Overview

• Ministers are considering requiring over-70s to pass professional eyesight tests at each three-year licence renewal, with suspension or bans possible for failures.
• The eyesight plan forms part of an autumn road-safety strategy that officials describe as the biggest update to driving laws in decades.
• The draft package includes cutting the drink-drive limit in England and Wales to Scotland’s level, adding points for seatbelt offences, tougher penalties for uninsured driving, and enabling drug-driving charges from roadside saliva tests.
• Nearly six million UK drivers are over 70, and under current rules they renew every three years using self-declaration for medical conditions.
• The push follows coroner warnings over vision-related fatalities and has attracted support from the AA, IAM RoadSmart, and senior politicians including Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.