Liz Emerson, IF CEO, calls out Boomer outrage towards a sensible road-safety policy to test eyesight over 70 years of age.
“My eyes are dim I cannot see”
I lost my reading glasses the other weekend. It meant that I had to have another eye test this week after a two-year gap. I’m 57 years old. Whether I like it or not, my eyes are deteriorating. I’m not quite at the point that I need glasses for long distances such as when driving, but I could be on the cusp at my next eye test. I paid for that test. I was happy to pay for that test to protect my eyes, my health, my own safety and the safety of others around me.
Boomer outrage
The government is currently floating the idea that drivers over 70 years of age should have to take a free eye test to be permitted to continue to drive. You heard me right. A free eye test! One of the great Boomer entitlements is access to State-funded freebies over a certain age – from free bus travel and free prescriptions to free eye tests. The only remaining inconvenience may be the time needed to travel, attend and report eye-test success to the DVLA.
The subsequent response by largely, old, white, men on LinkedIn and other social media platforms has been astonishing. Yet again, they have chosen to prioritise their so-called “civil liberties” over the safety of their passengers who could be their own grandchildren or children or pedestrians or other drivers. Even the President of the AA, Edmund King, got in on the act, telling the BBC, that over-70s’ drivers “are still relatively safe” before passing blame down to young drivers. Nice work on shifting the generational blame, Sir.
Young people can’t get driving tests
This boomer outrage is ironic for a number of reasons: First, young people would love to be able to get behind a wheel of a car but they are literally locked out of driving because of the fiasco that is the 22-week delay in being able to get a test, according to a 2025 National Audit Office report. Second, young people simply cannot afford to drive because of the cost of lessons, the cost of second-hand cars as well as the unprecedented cost of car insurance for 18–25 year-olds – £2,800 per year in London, £2,392 in the West Midlands and £2,327 in Yorkshire. And lastly, young people have always had the most collisions because they tend to be the newest drivers. Those 70-year-olds today should be asked how many prangs they had as new drivers before throwing stones at generations below!
Annoying facts
Our eyesight worsens as we age whether we like it or not. We develop cataracts – clouding our lens and causing blurred vision. Then there is the more worrying glaucoma which can lead to permanent loss of vision if left untreated. Macular Degeneration can also be life changing as can be the blood vessel damage caused by diabetes. According to the government’s Diabetes Prevalence Model, “there is a clear association between increasing age and higher diabetes prevalence, from 9.0% aged 45 to 54 to 23.8% aged 75 years and over.” Put simply, more than 1 in 5 people aged over 75 years are likely to have diabetes. Turning what is a sensible road-safety policy into an act of ageism towards older people is dishonest, irresponsible and frankly generationally entitled.
Photo courtesy of DVLA website.