The devastating moment a consultant delivered the news that his mother could not be saved is etched forever in Terry Cunningham's memory. It marked the end of a life brutally cut short by a driver who, it later emerged, had been repeatedly told his vision was not fit for the road.
A Preventable Tragedy on a November Evening
On 30 November 2021, Marie Cunningham, 79, and her friend Grace Foulds, 87, were walking home from a charity event. Both women were active and sociable; Marie had rebuilt her life after losing her husband to cancer a decade earlier. Their lives were ended when a vehicle driven by Glyn Jones, then 65, struck them.
Marie died in hospital that night. Grace died at the scene. The injuries Marie sustained were catastrophic. Initially, Terry Cunningham's family felt sympathy for Jones, assuming it was a tragic accident. That changed when the investigation revealed a shocking truth about the driver's eyesight.
A System Described as the 'Laxest in Europe'
It transpired that Glyn Jones had been warned by medical professionals multiple times over the preceding decade that his vision failed to meet the legal standard for driving. He suffered from severe bilateral keratoconus. Despite these warnings, he continued to drive.
Jones pleaded guilty in December 2023 and was sentenced in 2024 to seven years and four months in prison, of which he is likely to serve around five. For Terry Cunningham, this is not a fitting sentence for a man who knowingly drove with dangerous eyesight, killing two people.
An inquest in April 2026 into the deaths of Marie, Grace, and two other victims—Peter Westwell and Anne Ferguson—killed in similar circumstances, branded the UK's driver licensing system as the 'laxest in Europe'.
The 'Sight Safe' Campaign: Demanding Fundamental Change
In response, Terry Cunningham and his family have launched the 'Sight Safe' campaign. While they welcome new government proposals for a consultation on mandatory eyesight tests for those over 70, they argue this does not go far enough. The driver who killed their mother was 65.
The campaign is calling for a complete overhaul:
- Mandatory eye tests for all drivers every 10 years, linked to licence renewal, moving to every two years from age 70.
- Assessment by a registered optician, replacing the current self-declaration system.
- A mandatory eye test integrated into the driving theory test, with instructors able to verify a student's fitness via the DVLA.
- Scrapping the basic number plate reading test, which is vulnerable to environmental variables.
'We need technology to use every lever available to assure us that people behind the wheel are safe to be there,' says Cunningham. 'Our message to all drivers is this: We have to earn that right and value your licence.'
Over four years on from their loss, the family knows no law change will bring Marie, Grace, Peter, or Anne back. But they are determined to turn their horrific experience into a force for positive change, preventing other families from enduring the same preventable heartbreak.
