Blind to danger

Monday, March 22, 2010

IT is outrageous that a lorry driver who killed a man on a pedestrian crossing and was convicted recently of dangerous driving was allowed to drive a lorry for a living when he was blind in one eye from birth; this would have restricted his angle of vision and made stereoscopic sight impossible.

The RSA is now responsible for driver licensing and should introduce regulations to ensure those who drive for a living, drivers of HGVs and PSVs, have a high standard of medical fitness which should include a requirement for good binocular vision.

Instead, they mitigate dangerous driving by stating in the new RSA/AA version of the Rules of the Road that "pedestrians are extremely difficult to see" and blaming victims if they are not wearing high-visibility vests.

Michael Job
Glengarriff
Co Cork

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, March 22, 2010