Are the eyes right for drivin
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• A team of researchers from Aston University is testing truck drivers' eyesight in a bid to establish how often poor eyesight contributes to driving accidents.
Dr Mark Dunne, of the university's vision research department, hopes to try out a new test and questionnaire on 50,000 truck and car drivers as part of the research.
The test checks vision under different contrast conditions—a sophisticated development that may give researchers a more accurate picture of drivers' eyesight problems.
"We want to significantly increase knowledge about eyesight and the cause of road accidents," an Aston spokeswoman says.
The test, to be conducted at 24 Granada services stations until the end of August, takes less than 10 minutes.
The confidential questionnaire asks for accident histc,ries, annual mileage driven and also for driving experience.
Vauxhall Motors is sponsoring the four units conducting the tests, which are being carried out for a consortium that includes the university and Midlands and North Wales police and road safety officers.
They hope the tests will prove or disprove a new theory that defective eyesight may cause more accidents in lowcontrast conditions.
The data analysis is likely to take several months.