Southport family push for driver eyesight law change
Marie Cunningham and her friend Grace Foulds were killed by a man who could not see the steering wheel
Last updated 24th May 2025
The family of a Southport woman who was killed by a driver who couldn't see his own steering wheel are calling for a law change, to try and stop others from losing their lives in a similar way.
Marie Cunningham, 79, and Grace Foulds, 85, died while crossing the road in 2021 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 ago.
An eyesight test is required during a driving test in order to pass that test, but there is no legal requirement to make that driver have to take another test at any stage.
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.
It means people are able to make the decision themselves as to whether to give up their licence, even if they are warned that their eyesight isn't good enough to drive.
Marie's family are campaigning to stop future deaths on the roads - they want self-reporting of visual conditions affecting a driver's ability to meet the legal standards required to drive a car, to be abolished.
Steve Cunningham, one of Marie's sons, said:
"There is a fundamental flaw in the system of the UK which is you get behind the wheel of a car, take your driving lessons and your driving test, you then own a car and you've got to have insurance, you then take that car for an MOT every year to make sure it's safe, but nobody asks for certified proof that your eyesight is good enough to be able to handle driving around in a car.
"There is a gap in the process that needs addressing"
"There's a gap in the process that needs addressing. We're not saying the whole system needs to fundamentally be overhauled, but the gaps needs to change, and one of those gaps is a really simple one - if a medical expert says to you, when they're sat in front of you, your eyesight isn't good enough to drive, that should then be escalated into a system, into the DVLA, and then it's recorded.
"If that person chooses to ignore that, which people can, and you get involved in an accident and the police attend the accident, they can check instantly that you shouldn't have been on the road.
"We had a year when we thought mum and Grace were involved in an accident and a driver was involved in an accident. If the police had checked his records, he would've been arrested that night and been in prison within six months."
Marie and Grace's deaths have not been the only example of a driver with defective eyesight getting behind the wheel and causing death.
A landmark inquest in Lancashire looked into Marie's death, Grace's death, as well as the deaths of Peter Westwell, 80, and Ann Ferguson, 75.
Peter was killed by an 81-year-old man who could only read a registration plate at a distance of 8ft. The legal requirement is 66ft.
Ann died after being hit by a car driven by a 75-year-old man who had, just a month before the collision, been told by opticians that he had cataracts in both eyes.
His condition was described as the most extreme they had seen in 23 years of practice, and he had been referred for surgery.
Despite that, when asked if he was a driver, he had told the optometrist that he was not.
"One of the laxest systems in Europe"
Coroner Dr James Adeley described the self-reporting licence system as 'one of the laxest in Europe' and has called on the Department for Transport to take action to prevent future deaths.
The Department has until 12 June to respond.
A documentary showing the impact of the loss of their loved ones, and the questions they ask about how the drivers who killed them were ever able to be on the road, is airing on Sunday.
Steve added:
"We can't have people on the roads with poor eyesight who think that they're fit to drive. I have an insurance because it covers me in case of an accident. I could think I'm a perfect driver, so I don't need insurance! I could look at my car and say my car's tyres are fine, the engine sounds good, I don't need an MOT!
"But the government steps in and says no, you need to be tested, you need to make sure you've got insurance, but when we come to this bit that we've identified, this gap, they just need to continue that same level of prudence, which is, you just need to show that your eyes are fit and safe to be able to drive a car!"