You may have seen the thing on Drive about 1 in 10 people being unfit to drive because of poor eyesight.

Well the Day before I heard that Gloucestershire police are doing a random stop and eyestes for motorists and making anyone who fails get a propper check up and prove it wihin 14days.

I congratulate them on doing something else other than pointing speed guns at motorists.

 

Hear hear GT - hopefully this means that they'll be spending less time with speed guns around here!

Matt

[This message has been edited by Matt Churchill (edited 02 February 2001).]

 

Its good I agree.

Maybe they could try to make them use them in future as well

robski

 

Maybe Im been a tad cynical here but is this not just another excuse to pull people over??? What next random tyre pressure checks!!! dont get me wrong I agree that there should be some sort of proper eye test....but surely not a job for the police!!!

 

Whats the problem with getting a quick pull by the cops, ure car should be in good shapeand legal, and if it nicks blind people who are driving, people who are banned or driving with no insurance etc, all the better

 

Hear, hear, This is great news!
I hope all the forces take this up. IMHO this should help reduce the accident statistics no end!

 

As Gran Turismo states, this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Poor eyesight contributes to a great deal of accidents in this country.

But I'm a speccy t**t, so what do you expect?

 

I went through that at Newent the other day they didn't stop me even tho I wear glasss.

Now where did I put my cup of tea

 

PaulM....its not that I dont agree with what they are doing but its just that IMHO testing the eye sight of drivers is not really what the police are there for IMHO again!!...it just makes you think sometimes.....! ''havent they got anything better to do''???


Asbestos suit ready

 

Been lurking I have!

Letdown,

The police have a job to enforce road safety. If this means pulling people over and having a quick eye test then it can only be good. I'm all for it if it reduces the amount of accidents.

P.

 

Good job you put on the flame suit letdown... Flamethrower at the ready.

I had a friend a few years back who was hit from behind at 2am on a duel carriageway by another car doing about 80mph. My friend was doing 65mph.

Police couldn't understand this, so by chance gave the driver a quick eye test. His visibility seemed very poor, so asked him to take an eye exam and report back.

Result was he DEFINATELY needed glasses, and probably had done for some years.

So, if the Police want to stop people for random tests that could in the long run prevent this sort of accident, I am all for it. Well done chaps.

Phew... Flamethrower out of gas

Sonic

 

Why not have to take an valid eyesight cert. along your other documents when you get road tax /producer? after all an eyetest is only a tenner!

DazW

 

Good points Guys I do agree that eye tests are important!

But with all the horror stories in the press and on this BBS about slow response times, hiding in bushs..etc...etc..!! ..it just seems to me that its just another excuse for the Police to flex their muscles!! its too easy to sit in bush all day with a laser thingy! Saying that if I was a Policeman given the choice of sitting in a bush all day or raiding a 'Crackhouse' I know what one I'd choose!! ....just an example Guys! I do agree that eye tests are important!!

 

I'm all for random eye tests. A few years ago this guy who had cataracts (roughly 30% vision) had visited my visited my father after driving 20 miles. Couldn't even read the 4 inch high door number from 10 feet away. I was also a passenger with a girl who asked me to tell her if any traffic lights were red because she couldn't see them! She didn't wear her glasses becuase she was self conscious!!! I ordered her to stop when she drove the wrong way down a busy 2 lane one way street. Made her park up and we got a taxi. Bloody loony tune she was.

I reckon they should find a way of testing drowsiness and doing random checks on this as well. I knew of a girl who fell asleep at the wheel several times each morning driving on the motorway. Random checks for everything are the way to go, not poxy speed traps.

Who is safer, a half asleep person/someone not wearing their glasses doing 29mph in a 30, or an alert driver with good vision doing 35 (where conditions dictate)???

Jerome.