Get your eyes tested

As someone who has had poor eyesight for as long as I can remember – I started wearing glasses for short-sightedness aged eight – I realise the importance of being able to see for driving. But I don’t think my history makes me any different to anyone else. I’d have thought every driver, knowing they’re in charge of a potentially lethal weapon, would appreciate the importance of their eyesight. I know when my prescription changes and I need to visit the optician because there’s a big giveway – it’s that I can’t see stuff as well as I used to. This is not rocket science. This is topical because as of this week new minimum medical standards, including eyesight, apply to bus and lorry driving licence holders. Call me old-fashioned but I’d have thought, given they’re driving a much larger potentially lethal weapon, this would be very heavily policed already. It’s also topical because I’ve been analysing some Government stats about causes of car accidents. Where a contributory factor has been listed, in a quarter of crashes it’s a failure to see or failure to look properly. Staggering.