Declining eyesight in older drivers webinar

Law firm Slater and Gordon and road safety campaign platform Project EDWARD have announced details of a special joint live webinar on the impact of declining eyesight among older drivers.  

The thought-provoking event, entitled ‘Driving blind? Lessons from a preventable tragedy’, will take place on Tuesday 22 September from 9.30-10.30am at Slater and Gordan’s Manchester offices.  

Prompted by a recent Lancashire coroner’s inquest examining the tragic deaths of four people in three separate road traffic accidents, this session will explore how undetected or unreported visual impairment can lead to catastrophic consequences and why current systems may be failing to prevent it.  

 The webinar brings together leading voices from policing, healthcare, road safety and advocacy to provide a balanced, evidence-led discussion aimed at policymakers, practitioners and professionals committed to safer roads by examining one of the most sensitive and complex issues in modern road safety.  

The session will be chaired by Joy Allen, Durham Police and Crime Commissioner and Roads Policing Lead for Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, and will feature contributions by prominent speakers including Steve Hardman, Police Relationship Manager at Slater and Gordon, Ross Moorlock, CEO of road safety charity Brake, Helen Parkinson, Lead Investigating Officer for Lancashire Police, Dr James Adeley, retired Senior Coroner for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen and star of Channel 5’s Cause of Death, and ophthalmologist and expert witness Richard Booth.  

In front of an invited live audience, the expert panel will examine the role of individual responsibility, medical oversight, licensing policy and enforcement in managing driver fitness. They will offer frontline perspectives, from collision investigation and emergency care to behaviour change and public awareness. The session will also consider practical steps to reduce risk, including earlier intervention, improved screening and more effective cross-sector collaboration. 

 The Lancashire coroner’s inquest brought together cases of two fatalities across the county and a further two deaths by expanding the scope of his investigation to the neighbouring jurisdiction of Sefton, which had seen a similar case that all exposed a serious gap in how eyesight-related driving risk is managed in the UK. The cases involved older drivers who had either been told by health professionals that they were unfit to drive, or who had significant untreated vision problems, yet continued to get behind the wheel. 

 The cases included:   

• In Southport in November 2021, Marie Cunningham, 79, and Grace Foulds, 85, were crossing Lulworth Road when they were struck by Glyn Jones, 67. CCTV and court evidence showed he drove into them without braking and the women died later the same day from catastrophic injuries. Jones had previously been advised over many years that he was unfit to drive because of severe eye disease.   

• In March 2022, Peter Westwell, 80, was killed in Billington near Blackburn when he was hit while crossing the road by Neil Pemberton, 81. The court heard he had been told to stop driving as early as 2013 but still declared to the DVLA that nothing was wrong with his eyesight. His vision was so poor that he could only read a registration plate at eight feet, far below the legal requirement of 66 feet.   

• In July 2023, Anne Ferguson, 75, was killed in Whitworth after being struck by Vernon Law, 72, who had recently been diagnosed with severe cataracts in both eyes. An optometrist described his condition as the most extreme they had seen in 23 years of practice.   

  Together, these deaths prompted the coroner to question whether the current self-reporting system for visual fitness is safe or fit for purpose.   

Jamie McDonnell, Strategic Partnership Lead at Slater and Gordon who is organising the event, said: “Road safety depends on honesty, awareness and effective safeguards, particularly when it comes to something as fundamental as eyesight. Most drivers act responsibly, so the aim of this webinar is not to single out any group of drivers but bring together leading experts from across sectors to facilitate an open, evidence-led conversation about responsibility, regulation and prevention.   

“These tragic cases demonstrate the devastating consequences that can occur when serious visual impairment goes undetected or unreported and highlight a potential gap in the systems designed to keep all road users safe. The findings emerging from the Lancashire coroners court have raise important questions about how we assess driver fitness, whether enough is being done to identify and manage eyesight-related risks on our roads and if these current approaches to eyesight testing and self-reporting provide sufficient protection to reduce risk and save lives.   

“We are proud to be working with Project EDWARD to host this important discussion and by bringing together experts from policing, healthcare, road safety and the legal profession, we hope this webinar will encourage informed discussion, challenge existing assumptions and help identify practical measures help drive forward solutions that could make our roads safer for everyone and prevent similar tragedies in the future.”  

Project EDWARD (Every Day Without A Road Death) is the UK’s leading road safety campaign, bringing together government, emergency services, and businesses to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries through an evidence-led, collaborative approach.  

James Luckhurst, Founder of Project EDWARD, said: “"Behind every statistic is a family whose lives have been changed forever. These were not unavoidable tragedies so when four preventable deaths occur in circumstances where serious eyesight concerns had already been identified, it is right that we take a closer look at what can be learned. In each case, there were warning signs that should have prevented vulnerable people from being exposed to serious risk on our roads.   

“These issues can be uncomfortable to discuss, but avoiding the conversation is not an option when lives are at stake. This webinar is not about blaming older drivers but will provide a unique opportunity for professionals from across sectors to examine the challenges, explore potential solutions and consider what changes may be needed to better protect all road users. It is about asking difficult but necessary questions about whether our current systems for monitoring and managing driver eyesight are fit for purpose.”

 Anyone who would like to join the webinar can sign up here.