A ROAD crash victims’ charity has issued a complaint to the UK Government after no police action was taken over Dominic Cummings admitted to driving to test his “affected” vision.
The Prime Minister’s top adviser made the claim at an unprecedented press conference this week as he explained why he travelled 250 miles to his parents’ Durham farm while sick with Covid-19 during lockdown – and made a trip from there to tourist town Barnard Castle.
The aide said he had made the second 60-mile round trip to test his eyesight was working correctly after the coronavirus “affected” it. Police said that Cummings did break the rules on that journey, but it would have only been a “minor breach”.
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Defending the adviser later in the week, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster also appeared to admit he had in the past driven to test his vision too.
According to the AA, uncorrected or defective eyesight contributed to 196 road crashes. They said three of those crashes involved facilities.
Charity RoadPeace is angry that no action was taken over Cummings’s driving, which he did with his wife and four-year-old son in the car as passengers.
The charity was set up by Brigitte Chaudhry whose son Mansoor was killed in 1990 by a van driver who skipped a red light. They say police should have spoken to Cummings about the trip to test his vision.
A co-ordinator with the charity, Victoria Lebrec, told The Herald: "He was told about the lockdown breach, but that is different from a conversation about driving while by his own admission to test his [affected] vision.
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"I would have hoped that a conversation included some thoughts on his driving excuse.
"I think both Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings could benefit from speaking to families whose loved ones have been killed on the road.
"What Dominic Cummings did and how senior government officials have reacted is alarming and insulting. If you have any doubt about your eye function, you should not drive.
"I was personally seriously injured in a crash when a driver didn't see me. His eyesight wasn't affected, but driving a vehicle demands full attention and functioning eyes.
"RoadPeace supports people who have been seriously injured or bereaved by road crashes. The devastation caused by a crash is sudden, traumatic, and people will often never get over it.
"The fact that Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove believe it is right and proper to test your eyes by driving shows they have no comprehension of the scale of the problem, and if they do, then they don't care.
"Five people are killed every day in Britain on the roads. Over 60 are seriously injured. The actions by government officials is an insult to them."
Meanwhile, a letter on behalf of the charity directed to MPs by the brother of a road crash victim says he was in “despair” at the Government figures’ comments.
The letter said: "I don't think that you need to be an authority on anything at all, to know that driving if you even suspect your vision is impaired, is extremely silly and risks lives.”
Lawyers and police representatives have stressed to the public that driving is not the correct way to test your eyesight and could put other road users in danger.
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