mature drivers facing compulsory driving re-tests?

I have been driving regularly for many years, as had my husband. We chose to go on a good little course, which I am not sure whether it was set up by Advanced Drivers or police. Whoever it was anyway, it was firstly a set up where you were the driver and looked at a screen , which changed as a road would. Your reactions were checked both for correctness and speed, and then we went out with someone in our own car, to firstly drive somewhere local and then to somewhere we were not used to , so that our reactions could be observed. We were both pleased to do well and it was good to have that check.

There were quite a lot of us chose to do this and two people decided after doing this that their reactions were too slow and chose to stop driving, and another two or three realized that they needed to check through the highway code. I dont know if such schemes still are happening, but thought they were excellent.
I have done 10 years 3 days a week as a hospital car volunteer and then also passed my test to drive a minibus up swaledale, so have seen a fair variety of driving in my time. Have to say that one of the things that causes problems for others is when you get cars cutting in and suddenly braking, because they often chanced passing someone in a place that was not suitable but had no patience. When I have seen this happen to someone in an hgv I think that the car driver needs to be checked out. If they have not got the courtesy, nor the commonsense to realize what will happen if they are then hit by an hgv , their brains are obviously not working properly!Thinking that a large heavy lorry can stop on a sixpence, may be true, thanks to the abilities of the driver, but thinking it is worth the risk to save a couple of minutes on a journey is not an intelligent risk to take. All drivers, young or old need to be up to the job, and should remember that they are in charge of a machine that could be lethal

I gave up driving 3 years ago and take taxis now. There is no way i am currently fit to drive, what with slower reaction time, and possibly eyesight, so I gave up before I caused any damage. Very much looking forward to self driving vehicles.

Yes indeed, one should not be driving if the eye sight is not good. An elderly driver recently killed someone because he/she could not see properly. Iwent for an eye test a few weeks ago voluntarily just to be sure, in Wales there isn;t a charge.

For sure opticians should be required to not only tell the patient that their sight is not good enough to drive, but also tell the DVLA. As should doctors if they discover that their patient has an issue that may affect their driving. Sometimes the issue might be temporary, and the doc would need to sign the patient back a bit like after an operation, maybe DVLA wouldn't need to know about these temp restrictions, they might just need to be logged in and out and sent on to the insurance company. If someone has been advised not to drive then surely their insurance is not valid.
Also something I believe happens in other countries if you wear glasses you are required to have a second pair ( opticians would I'm sure have offers where you could get a plain pair with a cheap frame the same prescription for a small extra cost
And it should be noted in your record that you are required to wear them to drive.
The results of accidents caused by poor eyesight or physical issues are too serious. I know there are other causes of accidents but poor eyesight on top of those makes it much more likely that things will go wrong

Words fail me Silverbrooks. Unfortunately, I can believe it. My sisters and I had to confiscate my mother's keys and car because she was a danger to herself and others, but just wouldn't admit it to herself. She didn't have dementia, but was just stubborn.

GardenofEngland

I don't understand why older people don't take advantage of their free eye and hearing tests? I go every year for my eye test and 2 years for hearing. It's not hard to get one booked. Maybe in some cases their families could help booking it. I would rather know and be safe on the road.

I don't really understand it either. I've had reading glasses for over 20 years, but I didn't realise until a couple of years ago that my distance vision was deteriorating. The optician told me after a test, so I now have two pairs of glasses. I hadn't realised that I was struggling to read number plates and I certainly notice that the TV seems much clearer when I wear my specs. I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been tested. I couldn't live with myself if I caused an accident because I couldn't see properly.

It isn't that people are not having their eyes tested. It is that they are being tested or seeing specialists, told their eyesight isnt good enough to drive but they aren't declaring it when they renew their licence. I posted this on the other thread but these are the stories about the people who were killed by these liars:

The coroner made the remarks on Thursday at the inquests in Preston of Marie Cunningham, 79, Grace Foulds, 85, Peter Westwell, 80, and Anne Ferguson, 75.

Cunningham and Foulds were hit by Glyn Jones, 68, in his Audi A3 as they crossed the road in Southport, Merseyside, on 30 November 2021. Jones was aware for some years before the collision that his sight was insufficient to meet the minimum requirement to drive a car but failed to declare it to the DVLA. When he was jailed for seven years and four months, his sentencing hearing was told he could not see his steering wheel clearly.

Westwell was hit by Neil Pemberton, 81, as he crossed the road in Langho, near Blackburn, on 17 March 2022. Pemberton, who was jailed for 32 months, had a long history of eye disease and was informed on several occasions by different clinicians that he should not drive, the inquest heard. He also repeatedly failed to declare his sight deficit on licence applications to the DVLA.

Ferguson died when she was struck by a van driven by Vernon Law, 72, in Whitworth, Rochdale, on 11 July 2023. A month before the incident, Law was told he had cataracts in both eyes but he lied to an optometrist that he did not drive. Law, who was jailed for four years, knew he had problems with his eyes for years before the collision and also failed to declare his sight issues on licence applications to the DVLA, the inquest at County Hall heard.

I don't understand why older people don't take advantage of their free eye and hearing tests? I go every year for my eye test and 2 years for hearing. It's not hard to get one booked. Maybe in some cases their families could help booking it. I would rather know and be safe on the road.

I have an eye test every year. As a driver, I choose to pay for the one in between the mandatory bi-annual one financed by the NHS, to be sure I am safe.

Would it save a lot of accidents if the optician (after first informing us that our deteriorated eyesight makes us unsafe to drive) if they were required by law to send an immediate text to the DVLA informing THEM that we are now unsafe to drive? Then we would requested very soon after that, by the DVLA to give up our licence.

Surely this would not be too difficult to organise, and would not only be in our own very best interests (if we are in denial about our poor eyesight) by protecting us from future accidents, but would also protect other road users.

As eye tests for over 60s are free. Perhaps the optician should provide a fit to drive certificate on the current prescription issue. It wouldn’t cost very much and would be easy to do. I don’t see the problem.

I think that, if a person has been pulled up for drug use, before that person can drive again they should have a hair test to see if they have stopped using.

Im 59 I dred it bt I think its right to be retested.

I also think GPs and consultants should be duty bound to report health conditions affecting driving to the dvla. That poor man wouldnt have died if a near blind guy hadn't been entitled to think he could drive!

Not against eye tests for older drivers. There are, though, the younger drivers who should wear glasses for driving but don't. Being in late 70s and influenced by media telling us how bad older drivers are I booked a driver assessment. Had a two hour drive including local and out of town areas, minor and major roads, some questions on Highway Code, maneuvering and parking. The instructor gave me a couple of useful tips and thankfully declared me safe. I have an eye test every year. I thought opticians can inform DVLA if concerned about a person driving just the same as with mental capacity.

Spain now has the same

But of course the person with dementia could not accept that there was anything wrong with them.

My Dad had been referred for a brain scan but not yet diagnosed. One of the carers where he lives told me she'd seen him pulling out into the oncoming traffic in a dangerous manner several times.
My husband and I already held his spare car keys, so we took his own keys off the hook on the wall and said we would keep them "just to be on the safe side until we got the scan result."
He wasn't happy about it, but too bad. We'd already agreed he wouldn't be getting them back either way.
He was diagnosed with vascular dementia.

Such a shame, when people lose the independence that comes with driving, but yes, eyesight should be part of the testing process that happens in the UK every three years after you reach 70.

I have no problem with over 70s being retested every 2 or 3 years or so. Our eye sight changes, speed of reactions and cognitive abilities all change as we get older. I've witnessed 2 serious accidents where elderly motorists have hit the accelerator instead of the brakes and have shot through plate glass windows.

When I was a regular visitor to the Alzheimer’s Society Talking Point forum, a frequent topic was how on earth to stop someone with dementia (usually a parent) from driving, since they knew they were absolutely no longer safe to do so,
But of course the person with dementia could not accept that there was anything wrong with them.

Unless/until they actually had an accident, with the police involved, there seemed to be no mechanism for keeping them off the road. People were advised to have the car disabled in some way, remove it and tell the person it was being fixed, and hope they’d eventually forget about it.

Older drivers are much safer than young male drivers. Why not re-test at say 21?

Every driver should be sight tested in a standardised way every 10 years. I only realised lately that there are people on the road stoutly maintaining their sight is fine who have never had any sight test at all! - A dangerous system.

I believe that any medical professional i.e Optician/Doctor who knows that someone has a condition or is taking medication that can impact driving should notify the DVLA of that fact, regardless of age....it could then be investigated
further.
A friend of mine had to actually threaten a relative with calling the police a few years ago, despite a stroke and some other medical conditions, he insisted on driving when he simply wasn't safe to do so... it's very sad but as she said at the time, the potential consequences were just horrific to contemplate.

I agree... The Optician should give you the Eye okay once you hit 70. However, cognitive impairment should be done by GP.

I'm going to have my driving assessed by an instructor before I reach 80 in a few months.
Having said that, DS was happy to have me as 2nd driver forhis wife and in-laws in a hire car in Spain last month.

If they’re going to make it more difficult for elderly people to continue driving then public transport needs to be improved and rail travel should be affordable ( with a guaranteed seat, too, not crammed in like sardines after paying an exhorbitant amount to do so).

I live next door to a dentist and it is quite concerning seeing very elderly drivers parking outside my house to go into the dentist. I use the word parking loosely. Some just stop and switch off metres from the kerb of a busy road and totter into the dentist.
I think mandatory eye and driving capability tests should be every 2 years after 70. Paid for by the driver. It is a privilege to drive not a right and we should be concerned about our own safety and other road users and pedestrians. PS I am 76 so in the elderly bracket and am not being ageist.