You may not realise it but everyday medication such as cold and flu medicines and other over-the-counter medication, when twinned with driving, can have fatal consequences.

Driving under the influence of drugs, both illegal substances and prescribed medication is illegal.

Prescribed medication and over-the-counter drugs can seriously affect your driving without you even realising. Specifically, they can:

• Make you feel drowsy
• Blur your vision
• Slow your reaction times.

If you are on prescribed medication ask your doctor if it could affect your driving. If you purchase over-the-counter medication then ask the pharmacist whether you can drive whilst taking the medication, or check the box.

It is your responsibility to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) of any medical condition, existing or new, which may affect your ability to drive safely - this is a legal requirement.

Eyesight and hearing

It's a known fact that eyesight and hearing deteriorate gradually with age. This could affect your ability and fitness to drive. Deterioration can be so gradual that you don't even notice, and you may think your vision is as good as when you first started to drive.

In general, older drivers find it more difficult to judge the speed and intentions of other drivers. From the age of around 45 most of us need glasses to see well either at a distance, close up or for both. For example, by around the age of 60 our eyes will normally require three times more light to see as well as when we were aged 20.

Things to look out for are:

1. Impaired night vision - you find it more difficult to see when driving at night.
2. Your eyes take longer to recover from the glaring lights of other cars.
3. You can't read a number plate from 20.5 metres (67 feet) away

Remember, if you are involved in an incident, even if it isn't your fault, your insurance will be at risk if you are unable to pass an eyesight test.

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