Older drivers. Should we take a test at 75?

Thanks for all your replies.
My long and considered post has just vanished with Aw Snap

On paper looks sensible, in reality you wouldn't get a Test.
Only recently there was a Radio review on getting spaces for Driving tests. Add any one over 70, you would probably have to wait about 2 - 3 years before you could get a Test appointment.
Might be more sensible to have a few driving lessons from an Instructor who makes sure your up to date.

No one is mentioning the expense, and the fact that some people are already having to travel hundreds of miles to get their first driving test. It's probably a good idea but how can it be made to work?

Years ago my mother went to stay with her cousin who was in his 60s. He picked her up from the station and she had a terrifying ride to his house as he seemed to have no idea that there was anyone else on the road. She then discovered that his diabetes had left him almost blind and he was basically navigating from memory. His family stopped him driving after that. On the other hand My neighbour (who was a pretty dreadful driver) was stopped by his doctor and started riding a bicycle instead. A couple of months later he was killed on the road, but at least no one else was hurt.

The driver in the news story had senile dementia. She had no awareness of the tragic death she had caused.
I wish someone had reported her long before this happened and her car keys had been confiscated.

I also think a proper test after a certain age should be introduced and if the thought of this frightens people, so be it.

Although having said all that, I'm sure it's not old ladies who are the cause of most accidents. It is young men.

Greenfinch

I think it is a good idea but if it is brought in I would give up driving immediately. I am a safe but nervous driver and in a test would be a bundle of nerves and unable to function sensibly.

That’s me, too. But, and I’m sure most of us are the same, I’m very aware of other people on the road and always know if someone is going to do something supposedly unpredictable eg I’ll often say to my partner about a car we’re following ‘ they’re going to turn off aren’t they’ even though they aren’t slowing down. Or ‘that driver didn’t even see us did they’. Maybe that’s what makes me so nervous?

If you’re a nervous driver then maybe you shouldn’t be driving. As someone said if new drivers can’t get a test for months there’s no point adding extra pressure on the system.

Being a nervous driver doesn’t necessarily make someone an unsafe driver imo. I’ve been in cars with uber confident drivers and felt terrified!

I never drive further than 10 miles from home and that is only on roads I know. I would happily use public transport if it were available.

I heard a traffic policeman on TV tell a group of young males aged between 19 and 24 that they were more likely to die as a result of driving, either themselves or one of their peers, than any other reason. So it is not just the elderly.
It would be easy enough for the DVLA to insist on evidence of a recent sight test for older people at the very least.

The reason I suggested a requirement for cognition tests and needing to provide a recent eye test saying you met driving requirements if you were over 70 is because the queue for driving tests is so long and retesting all people over 70 would be well nigh impossible.

Eye and cognition tests would have meant this accident with a driver with dementia could have been avoided and also the much larger number caused by older people with poor eyesight.

If you are mentally alert and can see adaequately, your driving is likely to be up to standard, providing you drive regularly.

The biggest danger for older drivers, women with husbands or male partners in particular, is that the men do almost all the driving and the women pootle too and from the supermarket and soon loose their competence to deal with anything else.

DH and I have always consciously shared driving on longer trips to stop that happening but earlier this year due to a variety of circumstances, we did get into this situation and I was very conscious of starting to lack confidence driving locally and further afield.

Fortunately we had a month with a lot of longer distance driving coming up, so I did all the driving for that month and DH commented he could visibly see my confidence and my driving improving as the month progressed. I drove over 1,000 miles on busy roads, dual carriageways and motorways

If you need driving glasses but don’t wear them it must surely invalidate your insurance? When I had my latest distance glasses my optician said I was still ok wearing my previous pair but I had to wear them when driving.

Some people are saying that it is not older drivers that cause accidents - young men are the main culprits. It is true that young men can be very reckless and are more likely to be involved in serious accidents. However, older drivers can and do cause accidents. This can be directly as in the case of this lady, or people who drive the wrong way on motorways or dual carriageways or even, in the case of one man, by driving an invalid carriage on a dual carriageway. It can also be indirectly by slower reactions or inappropriately slow driving. This can be so infuriating that other drivers take risks to get past them that they might not otherwise have taken. Of course, this is not all elderly drivers and many are as safe as they always have been, but it is a significant and growing problem as we are an ageing population and there are many more older drivers than ever before.

MayBee70 I can remember a tragic case, many years ago, where a young mechanic took the car he’d been working on out for a test drive, but forgot his glasses. Instead of going back for them, he carried on and hit and killed a pedestrian and was later jailed for manslaughter.

I think slow driving as mentioned before can be as dangerous as going fast, indeed the police will haul you up for going at snail’s pace, and in many cases slow drivers are elderly. With slow driving tailbacks occur and drivers get agitated, trying to overtake and possibly crashing into oncoming traffic.
Of course an elderly person is more likely to drive slowly because their reactions or eyesight are not great and therefore they feel safer going slowly. Certainly these drivers need to take a test.

I was always a very safe driver (I was awarded a tongue in cheek certificate from one job noting that I refused to ever break the speed limits). I’ve stopped driving now because I have health problems that cause me to think my reaction times would not be sufficient to enable me to drive safely any more.

I think an annual test in a simulator should be the norm from the age of 70 and that licences should be withdrawn from the age of 80. In order to make this work bus services would need drastic improvements, particularly in rural communities.

MayBee70

If you need driving glasses but don’t wear them it must surely invalidate your insurance? When I had my latest distance glasses my optician said I was still ok wearing my previous pair but I had to wear them when driving.

I think it does. but there is a real problem with older drivers who have not had eye tests, or have failed them but still insist on driving.

If we brought in a requirement for evidence of a recent eye test, plus if there was a requirement on opticians to report to the DVLA any patient with an active driving licence and still driving whose eyesight had deteriorated below that required legally for driving, that would get many of the drivers with poor eyesight off the road.

We already have a system whereby doctors have to report any one diagnosed with dementia to the DVLA, who then with draw the license, so I can see little problem with extendingthis requirement to opticians and drivers failing to meet the eyesight requirements for driving.

There should always be a right of appeal. My uncle appealed when he was diagnosed with dementia and his driving license was withdrawn. He was called in to do a driving test, not the normal one. I think it was not on the open road either, and this test confirmed that he was no longer fit to drive, so he had to stop driving.

Georgesgran

MayBee70 I can remember a tragic case, many years ago, where a young mechanic took the car he’d been working on out for a test drive, but forgot his glasses. Instead of going back for them, he carried on and hit and killed a pedestrian and was later jailed for manslaughter.

I keep my driving glasses next to the steering wheel because it’s so easy to forget to put them on.

If we had to take a driving test at 75, it would put a tremendous burden on the testing system and probably require recruitment of many more examiners. It took my DGS many months to get a slot and at the last minute the test was cancelled. Bear in mind that you would have to pass a theory test too. How many of us could do that right now? I thought it would be easy - 63 years as a driver should count for something. I tried and although I got 40/50, it was counted as a fail. Try it on line: www.gov.uk/take-practice-theory-test

When I drive my partner to the doctors yesterday we both remarked how many road signs were obscured by trees and how worn so many road markings were. There is a huge sign on an approach to an island where you turn off for the A50 and M1 that is completely obscured. Do they assume that everyone has sat nav now?

older drivers’ - ^those who are 70 or older pay highest premiums gor a reason.
They are (statistically) a greater risk even than young drivers.

Here's an interesting little piece about it from the insurance perspective:
www.mooneerams.com/blog/will-the-record-number-of-uk-drivers-aged-over-90-increase-the-number-of-personal-injury-claims/

Step one should surely to encourage self selection by ensuring more frequent and usable public transport is available to everyone.

We both drive. We believe competently. Re-testing is a regular topic of conversation here. We currently conclude without a huge increase in testing resource a driving test for all over 70’s is unworkable.

One thought has been to introduce a requirement for a minimum of 3 refresher lessons with an approved instructor prior to each licence renewal with evidence of attendance along with evidence of a current eye test. Without these the licence would not be renewed.

Not perfect but workable. Instructors would I am sure tell their clients if their driving was unsafe and could also report to the police or DVLA.

Together we’ve been involved in two very serious car accidents. Both non fault, in one our car was written off. The offending at fault driver in each case was under 25 and was prosecuted for excessive speed. Mr C had a serious accident (damage to road furniture not people) before I met him, he was badly hurt and has no memory of the accident. His best guess is he was driving too fast as he acknowledges he did as a young man - until the accident. His final thought in our discussion was for speed awareness courses to be compulsory for every driver. Maybe they should, it could help and be less resource heavy than testing.

The thing is, MayBee70 older people, who tend to drive very few miles, still constitute 10% of the casualties.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202408/medium-745797-old-age-driver1997.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202408/medium-313301-old-age-driver2008.jpg

I've had a thing about this for years! Older people sometimes press the accelerator instead of the brake and this is the result when just parking their car. Now imagine that happening at 30mph increasing their speed to 40mph approaching your little grandchild. No matter how difficult, older drivers should be tested at 75, 80, 85, 88, 90, and then yearly.

Wow Chestnut!

That first one looks so ridiculous with such a simple caption!
I know I shouldn't laugh ... but...

My dh said he no longer trusted himself to have a quick enough reaction in an unsuspected situation. This was last year when he was 84. I had lost confidence in my abilities as well especially since Covid when I started online grocery shopping. I would add we were already using public transport in the main. Anyway gave the car to our grandson.