Another reason for SMIDSYs

[Mike Sales]

AN 85-year-old who ploughed into five charity cyclists – killing one and seriously injuring another – drove on for three miles despite “significant” damage to his car.

Edwards was “genuinely remorseful”, said his solicitor Gareth Parry. Between February and July this year his client, who was 84 at the time of the smash, had suffered a sudden deterioration in his concentration, his eyesight worsened and his diabetes became poorly controlled. Edwards’ wife Mabel died this summer.

District Judge Andrew Shaw said: “It was a very serious act of carelessness.” He was “mystified” why he drove on afterwards. He said the cyclists were wearing conspicuous clothing and Edwards had the opportunity to see them from a considerable distance.

Drivers should have compulsory eye tests every 10 years, the Association of Optometrists has said.

One in three optometrists say they have seen patients in the last month who continue to drive with vision below the legal standard, their association said.

Motorists must read a number plate from 20m (65ft) in the practical driving test, but there is no follow-up check.

The Department for Transport said changes to eyesight should be reported by motorists to the DVLA.

"All drivers are required by law to make sure their eyesight is good enough to drive," a spokeswoman said.

Data from the Department for Transport shows seven people were killed and 63 were seriously injured in accidents on Britain's roads last year when "uncorrected, defective eyesight" was a contributory factor.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/loca ... st-1797703

Surely any driver who pleads SMIDSY should have their eyes tested.
The eye test used in the driving test is inadequate. It can be passed by drivers with very pooe peripheral vision.

[Duradulo]

The elderly driver who hit me on a quiet, wide and straight road passed the police's roadside eyesight test so I'd say there's a need to check perception rather than merely vision.

But regular eyesight tests would certainly help - also IIRC opticians do not report directly to the DVLA but merely advise their patients to.

[Bmblbzzz]

The eyesight test for driving is ridiculous:

Motorists must read a number plate from 20m (65ft) in the practical driving test, but there is no follow-up check.

It takes no account of movement, lack of contrast, area of vision, lighting conditions, saccading, distraction, etc etc.

[Mike Sales]

The elderly driver who hit me on a quiet, wide and straight road passed the police's roadside eyesight test so I'd say there's a need to check perception rather than merely vision.

But regular eyesight tests would certainly help - also IIRC opticians do not report directly to the DVLA but merely advise their patients to.

I imagine that the police roadside test is the same as the inadequate driving test test.
Of course selective vision, i.e. not looking out for anything smaller than a car, is a problem, but hard to test for.
Perhaps the test for the licence (and subsequent regulat tests) should be properly conducted by an optometrist, who hast to report problems to the licencing authority.

One in three optometrists say they have seen patients in the last month who continue to drive with vision below the legal standard, their association said.

Nine out of 10 optometrists believed the existing rule - that put the onus on motorists to report themselves to the DVLA if they develop eyesight problems - is insufficient.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41972450

A bride-to-be was knocked down and killed by a driver who was blind in one eye, an inquest has heard.

Natalie Wade, 28, of Rochford, Essex, was hit as she used a pelican crossing near her home as she shopped for her wedding dress in February 2006.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/7699144.stm

[thirdcrank]

Woman fails roadside eye test on drive from Manchester to Suffolk

On Twitter, the police team said it "wouldn't have been too bad if the driver had just gotten (sic) in the car but she had driven from Manchester before being stopped in Suffolk".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-62091101

[TrevA]

Im not making any excuses for this elderly man but a problem with deteriorating eyesight is that it often creeps up on you. As a teenage motorcyclist (on L plates), I only gradually became aware that my eyesight was getting worse (becoming shortsighted). One day I actually paced out 25 meters from a car and discovered that I couldn’t read the numberplate, so I soon made an appointment for the opticians and I’ve been spectacle wearer ever since.

[Nearholmer]

Added to which, visual acuity (“eyesight”) and cognition are two different things, and for anyone to take action both have to function. The way the driver talks about it, and the way it’s described, sound much more like a cognition problem than a visual acuity problem.

Any of us can be prone to cognitive lapses, going onto autopilot while driving on an un stimulating or overly familiar road being a common event, as is mental overload, for instance when trying to route-find in a complex area, in busy traffic, with the kids having a big row in the back, and your partner telling you you’re a blithering idiot (as described to me by a friend, you understand), and as we get older cognition issues can get more common/pronounced.

SMIDcogniseY is probably more common than SMIDActually see Y.

PS: I was astonished to learn when I had a retinal tear and was to all intents and purposes one eyed for a few weeks that because I had good visual acuity in the other eye, with glasses, I was “OK to drive” without even advising DVLA. I didn’t, because I wasn’t, but the law said I was.

[Postboxer]

It doesn't seem to hard to organise to introduce a law to require eye test before passing a driving test, or even getting a provisional licence, then at intervals determined by the optician, based on risk of degeneration.

[Jdsk]

It doesn't seem to hard to organise to introduce a law to require eye test before passing a driving test, or even getting a provisional licence, then at intervals determined by the optician, based on risk of degeneration.

That sort of testing is feasible, and identifying risk factors has probably already been done. Anyone interested in this would do well to have a look at how different countries and states approach the problem.

But "organising to introduce a law" requires a lot more than feasibility. You have to persuade people and someone has to pay for the implementation. (I suspect that it could be cost-effective, but that often still means that someone has to pay when they hadn't before.)

It's often worth starting by thinking about who might be allies. Any suggestions?

Jonathan

[Postboxer]

It doesn't seem to hard to organise to introduce a law to require eye test before passing a driving test, or even getting a provisional licence, then at intervals determined by the optician, based on risk of degeneration.

That sort of testing is feasible, and identifying risk factors has probably already been done. Anyone interested in this would do well to have a look at how different countries and states approach the problem.

But "organising to introduce a law" requires a lot more than feasibility. You have to persuade people and someone has to pay for the implementation. (I suspect that it could be cost-effective, but that often still means that someone has to pay when they hadn't before.)

It's often worth starting by thinking about who might be allies. Any suggestions?

Jonathan

Every single optician? They would get much more business with drivers having to get regular tests. I'm quite surprised how few deaths are put down to defective vision.

[richardfm]

It doesn't seem to hard to organise to introduce a law to require eye test before passing a driving test, or even getting a provisional licence, then at intervals determined by the optician, based on risk of degeneration.

It's not just a matter of introducing a law. You also need a system to record who has taken the test, who passed, who failed and had their licence revoked and who got a new pair of glasses and can have their licence back.
Look at the numbers of people who drive with out tax, insurance or MOT and/or while banned. While such a law might well have an impact on the numbers of drivers with poor vision there would still be plenty out there.

[Nearholmer]

Because of the question about cognitive lapses that lurks in my mind, I’m anything but convinced that “eye tests” are anything like the whole answer.

Does anyone know whether cognitive lapses during driving on the road have been much researched? The certainly have for piloting ‘planes and driving trains, but I very much doubt that the findings are transferable.

There does seem t be quite a bit published about cognitive lapses caused by distraction from ‘mobile devices’, but not a lot else pops up in a really quick search.

Here’s what looks like a good starter for ten https://fjfsdata01prod.blob.core.window ... -00880.pdf

[cycle tramp]

Because of the question about cognitive lapses that lurks in my mind, I’m anything but convinced that “eye tests” are anything like the whole answer.

Does anyone know whether cognitive lapses during driving on the road have been much researched? The certainly have for piloting ‘planes and driving trains, but I very much doubt that the findings are transferable.

There does seem t be quite a bit published about cognitive lapses caused by distraction from ‘mobile devices’, but not a lot else pops up in a really quick search.

I think there's an issue of developing poor driving habits through the course of time, and it's something that I've been guilty of in the past so I'm now watching out for it in myself and others. The two habits I developed which caught me out are;

At a T junction i would stop if I couldn't see if it was clear to go (mostly residential streets) but rather than take a sweeping look along the road, I developed a nasty habit of looking at particular points where a vehicle may have been hidden (the up shot was a minor collision with another can at 2 mph, which was actually in plan sight - but because I'd concerntrated my brain looking through the windows of parked cars, I'd somehow failed to acknowledge the presence of a moving car in clear sight ) I now take a sweeping view for vehicle movements, as well as the usual under, over and through checks.

At the junctions again, I would look left and right, but if one side was clear and the other wasn't, once the vehicle had passed, because I had told my brain that the other side of the road was clear, I moved out without re-checking!
This is a very nasty and serious habit to fall into, because if there was a line of traffic from either my right or left then I could be sat at the junction for several moments and something could have approached from the other direction and I would have not seen it because I didn't re-check, because mentally I used the words 'clear of traffic from the left or right' now I say to myself 'clear of traffic from the left or the right, FOR THE MOMENT'.

Someone in a car pulling out of his driveway did this to me last weekend. He'd seen that it was clear my side (I was around a blind bend at the time and approaching the driver to his right hand side), but the driver had to wait for a line of traffic from his left. However once that line of traffic had cleared, I had passed the bend and was in view.
Because the driver still held onto the belief that nothing was coming, he didn't check and started to pull out into my right of way (I knew this because as I look into car and truck windows at the driver, when i'm approaching any sort of junction and all I could see in this instance was the back of his head).
I quickly shouted 'whoa there' and he stopped, and was very surprised

[Mike Sales]

Because of the question about cognitive lapses that lurks in my mind, I’m anything but convinced that “eye tests” are anything like the whole answer.

Does anyone know whether cognitive lapses during driving on the road have been much researched? The certainly have for piloting ‘planes and driving trains, but I very much doubt that the findings are transferable.

There does seem t be quite a bit published about cognitive lapses caused by distraction from ‘mobile devices’, but not a lot else pops up in a really quick search.

Here’s what looks like a good starter for ten https://fjfsdata01prod.blob.core.window ... -00880.pdf

It would be surprising if there was one single answer to the complex problem of road casualties. There is evidence that some are caused by sub standard vision, and that some drivers continue to drive despite being unable to see well enough. This is a problem that needs addressing.

Are we cyclists so subject to "cognitive lapses"?
My impression is that we are not, at least to the same extent.

[Carlton green]

The bigger issue by far is not how perfect one’s eyes are it is what one does with the information provided. Sorry mate I didn’t see you happens but fine focus (as checked by the Police test and Opticians) isn’t the issue. The issue is did you notice that something was there at all, were you driving according to the light and weather conditions and were you sufficiently able to absorb and process all of the information coming at you and at the pace at which it arrived?

Few if any people intentionally have an accident, and whilst some people are reckless in what they do it’s attitudes rather than capabilities that result in any accidents that such people have and the rest of us monitor what we do and then occasionally make a mistake or error of judgement. Humans are imperfect but the vast bulk of us cover very very large mileages without mishap and that is due to information processing and acquisition.