older people are a "greater liability"

50! You're making me feel ancient

I'm 71 & I love driving

Obsession all is obsession

www.thesun.co.uk/news/2083113/video-dash-campolish-lorry-driver-who-killed-mum-and-three-kids-while-he-changed-music-on-his-phone-is-jailed/

DD - an example of such a foreign driver accident

In a word, BALDERDASH!

DD
How typical of you to try to silenc discussion of relevant points about foreign drivers!

As insurance rates show, statistics do not back the media attacks on older drivers, who are being targeted based upon isolated cases of a few particularly nasty accidents (such as mounting kerbs and killing pedestrians). These are rare but cases where the driver is totally blameworthy.

My point is that the three groups Ive cited, foreign drivers, drunks and boy racers also occasionally are involved in these kinds of accidents where they are totally blamworthy. It would be unjust to punish ALL older people by retesting at 70 without applying the same rule to these groups. The driving test is much easier to pass in some other countries where roads are quieter, tests less stringent and bribery a way of life! You should speak to truckers about foreign HI drivers!

It would be nothing less than victimisation of older people, who are often car dependent to subject them to such stringency while so slack about road use by foriegners who havent even passed a British test, and groups who are known to drive irresponsibly such as young men and drinkers.

A total ban on drinking and driving and a retest for anyone caught with any alcohol would have far more impact than retesting at seventy and testing of all foreigners who wish to stay more than one month.

I'm 66 next month and drive almost every day. I travel several times a year to visit family in Aberdeen and Durham and am driving to Stratford-upon-Avon this weekend from my home in Glasgow. I drive alone but admit to having to take a break now on the journeys whereas, in the past, I could have done them in one go. I consider myself to be a better driver now than when I began driving at 21yrs of age as are most of my friends and relatives of a similar age.
I would be absolutely gutted if I had to give up my car.

My parents moved to live in Spain in their sixties and once they hit 70 they had to take regular tests to keep their driving licences.The tests were on a simulator and my DM hated it. TBH she hated driving anyway and once my DD passed away she stopped. She didn't need a car as, in anticipation, DD had moved them into town from a small rural urbanisation in the middle of nowhere!

I am 61. Not only do I have to drive TO work I have to do a lot of driving while at work, 2 - 3 hours a day on all types of road across my huge county. I also regularly visit my grandchildren who live 2 hours, 3.5 hours and 1 hour away. In summer I drove myself to Cornwall and back from North Yorkshire. I think I experienced drivers are a risk, also those who don't drive very often and who suddenly go onto unfamiliar roads. Those of us who drive thousands of miles a year on all types of roads are very safe usually. Don't even get me started on drivers who speed recklessly and overtake on blind bends !

My Dad is 91 and only stopped driving last year, although for the last few years he never drove more than a few miles at off peak times. He had regular health checks and the optician said his eyes were 'perfect'. His confidence and optimism did seem to fall after he stopped, with the loss of independence and mobility. I think it's important to keep driving and doing 'normal' stuff when you are older, as long as it is safe to do so, although obviously not everyone will want to keep going as long as my Dad did.

I am 75 and bought a new car two years ago, I dont drive into Town these days its a busy City and they are always changing routes etc due to different works, so I drive locally, hate driving in the dark, oncoming trafic is a nightmare, so I avoid it if I can, the driving that is, I long for the longer lighter days, and love my car, the freedom and choice it gives me, I hope for many more safe years on the road,wish good luck to all lady drivers.

I didn't LEARN to drive till I was fifty!

In my early seventies I was no longer feeling confident about driving so I have been taking a series of assessed drives with the Institute of Advanced Motorists, these lead to a test, which I didn't want to take, but have been happy to get my driving skills scores up from fair to test standard. The sessions have updated my knowledge and made me feel more confident. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents ROSPA, have published a very good article on tips for older drivers, including the inadvisability of driving on poorly lit roads at night. I have never enjoyed night driving, finding on coming lights a distraction and find as a passenger that some older cars rear lights are so poor they appear as ghosts, especially on a fairly busy motorway. My mantra about driving is God give me the wisdom to know when to stop.

I'm really sorry that Nandea felt she needed to stop driving. If any Gransnetters are starting to feel the same can I suggest taking the Advanced Driving course run by ROSPA? I did it a couple of years ago because I thought my driving would benefit from a refresh and I feel so much more confident now. Its free and many insurance companies give a discount for Advanced Motorists.

That puts paid to my swapping present car for something sporty then ....Damn

When my daughter was going to add me to her car insurance they wanted to charge far more for me than for my older husband who at the time had points on his licence. I have never had points or an accident! Outrageous. . especially as his points had put up my premium. Makes no sense

The statistics I quoted to not conflict with what MaizieD quoted. The ABI figures deal only with premiums and claims and show that when older people have accidents they are more expensive.

While statistics inform insurers when setting insurance rates, they do not set them. A whole host of other factors come in to play. Analysis of an individual's claim history, the type of car they drive, where they live, annual mileage and marketing decisions to do with gaining market share, wanting a spread of risks across all age groups - or not.

The market is competitive, shop around.

Whataboutery!

Why am I not surprised you've highlighted the number of accidents caused by foreign drivers? (They seem to cause just about everything else in your world!)

Do you have any statistics to back up your claims?

And many very elderly only use their car to drive to the shops and back, in the day when its quiet. To prevent them driving would often ruin their lives, and the very little they do makes them extremely low risk.

I believe its people in their thirties and forties lowest risk, but there is a small but vicious campaign going on by media journalists who are keen to talk about stopping people or almost as nasty, retesting people at seventy! The pressure of being retested when you know you could lose your license would be horrendous! And would you be allowed to resit, as everyone else is?

The issue is there have been a very few horrible cases of very elderly people probably with dementia involved in particularly nasty accidents, but this does ignore the fact that occasionally young people have horrific driving accidents too, there having been a number of fatal accidents caused by foreign drivers on the wrong side of the road for example, as well as drunk drivers, boy racers etc.

Younger drivers between 18-20 years pay the highest average premium of £972, because their claims are likely to be expensive, an average of £3,667, and more frequent than other age bands. The group with the cheapest average car insurance premiums are 66-70 year olds who pay £241, since the cost of their average claim is relatively low at £2,225.

From the ABI article. It's only when you get to be 81 that the premiums are higher than any below 50. Drivers under 30 appear to be worse than those between 50 and 75 as far as costs are concerned.

It is those that mis-interprete them for their own purposes who use them to prove anything.
that's what I meant

MaizieD Tue 24-Jan-17 11:17:15
and what MaizieD has posted shows the contradictions and different interpretations put on the information.
Most people would read reports in the press and not go back to check the statistics for themselves.

No they can't. It is those that mis-interprete them for their own purposes who use them to prove anything.

The ABI is the professional organisation of insurance companies. They collect the data from the insurance companies who give summaries of the numbers of claims in each age group and the average cost of all the claims in each age group. Why would they want to fiddle the figures?

It's just all about money then

Statistics can be made to prove anything!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24204489

The Institute of British Insurers publish the following statitistics on age, insurance costs and average cost of claims together with a commentary on the statistics. It seems as we get older we claim less but our claims are more expensive.

www.abi.org.uk/News/News-releases/2015/07/New-ABI-data-shows-why-age-is-a-factor-in-the-price-of-car-insurance