Cassie’s Law – Does Your Eyesight Affect Your Ability to Drive?

 

 

 

Cassie McCord, aged 16 was killed two years ago when she was assaulted by an 87-year-old man who three days prior was informed by police that he was medically ineligible to drive. The incident sparked an appeal by Cassie’s family , urging authorities to change the current process for removal of a driver’s licence. more info https://www.easy-quizzz.com/

 

Three days prior to the incident, an man aged 86 attempted to drive through the exit from an petrol station, which prompted an officer from local law enforcement to conduct an investigation. In this case, the 86-year old failed an eye test administered by the police and was consequently declared medically ineligible for driving, and that his driving license would be suspended in a few days. But this didn’t hinder the 86-year-old from driving, which tragically was the case three days later. It caused the death of 16 year old schoolgirl.

 

The current process involves the police writing to request for the license to be removed. Unfortunately, the DVLA didn’t receive the request before they were legally able to withdraw the license of 86 years old. In the present the police don’t have the legal authority to take away a driver’s license.

 

Cassie’s family has collected more than 45,000 signatures that were given to the Department for Transport for an urgent review of the law currently in force. The new process, dubbed “Cassie’s law,” allows the police to send the DVLA their requests, which allows them to cancel a license in a matter of hours types of driving licences.

 

Cassie’s mother Mrs McCord from Colchester stated “I am confident this is a really good solution. The fact the Department for Transport has listened to someone like me who has no power is amazing. Next week it will be two years since Cassie died. The timing could not be better”.

 

Drivers who continue to drive after being told that their license was revoked are subject to a fine of as high as PS5000 or possibly a six-month prison sentence.

 

A spokesperson from the Department for Transport said “we have every sympathy with Mrs McCord and would like to thank her for her valuable work in raising awareness of this issue. The DVLA and the police have worked closely to greatly streamline the process for revoking a licence when the police identify that a driver’s eyesight is inadequate. The decision whether to revoke a driving licence on medical grounds remains with the DVLA, though the e process for informing drivers that their licence has been revoked has now been accelerated”.