Drivers in Wales have been urged to get their eyes tested as new research found that a significant portion fail the eye test, local newspaper the Western Mail has reported.
Close to two per cent of drivers on Welsh roads failed a roadside vision test when randomly stopped as part of research carried out in roads throughout the region last summer.
This figure rose to nine per cent when drivers were aged 70 or older.
This means that there could be more than 26,000 motorists on Welsh roads that should not be driving due to deficient eyesight, the newspaper reported.
The survey was taken by the National Public Health Service for Wales on August of last year, with close to 300 hundred drivers being stopped in the process.
An eye test is a necessary condition of getting a driving license, but eyesight is not regularly checked afterwards.
The report issued by the National Public Health Service recommended that insurance policies should state that they would be invalid if the driver has not had an up-to-date eye test.
Eye tests should be carried out more often by police on top of breathalysing drivers, it was also suggested.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents advised eyesight to be checked once every year, particularly after the ages of 30 and 40 when it starts to deteriorate.
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