- UK plans stricter road safety rules including mandatory eye tests for older drivers.
- Drink-driving limit may be lowered to match Scotland and the rest of Europe.
- Over-60 driver collisions causing death or serious injury have risen by 47 percent.
Drivers over 70 years old in the UK may soon be required to have mandatory eye tests every three years if they want to stay behind the wheel. The new proposal will be joined by a slew of other changes to road safety laws designed to reduce the number of people being killed and seriously injured on local roads.
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As part of the plans, UK ministers may institute compulsory eye tests for drivers aged over 70, who already need to have their licenses renewed every three years. Currently, the UK is one of just three countries in Europe that allows for self-reporting of eyesight problems that impact driving. Elderly drivers who fail eye tests would be banned from driving.
Read: Mazda Kills 2 Supermini After 11 Years In The UK
According to The Times, the number of drivers aged over 60 involved in collisions where someone has been killed or seriously injured has jumped 47 percent since 2010.
Tightening drink-driving laws
Government officials also want to reduce drink-driving-related incidents, which have risen over the past decade, hitting a 13-year high in 2022. To do so, the drink-driving limit in England and Wales could be reduced from 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml breath to 22 micrograms. This would bring England and Wales in line with Scotland, as well as the rest of Europe.
Expanding police powers
Other changes could be made. For example, police will be allowed to bring prosecutions for drug-driving by allowing them to use roadside saliva tests as evidence, rather than blood tests. The criminal penalties for driving without insurance could also be increased in efforts to tackle the growing prevalence of ghost plates, which automatic number-plate recognition cameras cannot read.
“It is in everyone’s interests to tackle road safety and bring the levels of death and serious injuries down significantly,” AA president Edmund King said. “In other countries, such as Australia and Canada, the introduction of new measures to help young drivers have reduced death and serious injury from between 20 per cent and up to 40 per cent. Hence if the UK scheme saw similar reductions, it is estimated that at least 58 deaths and 934 serious injuries could be prevented each year.”
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Lead image IAM RoadSmart
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