You may well be looking for new insurance for your van, but before you start your van insurance search, it is worth contemplating the fact that you may be rendering any insurance cover invalid. As many as one in five drivers have defective vision and do not meet the minimum requirements for driving in the United Kingdom. What is perhaps most worrying is that many of these drivers are not remotely aware of the problem. However, if you are stopped by the police following an accident and your eyesight is found to be defective you may find yourself in hot water. All drivers have a legal responsibility to ensure that they meet the required standards. If you need to be wearing glasses or contact lenses to correct your vision, then you must make sure that you wear them at all times when driving.

The law requires that you should be able to read a number plate from twenty yards. If you cannot, even when wearing the correct prescription glasses or contact lenses, you should not be driving and you must surrender your licence. Your van insurance search will be fruitless under these circumstances. Regardless as to the policy type or provider, your insurance company can reasonably argue that you were negligent and therefore contributed towards the accident.

Although you are not obliged to have an eyesight test to retain your licence in the UK, you ARE obliged to let the DVLA know if there are any reasons why you should not be driving. In addition, specialist licences for certain vehicle categories and indeed company insurance require that you do not have defective vision. Your van insurance search to find the cheapest insurance policy may be simply a waste of time if you do not meet with the minimum legal requirement.

The practical driving test required in order to gain your full driving licence places a high value on awareness. Defects in your field of vision as well as your forward vision may result in you finding yourself involved in an accident. There have been a number of high profile incidents, some involving injury to or the death of children, where defective vision was identified as a significant causal factor. It is also important to check any clauses in any insurance policy which relate to eyesight whenever you undertake a van insurance search. Prevention is the keyword in any accident and something as simple as having a regular eye test can not only ensure that your vision is the best it can be, but that you are not endangering the lives of your family, colleagues or other road users.

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A simple eyesight test every two years is recommended. However, many optometrists are surprised at the number of professional drivers who go into their practises to have mandatory eye tests for work purposes and subsequently declare that they have absolutely no intention of wearing glasses! Before you enter "van insurance search" in the search engine, why not first enter "local optometrists".

For your van insurance search, visit our Instant Quote page. Here you will find a wide range of insurers to help you find the best van insurance on the market. Visit our News and Feedback pages for more information about how the van insurance market works, and also how you can reduce your premiums as much as possible.

Visit www.car-insuranceuk.com regularly for the latest van insurance search news and links to the best van insurance providers. Please follow the links on this page to obtain your own personalised van insurance search and make your own comparison.

© October 2009