Over the decade there have been 33,399 casualties to road users with dazzling sun being marked as a significant contributing factor.
On average this results in 653 road users being killed or experiencing serious injury every year. Cars are involved in the majority of casualties attributed to sun glare, making up 59% in 2021 and 63% across the decade.
The Department of Transport recently released ’21 figures, with this year noting 2,369 casualties attributed to dazzling sun – 558 (24%) resulting in serious injury including 19 deaths.
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A new poll by Glasses Direct in partnership with Transitions, surveyed 2,000 UK drivers, half of which were legally required by law to wear prescription glasses when driving. The survey found that 14% of drivers had or almost had an accident due to vision impairment (i.e. sun glare) on the road,and according to the Department of Transport there were 1,774 collisions attributed to dazzling sun incidents in 2021. When drivers were surveyed in October, almost three quarters still regularly wore non-prescription sunglasses to drive during the day, despite over 1 in 3 (37%) saying they struggled to see clearly when driving with standard sunglasses. The research also identifies some other very concerning gaps in knowledge around appropriate eyewear on the road. Over half of drivers (55%) did not know if their sunglasses were legally appropriate for driving, and 71% had no idea what category filter their sunglasses were. If you need to wear glasses for driving — indicated by a 01 code under section 12 on your driving licence — then you must also get sunglasses that adhere to your prescription and not just off-the-shelf glasses. Concerningly, this doesn’t seem to be common knowledge as only 5% of drivers who are required to wear glasses (and have the code) could accurately identify it. Almost 1 in 5 drivers (17%) confessed they’d had their last eye test outside of the recommended 2 year check-up time frame, with 6% believing it had been 5 years or more since their last eye test. |
The time zone switch from BST to GMT, the standard time zone, at the end of October can be known to catch people out. Usually in the sense of being late to meetings or missing school pick up, but what drivers seem to fail to consider is how the time change will affect safety on the road, as only 5% of drivers think it is especially important to wear sunglasses whilst driving in winter months. Low winter sun can pose a real hazard to drivers, but despite this, only 3 in 10 of us will consider how our route will be impacted before travelling, and only 1 in 3 drivers identified that west facing roads are most likely to be impacted by sun glare when driving at sunset. The Department of Transport data also shows that minor roads have the most accidents, which only 17% of drivers correctly identified. This is likely because of unexpected road turns or the glare appearing from behind trees, buildings or by reflection. Drivers can’t gamble that it will change quickly – in the couple of hundred yards that takes to happen, there may be a pedestrian, cyclist or jogger. Overtaking on these roads can result in disaster. |
The survey also found that drivers are willing to put others at risk for the sake of their mobility as 14% of drivers admitted to avoiding going to the optician for fear of losing their driving licence. Approximately 1.2 million drivers, when extrapolated as a percentage of the UK driving population,know they shouldn’t be driving but do so anyway, 7% or 2.8 million, have delayed because they’re worried about losing their independence, and a further 4%, or 1.6 million, know they need to go but can’t afford the required changes to their prescription.
Although there were only minor differences in the number of casualties compared with 2020, the number of resulting deaths was halved (41 vs 19) and numbers are down on a 10Y average:
|
All road users |
10Y average |
2021 |
|
Casualty |
3,340 |
2,369 |
|
Serious Injury |
653 |
558 |
|
Death |
27 |
19 |
