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Poor Vision: A Growing Problem Among British Drivers

Posted: Friday, 28 July 2017

If you need yet another reason to be concerned about the fitness of those who drive your company vehicles, look no further than eyesight. That's right; new research just released by Vision Express suggests that millions of British drivers could be getting behind the wheel despite having inadequate eyesight. If correct, the research also suggests that those drivers are endangering others needlessly.

Vision Express says that as many as one-third of all British drivers should get an eye test. Some 4% of the drivers responding to the company's research survey admitted to never having had one. Perhaps that's not surprising, but that doesn't make it any less important from a safety perspective.

The law requires drivers to have adequate vision, either with correction or without, in order to operate a vehicle on public roads. Drivers can be stripped of driving privileges if they are caught driving with poor vision. They are risking fines and other penalties if poor vision results in an accident.

Addressing Licence Issues

According to The Sun, the DVLA has dealt with nearly 50,000 licence issues pertaining to poor vision since 2012. If that's not surprising enough, more than 6,700 of those issues related to drivers with lorry and bus licences. In some cases, licences were taken away; in other cases, drivers were prevented from getting their licences.

One last statistic to consider is that the number of drivers unable to get licences due to poor vision rose some 30% between 2012 and 2016. This suggests that there may be an increasing number of drivers who already have licences despite inadequate vision.

As a business owner with company vehicles on the road, consider what all of this means to you and your livelihood. One of the reasons we offer licence checks to businesses like yours is the fact that a person's licence could be revoked due to poor vision without you ever knowing about it. Regular licence checks keep you abreast of what's going on with all your company drivers.

Don't wait until one of your staff members has an accident or is stopped by police. Stay on top of your business by ordering routine licence checks. Doing so could both prevent an accident and protect you against a liability claim. Checking licences is the right thing to do for your company, your employees, and the driving public.

Source: The Sun