that pensioners driving could be a danger on the roads

My FIL is still driving at 87 with a cataract. I won't get in a car with him as his speed/distance perception is shot.

We went to a friend's house for a meal on Friday and were horrified that her father still drives with Alzheimer's at the age of 85. He regularly leaves home if his wife upsets him, drives round the village and comes home having forgotten that he was upset. Our friend says that, as he is a bit of a bully which is being exacerbated by his illness, she is worried that he will take it out on her mum if his car is missing or he can't find the keys. Rather that though than him knocking down a child!

I think those statistics are only relative to the actual amount of people driving in each age group category though Nelliemoser.

Obviously the 30-59 age group will be highest as there will be the most people of this age group on the road.

This is a part of a government document on UK road accidents statistics by age.

Here goes in the stats I copied from the document.
This is drivers killed or seriously injured.

8% were 17 to 19 yrs old
25% were 20 to 29yrs old
42% were 30 to 59 yrs old
9% were 60 to 69 yrs old
13% were over 70

Which suggests that "us" generally the older age group are not the worst offenders.

However I think there should be better monitoring of all drivers.
How about compulsory eye tests every two years for all drivers with a certificate to prove vision is acceptable being required by the DVLA when re-taxing a vehicle?

For those who like to see the evidence try this link.
You probably cannot see the whole of the PDF document unless you have Adobe reader installed.

www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn02198.pdf
See page 11 for the figures I quoted.

thank you,Charleygirl and Anya. I am improving slowly. I am ambivalent regarding older drivers as i realise they are as dependent on their cars as i am on my bicycle.

We have adjusted MamaCas. My DH gave up driving in June last year and we are also some distance paticularly from shops.However we can walk short distances and we walk to the shops and get a taxi back. If anyone offers to do some shopping for us we take them up on their offer and a good friend ,who meets me for coffee weekly will call at the shops so I can pick up bits and bobs before she brings me home. Having said that we both hate it and really feel the loss of our independence. No more just nipping to the garden centre etc. Dh will be 79 in two weeks time.

My dad did a driving assessment two years ago, when he was 80. He was told that he drove with confidence and flair, but in the relatively short time since then we have really noticed his driving ability going downhill.
I wouldn't say that he's dangerous yet, but at this rate it's only a matter of time before he reaches that stage and will have to stop driving.

As others have said, the car is their lifeline, and being without it doesn't bear thinking about for my parents. They desperately want to avoid moving house, but the nearest shops / services are over a mile away, and both my brother and I live too far away to provide any practical help on a daily basis. It worries me a lot

Just read in today's paper that there are more than 200 centenarians still driving in the UK!

Hope you're on the mend amarmai ?

amarmai it is bad enough having the accident but when they start taking photos and the gawpers just stand there, leaving you lying on the road with your bike on top of you, where has compassion and common sense gone?

I also hope that you get better soon.

mishap, thank you for your concern.I am improving slowly..

I have Macular disease so my eyes are tested x2 a year, once by my optician and later in the year at the clinic. Both will be very quick to let me know that my eyes have not reached the minimum standard for driving.

I have not been able to drive in dusk or dark for years and nowadays I only drive locally. I could drive into the centre of London because I know the route so well but motorways are beyond me because I am terrified on them which is not good.

I would have to resort to mini cabs because I have problems walking and the bus stop is around 10 minutes walk away. Moving is not an option while my brain is still functioning because my house has been adapted to my needs.

I think that I may take up the IAM assessment. Thanks for that.

amarmal - that is dreadful - I do hope you are OK.

Flower of the West i have just had a similar experience while riding my bike as close as possible to the edge of the road. I was hit with no warning. A bystander called police and ambulance and charges were laid against the 82 year old driver for ' failing to share the road with a bicycle'. The driver proceeded to yell at me that she--'did--not--do--it--deliberately!' Not a word re if i was ok/hurt/or--- She then went to work getting names and addresses of witnesses and her passenger took photos of me and my bike! They certainly seemed to know what to do while i sat stunned with my bike on top of me in the road. Did she see me at all before she hit me ? The court performance may be enlightening.

oh, and I get it, totally- I would be devastated myself if and when the time comes. And yet- the dangers are just too great.

It's because it's the last little thread of independence before giving in to the feebleness and dependence of really old age.

Not sure there- my parents we both excellent and confident drivers- always. My mum actually more confident in town as she commuted to the large town daily, in all weathers (and we do get a lot of snow and ice). But they did slowly become more hesitant and just plain 'bad'- making poor decisions and lacking in quick reflexes. Both were really good drivers until their 80s, but then it all went pear shape. Mum had an accident and ended up in a ditch, and gave up driving as she realised she could have killed somebody - but dad continued to drive until he went into an OAP home, aged 94. He had the sense to limit himself to driving locally- but still. He plainly refused to use public transport (which is very good) and just would not let go- and his doctor always passed him as fit- which he was, really.

Taking away the driving licence of an elderly person can be the hardest thing to do. Many families know full well their older relative is no longer safe to drive- and try to discuss it- and get flat denial and refusal. And it is very hard- as you know that if they kill a child or a family, etc- you would not forgive yourself for not having acted about it.

It seems tome likely that the doddering, non-observant hardly compos mentis elderly driver has probably never been any good... otherwise good habits would have carried over into the later years. That senior cit. driving too close behind you will always have driven like that, never understanding the need for thinking space, for example.

someone has mentioned previously mobile phones - I only ever see younger drivers doing that. I have also seen a young man playing a hand held computer game whilst driving!

60km per hour, not miles btw!

I think older unsure people stick out like sore thumbs when they drive, because they are so slow.

My stepfather will only drive locally now, much to our relief, because when he drove my sister and I back from my grandfather's funeral we hid down low in the back seats on the motorway, we were so embarrassed.

In Lincolnshire the Enemy was old men in flat caps driving painfully slowly and pulling out without looking. A farming friend said that it was because they were all retired tractor drivers, unable to get out of the habit of driving at 10mph and convinced that they had right of way at all times. One neighbour's niece (yes he had been a tractor driver) came round one day to try to get me to write a letter to his GP, saying that I thought that he was 'slightly unsound' and therefore unfit to drive. I refused, and a year later he did cause an accident as he pulled out of his drive without looking. I think the problem really was that the roads are so much busier and people do drive faster. I suspect his victim was speeding through our village and the accident was partly his fault, but there was no denying that Jim did treat the road like a farm track.

It's not helpful to look at the issue by saying 'but younger people have more accidents for other reasons'- etc, surely. The fact one form of danger maybe bigger is irrelevant in many ways.

Again, it is not about age, per se- some older people are safe to drive at 80, or 90, and some are not. We all know people who should NO LONGER drive but still do- and there should be a way of putting concerns and requesting a safety test anonymously- really. Some of the older people here have no idea about lanes, how to use a roundabout, etc, and drive so slowly that they encourage others to take risks in overtaking- or they would be stuck behind them for hours on these mountain roads.

I have an older friend who has worked out the best petrol consumption is at 60- so he will drive at 60 more or less anywhere- be it on the motorway or on a snowy mountain road going downhill. I know just refuse to share his car when going to meetings here!

As most posters say, it's mainly the younger ones who have bad accidents but I hope I will give up driving if I ever feel I'm dangerous on the road.Having a car is a lifeline if you live in the country though. Same as others, I have noticed it's harder to drive at night nowadays, I never used to give it a thought.

I am ok poddling around the country lanes where I live but am getting to hate motorway driving because of the speed and competition of other drivers. I feel intimidated by the lorries and do not want to speed with the testosterone maniacs. My children laugh at me but I feel you shouldn't drive where you feel unsafe. I am 71 and drive a mini, which doesn't help as people don't associate this car with a pensioner although we are the only ones who have an affordable insurance policy.

I have a relative who is 80 and he is still perfectly able to drive to S Spain and back. But then he is generally very fit and active with no health problems. Fell over backwards in the flower bed and laughed. Did not need a hand up. People vary so much.
However I do think, given the rapidly increasing numbers of over 80s, that an eyesight test and maybe a driving re-test at 75 or 80 would be reasonable. My DIL's nan is still driving in her 90s and all she has to do is sign periodically that she is still fit to drive.

I think there should be some clear and known way of reporting those driving unsafely.

Some years ago I was hit on a roundabout by a car that was going slowly and had ample time to see me and break. The driver was young elderly but, I suspect, possibly had the start of some degenerative disease like Parkinson's that had drastically slowed down his reflexes. It was clear from later discussions with my insurance company that he had no idea of where I had come from or my speed. I did say to the insurance company that I thought he needed a medical assessment if he was to continue driving, but it seemed there was nothing that could be done.