Driving re tests for 65 years and older?

[Dubbag]

My understanding is that speed remains the biggest factor in road accidents --and fatalities- but driving too slowly or being too hesitant (more likely amongst elderly drivers) can also cause accidents whether, for example, these are caused by coming out of junctions without proper awareness or by driving too far below the speed limit leading to impatience of those behind who are tempted to over take (a properly executed manoeuvre too evidently lost on many drivers these days!)

With an ageing population there are bound to be more elderly drivers on our roads and whilst I'm pretty confident that going too fast is not a major factor in accidents they are involved in, rising insurance premiums may suggest that they are involved in more minor accidents.

Here in Ireland there is always a big awareness campaign to get the number of deaths on the road. A lot of deaths are due to the loss of control at the wheel of very powerful cars along with speed.
Accidents usually occur with injuries at reduced speeds especially for pedestrians. Being hit at 30 kph is more survivable then at 40 kph. Quite a lot of single vehicle crashes over here are usually in access of 60 kph on twisty roads.
I get what your driving at all the same...Omeg.

[Omegstrat6]

How many times do you see or hear of a fatal accident being caused by an older driver compared to a younger driver?

Back in 1981, my wife’s brother John killed himsflf ( aged 17 ) and put some girl he’d met literally for the first time minutes earlier, in a wheelchair for life after crashing his minivan on a country lane.

Kets and a few other locals will know Wassell Grove, right by Old Halesownian’s rugby club, 43 years later you can still see the scars on the oak tree he hit.

I drove like an idiot in my ****s and 20’s and even well after that but I now take a lot of care and have gone quite a long time without a speeding ticket.

I read with interest that there’s a massive backlog in driving tests for our younger hopefuls due to a lack of examiners, I think we can breath easy, our governments haven’t the wit to organise this particular p I s s up in a brewery.

I wonder how many on here will, like myself, admit they’d probably fail the theory exam?

I’m pretty sure I would.

However, that doesn’t limit my/our actual driving ability and the ability to control a car safely.

I’d rather have a 70 year old heart surgeon who’s been doing the job for 40 years but who hasn’t read the manual recently than the 30 year old surgeon just out of medical school.

You get my drift I assume?

Totally understand what you're saying and am in total agreement with you regarding younger drivers being the ones who cause the vast majority of major accidents, mostly due to them driving dangerously and driving too fast. At that age maybe too many think they are invincible, take risks because they don't have the experience to know better and put others in danger because they only think of themselves.

All I am saying is that, whilst I wouldn't support the idea of compulsory re-tests after 65, I do think that there are becoming issues with the increasing numbers of elderly drivers on the roads who do not acknowledge the deterioration in their abilities.

At the end of the day though, until the data around the numbers of road accidents and percentage of serious incidents in relation to age is more closely examined, it is impossible to put forward any corrective measures.

Tbh, I am more concerned with how easy it seems for those who shouldn't be behind a wheel in the first place to continue to do so even with previous convictions and the reduction in the numbers of police on our roads to help monitor this is surely a big factor alongside too much leniency from courts. Last year my son in law lost several members of his close family due to an uninsured and drugged up driver in an untaxed car with previous convictions for the same crashing into them whilst doing 90 mph in a 30 mph zone. The risible sentence he got for killing 3 people led to a social media campaign that attracted thousands of signatures to review the case and award a far heavier prison term.

[soulman101]

I have never known the standard of driving to be so poor than over the last few years.
Too many drivers don't give sh$t , what's this with not using indicators , not driving to speed limits and at least a basic knowledge of the highway code . a bit of courtesy wouldn't go a miss .
Could you imagine some of these drivers, driving the old cars with no abs and traction control .
Unisured drivers should have their cars crushed ,or if on finance repossessed and a minium 5 year ban .

[On Balance]

I am unsure of where I stand on this issue tbh. On the one hand it is a shame for elderly people to lose their independence but on the other, should they be allowed to continue to drive if they are not fit to do so. After the age of 70 years the licence is issued for a period of three years only.

The below link (it is a little long winded but if you scroll down you will find what statistic you’re looking for) indicates the age demographic of where the fatalities etc are.

Like others have stated, how the Government are going to put this together is one issue and the loss of revenue from vehicle tax, petrol etc is other. That said, if they make a charge for re-testing them some of any shortfall might be recouped.

Either way, I am not going to lose any sleep pondering on this, particularly at my age, all be it, time flies by and seems to be doing so at a rate of knots these days.

Link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statis...%20years%20old

[DaveP67 is back!]

I read news today that someone has petitioned Parliament to try to get enough support for the 65’s and over to be retested.

Maybe someone could petition for re tests of everyone aged between 17 and 30 because most of the terrible driving I see is from this sort of age demographic!?

I’ll readily admit that at 62 I’m not as sharp as I used to be but I’ve still avoided a couple of terrible potential crashes this year thanks to my reflexes.

I’m a much steadier, thoughtful and slower driver than I used to be, I very much still to speed limits on everything other than the motorways these days and even on there I only tend to do around 75mph.

Everyone who drives should be made to take a regular eye test though, my eyesight was poor at 24 and I had to wear contact lenses, age isn’t always the determining factor with eyesight.

A health and medication check should be done on all drivers over 50 but re testing is just nonsense in my opinion unless someone has been involved in a serious incident.

You luckily haven’t met my mother in law on the road Mick, makes driving miss Daisy look like the Paris-Dakar rally.. I think 65 is too young but do believe at 70 and then every 5 years have a very short competency test, an instructor would know within 5 mins whether someone is a danger or not.

[baggieal]

I read news today that someone has petitioned Parliament to try to get enough support for the 65’s and over to be retested.

Maybe someone could petition for re tests of everyone aged between 17 and 30 because most of the terrible driving I see is from this sort of age demographic!?

I’ll readily admit that at 62 I’m not as sharp as I used to be but I’ve still avoided a couple of terrible potential crashes this year thanks to my reflexes.

I’m a much steadier, thoughtful and slower driver than I used to be, I very much still to speed limits on everything other than the motorways these days and even on there I only tend to do around 75mph.

Everyone who drives should be made to take a regular eye test though, my eyesight was poor at 24 and I had to wear contact lenses, age isn’t always the determining factor with eyesight.

A health and medication check should be done on all drivers over 50 but re testing is just nonsense in my opinion unless someone has been involved in a serious incident.

Agree 100% with you Mick and would rather have someone old going slower than they should as opposed to a speeding nutter! Driving offence fines should be calculated on a persons annual salary as they are in some other countries.

[SCOOP115]

Being in the over 70's Club now I have to renew my licence every 3 years and (self) declare I'm free from ant noitifiable medical conditions Not sure about a re-test. I'm sure that after 50 odd years of driving I've picked up a few bad habits that would catch me out (without a "refresher lesson) What does concern me however is not really having anyone close enough to me to tell me when to stop, I can understand peoples reluctance to give it up but a lot of time it does really need to be said from someone close t the elderly that it should stop.

[WBA123]

I agree with over 65s being retested...I know of one guy in his 80s who could barely see yet had a valid driving licence!

I also agree the under 25s should have a bit more regulation. Maybe a black box to check speed?

[Calgarybaggy]

Where I live they really go after young drivers who get caught speeding “excessively”. My 18 year old son was driving on a windy narrow mountain road which opened up to four lanes for a stretch so he sped up to pass all the heavy trucks that had been in front of him. Unfortunately he ended up going more than 30kmh (20 mph) over the limit in order to pass them, which is the threshold for excessive speeding, and got caught, had his car confiscated for a week and got a three month driving ban. The fines, storage charges, towing fees, license renewal fees etc came to about $2500, plus his insurance went up significantly. That was his first ever ticket. It was a horribly unfair penalty in the circumstances but i don’t think he will be diving that much over the limit again any time soon.

[boingy]

A car is essential to me and so is getting to retirement. This whole debate stresses the life out of me. We live up a 2 and a half mile lane. Need the car bad! No accidents in decades and I could just see me failing a test just because some young gun wants to show his clipboard prowess!