What Are the UK Driving Eyesight Rules?

To drive legally in the UK, you must read a number plate from 20 metres away and meet a minimum visual acuity of 0.5 on the Snellen scale. 

These UK driving eyesight rules don’t stop applying once you’ve passed your test; they’re checked every time you drive. 

Get it wrong, and you’re looking at prosecution, a revoked licence, or a test that ends before it’s begun.

The Number Plate Test

Before a lesson or test can start, you need to read a parked car’s number plate from about five car-lengths away, in ordinary daylight. Sounds almost too basic to mention.

And yet it trips people up. Instructors run this check first thing for a reason. We do exactly this during a first driving lesson, and it catches undiagnosed issues more often than you’d guess.

The Minimum Visual Acuity Standard

Beyond the plate test sits something more precise: the DVLA vision standard. You need at least 0.5 (6/12) on the Snellen scale, using both eyes together, or your one working eye, if that’s all you have.

Glasses and contacts count, but only while you’re actually wearing them. Carrying them in the glovebox doesn’t.

How Is Field Of Vision Assessed?

Visual acuity is only half the picture. There’s also “adequate field of vision” to consider, and that part needs an optician, not a number plate.

What Adequate Field of Vision Means

There’s no fixed figure for standard drivers here. It’s assessed case by case, sometimes with an Esterman visual field test if the DVLA refers you for one.

Car vs Lorry and Bus Standards

Requirement	Car/motorcycle drivers	Lorry & bus drivers
Number plate distance	20 metres	20 metres
Minimum visual acuity	0.5 (6/12) Snellen	0.8 (6/7.5) best eye, 0.1 (6/60) other eye
Field of vision	Adequate, optician-assessed	160° horizontal; 70° left/right; 30° up/down
Corrective lens limit	None specified	Max +8 dioptres (glasses)

What Eye Conditions Must You Report To The DVLA?

Whether you need to report something depends on which eye’s affected, and whether it’s a medical condition or just a refractive one.

Conditions You Don’t Need to Report

Short-sightedness, long-sightedness, colour blindness, none of that needs telling to the DVLA. Corrective surgery doesn’t either, provided you still meet the standard afterwards.

Conditions You Must Declare

Both eyes affected, or your only working eye? That needs reporting. Glaucoma and cataracts are the two that come up most.

Once declared, the DVLA can arrange a free assessment with their own optician before deciding anything.

What Are The Eyesight Requirements For Lorry And Bus Drivers?

Eyesight requirements for lorry and bus licences sit well above the car standard; it makes sense, given what’s at stake driving something that size for a living.

Group 2 Acuity and Field of Vision Rules

For Group 2 entitlement, the figures in the table above are fixed. No rounding up on acuity, no rounding up on field of vision either.

The Pre-1997 Exception

One old carve-out survives: hold a lorry or bus licence from before 1 January 1997, and you can sometimes renew even falling slightly short of today’s numbers. Everyone since doesn’t get that option.

What Happens If You Fail The Eyesight Check On Your Driving Test?

Every practical test opens the same way: read a number plate before you’ve touched the wheel.

The Number Plate Check at Your Test

Miss it, and that’s the test over. No second attempt. DVSA is told, and your licence is revoked immediately.

Getting Your Licence Back

Another eyesight check at a test centre, then you’re re-tested at every future practical too. Worth sorting your eyes out early, ideally before you even book your theory test, not the night before your practical.

Will Eyesight Rules Change For Older Drivers In 2026?

There’s a government consultation running since January 2026, looking at whether drivers 70 and over should face compulsory eyesight checks every three years instead of today’s self-declaration setup.

What the Consultation Proposes

It closed on 31 March 2026. Outcome’s still pending. If it goes ahead, honesty-based self-declaration gets replaced with mandatory medical checks.

Why the Rules Are Under Review

It didn’t appear out of nowhere. Coroners have pointed to fatal crashes where drivers knew, sometimes had been told outright, that their sight no longer met the legal line, and carried on regardless. 

Worth keeping half an eye on if a parent’s approaching that age, or if you’re weighing up a refresher lesson after time away from driving yourself.