She was a Radio and Television personality. She was best known for presenting Blue Peter in the 60s and 70s. Blue Peter was the longest –running children’s programme in the British Broadcasting Corporation’s 100-year old crown. Val, now 85years may have lost being in the limelight and gracing screens. Yet, her status as the rising star is still affecting lives especially those using the roads.
Talking about Valerie Singleton is like talking about our yester-years glamour stars such as the Sienne Allwell Brown who became Sienne Razak-Lawal, Bode Alalade, Julie Coker, and Bimbo Roberts who later became Bimbo Oloyede as well as Ruth Benemasia just to remind the grand daddies and grand mummies. But I am talking about Valerie Singleton OBE who held sway in faraway United Kingdom and is still helping out.
When I read of her, it reminded me of Association for Safe International Road Travel, a non-profit, human organisation that promotes road travel safety through education and advocacy. It was founded by Rochelle Sobel in 1995 in response to Aron the death of her son Aron in a bus crash in Turkey. Val in her lifetime time has suffered a measure of challenges with her sight. In 2005, she had the LASIK PRESBYOND® Laser Blended Vision procedure and in 2018, cataract surgery, after she noticed signs of night driving becoming difficult through her old pal, Professor Dan Reinstein. Val went through these surgeries to correct her vision.
As a layman I sought more clarification on cataract. I found out that as captured by her is that ‘’cataract is when the lens inside the eye becomes cloudy and makes the vision blurry such that it can no longer be sharpened by glasses or contact lens. Cataracts can also cause glare in sunlight or at night with car headlights or street lights for example, and can also change colour perception. Many people often comment on how “white” whites are and how “blues” are now blue again after having cataract surgery’’. Most cataracts I learnt tend to be age-related, but they can also be associated with diabetes, trauma to the eye, or even just run within families.
Valerie is now fully active in promoting safe driving through a free eye sight webinar to address these dangerous and risk health challenges. On March 14, 2023, she hosted a free Webinar. The webinar offered practical advice and tips for all motorists, including examining what the law says and the legal requirements for driving. Support for the event came from the Association of Optometrists as well as Old Drivers Forum representatives.
I don’t know the last time you did an eye test or check. If you haven’t done especially in the last ten years, you should do as experts insist this is necessary. Hear one of the experts who took part in the Val free webinar. He did his small piece where he is even canvassing for a law change to recognise the importance of vision to road safety. I believe we should borrow a leaf his position.
The author Henry Leonard who is from the Association of Optometrists rolled out reasons why drivers like you should have a sight test every 10years to prove their vision still meets driving standard. He recalled an incident in March 2017 when a three year old poppy named Arabella Clarke was killed by a motorists just weeks after the river was warned his vision was too poor to drive.
He recalled the current record in the United Kingdom which shows that almost 3000 injuries on the roads are caused by drivers with poor vision. Yet if a driver in the UK can read a number plate at 20 metres during their driving test, they may continue driving for a lifetime with no further checks which is why he is championing a law review.
Leonard regretted that the procedure or current law provides for drivers to report problems with their eyesight to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).As usual, some don’t do this. Others who do fall below required standards without realising that their vision has changed since they passed their driving test
He posited that the consensus among 1000 practitioners surveyed is that more than one in three of those surveyed reported they had seen a patient in the past month with vision below the driving standard, yet still driving. Many of these experts feel there was a need for more stringent rules and this is also my position.
Leonard further noted that nine in 10 practitioners observe that the current sight requirements for a driving licence are insufficient. They call for regular sight tests for all drivers. Based on poll conducted, two-thirds (62%) of people are currently “putting off” a sight test and 36% are relying on an out-of-date spectacle prescription.
Optometrists recommend that regular sight test be conducted at least once every two years, and more frequently in some cases. A sight test is much more than simply a check of whether you need glasses or contact lenses; it’s also an eye health check, and can even pick up some general health conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and raised cholesterol.
Some eye conditions, such as glaucoma, come on gradually over many years. Without a regular sight test, you might detect the issues until it is too late to treat effectively. According to studies, you can lose up to 40percent of your peripheral vision to glaucoma before they realise it. This is however treatable with laser treatment or eye drops.
His intervention to ensure that drivers see properly includes a change in the law. According to him, in the same way that we check cars to remain roadworthy through a regular MOT, we should check that drivers’ vision remains clear enough to drive safely at regular intervals.
He concludes by stating the ideal which requires a sight test at least once every two years. Notwithstanding this, he rhetorically asks,’’ Is it really too much to ask drivers to have a sight test every 10 years, to prove their vision still meets the driving standard? This law should be changed in tandem with what obtains in many European countries in recognition of the importance of vision to road safety. Having a regular sight test every two years, and getting the right vision correction is the way to go.
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