There are something in the region of 50 million Full and Provisional license holders in the U.K. if renewing every 10 years then that’s approx 5 million renewals every year. So potentially 5 million extra eye tests.
There are approximately 12,000 optometrists in the U.K. so that’s just over an extra 400 tests per practitioner.
Whilst it doesn’t sound impossible, how practical it would be to do it to everyone from the off is a different matter.
I say this as someone who very much agrees that this is a problem which needs to be addressed (having reported a grandparent and had their license removed) but it would have to be phased in and probably start with a compulsory test before getting your first license, then progressively based on the most at risk groups opening a can of worms set of challenges and cries of discrimination. Which would probably tie it up in legislative hell for years.
It also doesn’t take account of people not wearing their prescribed lenses/glasses whilst driving or people whose eyesight declines very suddenly but they might be 9 years and 11 months off their next compulsory test. Making biannual tests compulsory for the whole driving population would be even less likely to go through as the capacity simply isn’t there.
There is no perfect answer unfortunately. I do think we could all benefit from having e.g. a 20 year driving check in - not having to pass a test again per se but attending a training session covering updates to the Highway Code/new traffic systems and check hazard perception. The driving test my Dad passed was a lot less involved than the one I did many years later and almost unrecognisable from what today’s test consists of, plus cars have evolved a huge amount even in the last decade.
I guess more of us need to be more honest with both our relatives and ourselves as a first port of call.