English Corpus

The EU Parliament passed a legislation in 2006 that requires drivers to get their eyes checked regularly, and it will be introduced to all the member states in 2011. However, a research conducted by Specsavers has revealed that more than half of the companies are not even aware of such a legislation.

Corporate Account Manager for Specsavers Corporate Eyecare, Laura Butler, said that it was surprising how almost three-fourths of companies have no idea about the existence of this recent legislation. She also said that its awareness should be the main concern even if there is still some time before the legislation becomes common law.

The proposed plan is to have commercial drivers get their eyes tested every five years and private license holders every ten to fifteen years. By 2013, every member state has to make this dictate into national law. Specsavers found that amongst 187 companies, almost 78% were clueless about the existence of the legislation. It also found that about one in three persons who drive professionally have vision that is below normal standards.

Another concurrent survey conducted amongst 2,000 drivers in the UK brought to light the fact that out of all the accidents that they had had last year, 17% were due to faulty vision or the absence of glasses. It was seen that one out of every three of them had not done an eye test in over two years. Another 6% revealed that they had not had their vision checked even once in the past 11 years.

Out of those who require glasses for proper sight, one in every five are not even bothered to wear them. One in ten also admitted that they have been in accidents or have had a narrow escape after they chose to drive without their glasses.

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