there are huge profits to be made.

It would be simple enough and not hugely costly for results of eye tests to be sent to DVLA - and licences could then be withdrawn where appropriate. However, that won’t cover all conditions.
My late father carried on driving when he should have given up as his peripheral vision was poor and his reaction times too slow, but he felt mum would be housebound if he did not drive. He was not told not to drive. The need for an operation for an unrelated condition ( from which he recovered) caused him not to drive again. The car sat in the garage for a year, but thankfully he was not tempted.

Those cases and deaths are truly heartbreaking and were totally avoidable. Stubborn, vain, selfish men responsible in each case.
Appalling behaviour.

My Dad's driving was reported to me by the head carer where he lives as being erratic and unacceptable: he'd been observed pulling out of the gates into the incoming traffic in a dangerous manner on more than one occasion.
He was waiting for a brain scan at the time so my husband and I agreed we would confiscate his keys until we had the results. Dad wasn't happy, but he lives next door to a school so we told him it was not an option.
He was diagnosed with dementia and we never did give him his keys back.

Here in New South Wales it is necessary for drivers to have a full eye test annually, after the age of 75. Because I am listed as having mono vision - childhood accident - my test is always very, very thorough. One year the test report was "mislaid" and my licence cancelled! Fortunately it was easily sorted.

I remember reporting on a court case years ago in which an elderly man had knocked a motorcyclist off his bike and killed him. The court ordered him to have an eye test before sentencing him and it turned out that his eyesight was so bad that he could be legally registered blind. I've never forgotten that.

I agree with the Lancashire coroner. I reported everything about my deteriorating eyesight to the DVLA and they told me I was fit to drive. I knew I wasn’t, so I didn’t. I kept my licence as a handy form of ID but declined to renew it following my 70th birthday. I believe they have tightened the rules since telling me I was fit to drive, but I still see some terrible drivers on the roads.

I think it should be compulsory to add your license number after a certain age, to the optician. If you aren’t fit to drive, they should report it to the DVLA.
My dad was 75, diabetic, one day, whilst driving home, he had a low,so mum ended up to changing his gears- it frightened them that much that they got rid of the car that very same day.
Dread to think if he had been on his own what could have happened.
It’s not just eyesight, it’s all sorts of illnesses & medications that affect driving.

V3ra Yes, men in these cases, but there have been cases with women. With women it seems to be mainly women suffering from dementia. There was a case in the papers in the last few weeks where a woman with dementia killed someone in an accident.

I had an aunt, who was driving for several years with undiagnosed dementia. Thankfully she did no one any harm. It only became clear when she had a mild stroke and, as they were childless, I stepped in and took on their care. Her husband, whose dementia was diagnosed, had had his licence withdrawn. He was very cross about it, but once it had been confirmed, never drove again.

Yes, it was a 91 year old woman with dementia who killed that little 3 year old I'm Edinburgh last year.

Though that wasn't eyes.

Drivers (70+ years old) I think have an increased risk per mile driven. Also, didn't we discover (on an earlier thread) that older drivers drive fewer miles but fatal crash rates increase noticeably starting at age 70-74 and are highest among drivers 85 and older when considering the distance driven.

My other half has Primary Progressive MS. When he was diagnosed i was reading information on the MS Society website and read that it was a notifiable condition. No one (consultant or GP) had thought to mention this. We told the DVLA (and the insurer) who immediately restricted his license and he had to re-submit it every 2 years with a GP letter to say he was/is fit to drive.

Two years ago he did this as usual and we were surprised to get a letter back giving him his license for 5 years and telling him to 'self report' if his condition changed. This seems dangerous to me.

Others though, do not recognise when it's time to give up. I could write a book on what i see on a daily basis

The worst driving I have seen is young men roaring through 20mph areas at an estimated 60mph, overtaking at dangerous places, or people (usually young men again) driving recklessly on motorways.

I suppose, Allira, we all notice those mad drivers in their late teens and early 20s but we don't see older adults with eye problems at all.

(Or maybe I should have said - they don't see the rest of us!)

Chocolatelovinggran

The son of a friend was knocked off his bike at 8.45 on a busy school destination road by a car driven by an elderly man.
A police officer arrived and asked the man to read the number plate on the car a few yards away.
The response was " What car?"
I'm a driver aged 70 + and would welcome a compulsory annual sight test for my age group.

We are called for an annual check at the optician we use, perhaps a certificate saying your eyesight is good enough to drive a car could be issued as standard. Although the check is free we pay an extra £5 for the in depth screening and would be happy to pay an extra £5 for a certificate saying our eyesight is at the standard needed for driving a car.