By Paul Collins
Car insurance providers will be concerned to find out that a new survey has shown there are millions of motorists who drive even though they have poor eyesight.
According to a poll by LV= almost a quarter (23%) of motorists without glasses admitted they had less than perfect vision.
Worryingly, almost one in 10 drivers (7%) who are supposed to wear glasses when driving forget to put them on every time they get behind the wheel of their vehicle.
The poll showed that typical problems encountered because of poor vision included not being able to see road signs clearly at night, and struggling in bad weather.
Yet a third of them have not had their eyes tested in the last five years and 13% have either had a test more than 10 years ago or never had one.
In a test of 256 randomly-selected drivers, LV= car insurance found 9% were unable to make out a number plate just over 20 metres away on their first attempt. This figure rose to 18% of drivers aged 55 or over.
Of those who should wear glasses for driving but do not, 57% said they simply forget to put them on and 32% think it unnecessary.
A total of 2,490 UK drivers were surveyed.
