Organisations: The Older Drivers Forum, Eye Health UK and University of Warwick/CARGY Research
Date of Publication: October 2026
Uploaded to Knowledge Centre: 14 October 2026
The National Police Chief Council’s (NPCC) Operation Dark Night (ODN) campaign ran 27 October to Sunday 9 November 2025. The ‘Is Your Vision Roadworthy?’ (IYVR) initiative ran alongside the ODN campaign. The National Roads Policing Operations, Intelligence & Investigations (NRPOII) team supported and coordinated the IYVR campaign to coincide with the NPCC Operation Dark Night. All police forces in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were invited to raise awareness of the importance of good vision for safe driving during both the ODN and IYVR campaigns (ODNIYVR).
Police officers were asked to take part in this campaign by undertaking a roadside 20m number plate test at every opportunity, either specifically for the ODNIYVR campaign or when a driver is suspected as having defective vision, after committing a traffic offence, or following a road traffic collision.
Thirty-two police forces across England, Scotland and Wales submitted data: Three of the four police forces in Wales (75%) 28 of the 39 forces in England (72%). Police Scotland represents the whole of Scotland. A total of 3778 drivers’ eyesight tests were included in the following data analysis.
Key results are presented below:
– The majority of drivers took the roadside eyesight test voluntarily (2982 drivers, 78.9%). This was either specifically because of Operation Dark Night (2576, 68.2%) or another voluntary roadside test (406, 10.7%). However, 636 (16.8%) were tested after committing a traffic offence and 118 (3.1%) following a road traffic collision.
– The most frequently stopped vehicles were a car (3313 drivers, 87.7%), or a van (286 drivers, 7.6%).
– Two thirds of the drivers stopped during the campaign were male (2527, 66.9%). Drivers’ age ranged from under 25 years, to over 90 years of age.
– Of the 3788 drivers tested, 3719 (98.4%) passed but 59 (1.6%) failed to meet the eyesight standards for driving.
– When eyesight test failures were analysed by Nation: 2.6% of drivers tested in England failed; 3.2% of drivers tested in Scotland; and 0.5% of drivers tested in Wales.
– In England, a 2.6% eyesight test failure rate equates to approximately 1.2 million English drivers who do not meet current visual standards for driving.
Click on the link below to access the report:
https://www.visionanddriving.info/_files/ugd/940c46_3969ef3a5e454d6fa01ed81ec432294f.pdf