Should Elderly Drivers Be Periodically Tested For Their Ability To Drive Safely?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3619860/Woman-driver-80-caused-mayhem-carnage-ploughed-eight-schoolgirls-leaving-five-injuries-spared-jail.html

Just because this particular pensioner was unfortunate enough to seriously injure five young school girls, why should all other elderly drivers be forced to take further driving tests?

[youngmafbog]

Not sure that a driving test is what is required, more like a stringent health test.

[Old_Geezer]

Are the elderly more prone to having accidents ? If not then presumably all should be tested. How much would that cost ? No doubt the testee will be stung for that. I think that unless one can show a particular risk factor based on accident level percentages then it isn't worth pursuing.

[Ellipsis]

> Should Elderly Drivers Be Periodically Tested For Their Ability To Drive Safely?

Yes. I have seen it with almost everybody I know who has become elderly and then progressively more elderly and continued to drive. They become a danger to themselves and the general public BEFORE they take themselves off the road, often requiring some kind of near miss or small incident to finally persuade them it's time to give it up.

> She was on her way home in heavy traffic and felt 'intimidated' after the car behind her drove close and a horn sounded.

Ideally this driver would also be prosecuted.

[ToraToraTora]

not sure AOG, there does need to be something, some sort of reaction and awareness test. After 70 they do have to have some sort of medical examination every 3 years anyway. Cases like this are rare but always cause this sort of stir. Yes some old people are deficient in attention and reaction but you cannot put a specific age where it happens. Statistically new drivers cause much more death and destruction.

[Ken4155]

When this story was reported on the local news station (Granada Reports) the other night, it was stated that she had been waiting to join a busy road, she had clearly grown impatient that other road users were not courteous enough to create a gap for her. When such a gap did appear, she was a bit too heavy on the accelerator and ploughed into bollards which she had tried to avoid by swerving. Unfortunately, instead of stepping on the brake pedal, she actually floored the accelerator pedal in her panic, ploughing into those poor children. So i would suggest that it was this woman's impatience that caused the accident rather than her lack of skill as a driver because of her advanced years. Perhaps drivers over a certain age should take a 'stress test'.

[Hopkirk]

Tora, the 3 year 'examination' you mention after 70 is merely them self confirming they are still fit to drive - no more than that.

[anotheoldgit]

Ellipsis

/// Ideally this driver would also be prosecuted. ///

She has been:

*** And today she was given a two-year jail term, suspended for two years, and banned from driving for life. ***

/// She was on her way home in heavy traffic and felt 'intimidated' after the car behind her drove close and a horn sounded. ///

And wouldn't some young driver be intimidated? We have all witnessed some of their road rage incidents.

[Islay]

Not just this pensioner though is it.

In Manchester the other day, an 80 year old male caught driving at 80 miles down the wrong side of the motorway.

This are cropping up more and more, there are currently 245 drivers currently on the roads at over 100 years old.

[mikey4444]

Difficult one this. If it can be proved that an elderly driver has caused problems, then a re-test would seem to make sense.

But to automatically re-test every elderly driver over a certain age would be cost a fortune and I am not sure that the testing authorities could cope with all the extra work.

[Islay]

Actually AOG she cut out into heavy traffic causing the car behind her to sound a horn!

[Ellipsis]

AOG, the driveer that was given the two-year jail term, suspended for two years, and banned from driving for life, was the old lady - not the person behind, who drove too close and sounded a horn.

However, if it was as Ken4155 said, then I withdraw that comment.

[dustypuss]

Why can’t older drivers when reaching 70yrs have an OAP plate on the front and back of their cars just like Learners have L plates. Then may be other drivers might!! Give them a little more Respect!

[Hopkirk]

I'll remind you of that when you are 70, Dusty.

[anotheoldgit]

Islay

/// Not just this pensioner though is it. ///

And not just pensioners it would seem, after a quick Google came up with these two, but I am sure there are many more non pensioners who have committed this crime.

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2016-02-29/watch-man-speeds-wrong-way-down-the-m61-motorway/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-24709382

/// This are cropping up more and more, there are currently 245 drivers currently on the roads at over 100 years old. //

Wow!!!!! 245 out of 30 million drivers in the UK, that is disgusting, I am sure most of us will never see one.

[gness]

Oooo...not sure about that, Dusty..............don't want, in four years time, to be advertising that I'm an old lady driving through the country lanes at night........☺

I wouldn't object to having to have my driving assessed from the age of seventy.... at my cost if I want to keep driving.....and any bad habits I've picked up being corrected.....or, if I'm deemed a danger, to being taken off the road.....
It'd be a pain I know......but sometimes it needs to be done.

[anotheoldgit]

Ken4155

/// Perhaps drivers over a certain age should take a 'stress test' ///

Would that age be 17?

[anotheoldgit]

Ellipsis

I apologise for misunderstanding you.

[Hopkirk]

This is what 70 looks like

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/06/02/04/34D6504400000578-3621113-Helen_Mirren_looked_ever_the_ageless_beauty_at_the_Museum_of_Mod-m-25_1464839156321.jpg

[anotheoldgit]

dustypuss

Just as long the young drivers also have a Young Drivers plate, so that we old ones can keep out of their way?

[anotheoldgit]

Hopkirk

And she 'DRIVES' me mad.