New Cause of Death episode on Channel 5 investigates tragic deaths of four Lancashire pedestrians

Cause of Death: Licence to Kill follows the county’s senior coroner Dr James Adeley as he investigates four fatal collisions caused in shockingly similar circumstances by drivers with poor eyesight.

The 90-minute special aired on Channel on Sunday and is now available to watch online.

A joint inquest was held last month at Preston Coroner’s Court for the four road traffic victims - Marie Cunningham, 79, Grace Foulds, 85, Peter Westwell, 80, and Anne Ferguson, 75.

Coroner Dr James Adeley heard that as many as 2.1 million current UK licence holders may not meet the legal visual standard, due to a lack of regular testing.

The shocking revelations resulted in Dr James Adeley issuing a ‘Regulation 28: Report to Prevent Future Deaths’ to the Department of Transport, which manages the DVLA.

He has called on the agency to take immediate action to reduce deaths on the roads. The Government has been given until June 12 to respond to the report.

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What’s it about?

Cause of Death: Licence to Kill investigates the death of four pedestrians due to drivers with defective vision who knew their eyesight was below standard, but still got behind the wheel - with devastating consequences

The programme features contributions from Lancashire Police and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, including Radiology Consultant Simon Beardmore.

With extraordinary access to one of the UK’s biggest joint inquests, this documentary hears from families, friends, and experts who ask how such dangerous drivers remained on the road.

Victim’s families call for end to ‘fatal loophole’

The families of those featured in the documentary are calling for a series of changes to a system labelled the ‘laxest in Europe’.

Their joint inquest was held at Preston Coroner’s Court last month and heard how Marie Cunningham, 79, Grace Foulds, 85, Peter Westwell, 80, and Anne Ferguson, 75, were all killed by drivers who knew they shouldn’t be behind the wheel – and should have surrendered their licences due to their failing eyesight.

But they were able to exploit ‘life-threatening gaps’ in a system which relies on drivers’ ‘self-certification’ when renewing their licences.

It means motorists never again have to provide any physical proof of their visual ability after passing their test, with the UK the only country in Europe to continue renewing licences without any question over eyesight until the age of 70.

For people who pass their driving test at the age of 17, it means they can drive for 53 years before being asked, when renewing their licence at the age of 70, whether their eyesight is up to the required standard.