It is very worrying to think that so many people with poor eyesight are driving in one area! You can't help but wonder what the age range of the people are and if Llandudno's huge OAP population has anything to do with it. It will be interesting to compare statistics with other areas when they emerge! Road traffic officers were back in Llandudno this week to resume an operation that caused quite a stir this summer. They stopped 116 drivers for eyesight tests and car safety checks to ensure motorists and their vehicles were fit for the road.
Similar activity in June was dubbed “Operation Overkill” by social media pundits who felt it was a “money-making scheme” and officers should be out catching “real criminals”. It prompted an unusually robust response from North Wales Police (NWP), which suggested critics “should have gone to Specsavers”. In the latest deployment of "Operation Eyesight" in Llandudno, the NWP Roads Crime Unit stopped 116 drivers All passed their eyesight tests and most were able to continue their journeys within a couple of minutes. However their vehicles were less compliant. Officers handed out 14 Traffic Offence Reports for defects on vehicles. Offences ranged from illegal number plates, under-inflated tyres and no MOT to driving without a license, anti-social driving and illegal tints on front windows.
Two vehicles were also seized – one with no insurance and one failing to stop for police. Officers made four arrests - for failing a roadside drugs test, failing to provide for a drugs test, careless driving and failing to stop.
The ongoing initiative checks that drivers’ eyesights meet the required standard. All drivers must be able to read a legal, clean registration plate from 20 meters in daylight. Vehicles are also assessed for roadworthiness.
NWP justified the operation by saying that “being able to see is quite an important factor when driving”. PC Logan, of the Road’s Crime Unit, clarified: “Good eyesight is essential for safe driving, and we make no apologies in trying to reduce serious and fatal collisions."
PC Logan added: “We are advising motorists to please take time to check over their vehicles to make sure they are prepared for the winter months. We also advise pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders to make sure that they are as visible as possible, wearing high-visibility clothing. They should also have sufficient lights to be seen, especially when using roads where there is little or no lighting.”
In June, more than 100 drivers were stopped and three had their licences revoked immediately due to “serious” eyesight issues. The NWP Road’s Crime Unit will be carrying out more operations over the coming months to make the roads of North Wales 'as safe as possible'.
This week’s stop-and-test operation caused a more muted online reaction. Complaints this time were mostly limited to calls for road repairs and action against “boy racers” and illegal electric scooters.
A Llandudno car workshop boss saluted Operation Eyesight as a “top job”. He added: “Way too many cars come to us with tyres on the cords, bulbs out, non-existent wiper blades and so on!” Pre-winter checks include ensuring tyres are in good condition and their pressures are correct. The minimum legal tread limit for cars is 1.6mm across three-quarters of the circumference of the tread.
Vehicle lights should be checked too. Wipers should be in good working order and windscreen washer reservoirs topped up. From....https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/cars-seized-drivers-arrested-police-30078694
Whatever next! Imagine if all of the driving OAPs from Llandudno failed the test, buses would be standing room only!
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