Somerset Police are carrying out night time roadside vision checks for motorists this week.
A spokesman says: “If you struggle with your sight when driving after dark, you could be putting yourself and others in danger.”
“We’ll be carrying out roadside vision screening this week as part of our national ‘Operation Dark Night.”
DVLA rules state: “You must wear glasses or contact lenses every time you drive if you need them to meet the ‘standards of vision for driving’.”
“You must tell DVLA if you’ve got any problem with your eyesight that affects both of your eyes, or the remaining eye if you only have one eye.”
“This does not include being short or long sighted or colour blind. You also do not need to say if you’ve had surgery to correct short sightedness and can meet the eyesight standards.”
“You could be prosecuted if you drive without meeting the standards of vision for driving.”
“You must be able to read (with glasses or contact lenses, if necessary) a car number plate made after 1 September 2001 from 20 metres.”
“You must also meet the minimum eyesight standard for driving by having a visual acuity of at least decimal 0.5 (6/12) measured on the Snellen scale (with glasses or contact lenses, if necessary) using both eyes together or, if you have sight in one eye only, in that eye.”
“You must also have an adequate field of vision – your optician can tell you about this and do a test.”
Check if you need to tell DVLA about your eyesight problem by searching the A to Z of medical conditions that could affect your driving.
