'20 metre' number plate test warning issued to one million motorists

A million drivers could be breaking a key safety rule every day in the UK- and would fail a 20 metre test. The worrying figures come amid concerns that too many motorists on our roads are not safe.

It is estimated that over one million people are driving with eyesight below the UK legal minimum requirement, Churchill says. They have revealed that a quarter (25 per cent) of UK adults have not had an eye test in the past two years.

In total, 2.8 million people have never had an eye test as an adult, says Churchill. And ten per cent of drivers who need glasses admit to driving without them.

The consequences of this are sobering. Driving with uncorrected defective eyesight led to 182 fatal or serious crashes last year.

What are the rules on eyesight and driving in the UK?

According to gov.uk, you must be able to read a car number plate made after 1 September 2001 from 20 metres. You can use glasses or contact lenses, if necessary.

In addition, you must meet the minimum eyesight standard for driving by having a visual 'acuity' of at least decimal 0.5 (6/12) measured on the Snellen scale (again, with glasses or contact lenses, if necessary) using both eyes together or, if you have sight in one eye only, in that eye.

Visual acuity is a measure of the ability of the eye to distinguish shapes and the details of objects at a given distance. You must also have an adequate field of vision - your optician can tell you about this and do a test.

In a sign of how important this is, at the start of your practical driving test you have to correctly read a number plate on a parked vehicle. If you cannot do this, you fail your driving test and the test will not continue. DVLA will be told and your licence will be revoked.

The bad news is that a lot of drivers cannot pass this test. Churchill teamed up with a leading optician to test drivers who have not had an eye examination for more than two years. They found that one in ten were unable to read a number plate from 20 metres, the minimum legal requirement.

Nicholas Mantel, Head of Churchill Motor Insurance, said: “Our roads are safest when every driver takes responsibility not only for their vehicle but also for their own health and capability to drive safely. It’s important that drivers have regular eye tests to ensure that they are fit to drive.

"Eyesight tends to deteriorate slowly, so drivers may not notice the decline in vision unless they get regular tests. Blurred or poor vision can lead to delayed decision making and response, increasing the risk of accidents. For those who do have glasses or lenses for driving, it is important to wear them to, keeping yourself and others safer on the road.”

Abbas Pirai, optician from Hodd, Barnes and Dickens, who conducted the study, said: “It is incredibly worrying that so many drivers don’t meet the UK’s road legal eyesight requirements. Many drivers do not realise than even minor vision issues can significantly reduce their ability to see signs, the dashboard, pedestrians, and other cars, affecting their ability to drive safely. Regular eye tests are not just a health recommendation, they are a necessary step to ensure every driver is fit for the road”.

Full breakdown of figures is 'worrying'

Figures show 13.5 million people, a quarter of adults, haven’t had an eye test in the past two years, which is the interval recommended by the NHS. Worryingly 2.8 million people in the UK have never had an eye test as an adult. Over half of those (60 per cent) said that they didn’t feel that they needed a test because they felt they could “see OK”. Over a quarter (27 per cent) said that the cost of having an eye test and getting any required prescription had put them off being tested. A staggering 3.5 million drivers (seven per cent) suspect that their eyesight isn’t road legal.

Even drivers who have been told they need glasses or contact lenses when behind the wheel don’t always wear them. Eight per cent of those questioned who need glasses to drive admitted that they only wear them ‘sometimes’ or ‘rarely’ and a further two per cent confessed that they never wear their prescription lenses when driving. Shockingly, a quarter of those who drive without their glasses admitted that they couldn’t read road signs and 29 per cent admitted having had an incident because they couldn’t see clearly.