Warning people will die unless driver eyesight law changes
Marie Cunningham and her friend Grace Foulds were killed by a man who could see the car's speedometer.
The family of a Southport woman killed by a driver with bad eyesight are warning people will continue to die unless changes to the driving license system are made.
Marie Cunningham, 79, and Grace Foulds, 85, died while crossing the road in 2021.
They were struck and killed by Glyn Jones, 65, who had been repeatedly warned that he was unfit to drive because of an eye condition he was diagnosed with more than ten years previously.
Marie's family are campaigning to stop future deaths on the roads - they want to see changes to the system in which the DVLA would be automatically informed of eye test results. Abolishing self-reporting of visual conditions affecting a driver's ability to meet the legal standards required to drive a car.
Currently, the only time an eyesight tests is legally required for a driver is during a driving test in order to pass that test.
When a driver reaches 70 years of age, they have to self-report on a licence application every three years that they can read a number plate 20m and had not been told that their vision falls below the legal limit for driving.
Marie's son Steve Cunningham tells us: "We've lost our mum, we've lost her friend, we would lose sleep every night if we read a story that two or three children cross the road were killed by somebody whose eyesight was poor because we hadn't been vocal enough to be able to stop it.
"The DVLA have a process with mots in place.
"Take that process, give it to the opticians, put it in place by the end of the month, and then our roads become safer from these thousands of drivers who think that they know better or are ignoring the medical advice."
Steve adds: "Somebody's gonna have blood on their hands by the end of the day, there is gonna be an accident, there is gonna be an injury.
"This isn't always about death, this is about life changing injuries.
"How many people are seriously injured that their life has changed so radically that they can't support their family because of this."
36 Labour MPs have signed a letter sent to the Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander calling for a change to the laws.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said previously: "We don't have a fixed view that says we will never look again at any of this, so we will take it away and have a look at what more can be done in terms of safety.
"These are tragic cases and I think they deserve a Government that looks again if there's anything more we can do on road safety.
"Firstly can I just extend my thoughts to the families of those involved in these awful incidents and we have to start with that human element.
"We will look and review".