Older drivers. Should we take a test at 75?

It’s a Mini Cooper to replace her previous one so it should be pretty nippy.

MayBee70 my son's Audi which is an automatic is really responsive.

He says it's to do with the way they change gears. Some have a "lag" especially older models.
Maybe she bought the wrong car (for her). My daughter-in-law has a not-so-nippy version.

I sometimes drive my English DS's car when I stay with him. As you say, My insurance allows me to drive it but only 3rd party.

i am used to driving both automatic and manual as DH's car is automatic and mine manual. I am so used to both, I hardly notice which is which.

I have only once had an underpowered car. It was soon replaced.

Thanks. When I renew (which won’t be till next year) I’ll get them added on. Mind you, my daughter now drives an automatic and she says she’s forgotten how to drive a manual. Does say that she finds driving so much better because all she has to do is concentrate on what’s happening around her. Having said that she said her car doesn’t always accelerate as fast as she wants it to which sounds worrying to me ( she has told the manufacturer). I can’t imagine not changing gear etc! Mind you I think my nervousness is the result of two things. Learning to drive in a Morris 1000 in which I had to think way in advance when I wanted to stop( for years, if I was a passenger in someone else’s car my foot would be going for an imaginary brake pedal) and then driving a car (in fact two cars) that had an engine that kept cutting out. Even now, because my little cars engine is so quiet, I have to rev the engine at traffic lights to check it hasn’t stalled. Oh and I also once had a metro that had no acceleration at all and used to come home in tears because I used to annoy other car drivers around me because they didn’t understand why I would stop at eg road islands because I didn’t have the acceleration that everyone else had.

MayBee70 some of your family are likely to have Drive Other Car on their own car insurance policy. But it will only cover them for third party. To have fully comprehensive cover for any one driving your car you can add them as named drivers on your policy.

I have my son, daughter and son in law named on mine and at various times we’ve all driven each others. The additional cost was minimal. If you do it mid policy there will be an admin fee. But if you add them at time of renewal it may not cost any extra. That was my experience.

I was house and dog sitting recently while my son and family were on holiday. I used their car if I was taking their dog anywhere so my car didn’t end up full of dog hair!

MayBee70

I’ve just checked my Saga insurance and it doesn’t say that someone else can drive my car if necessary unless they have DOC insurance ( whatever that is) and then it’s only third party. I really thought that when I first used Saga one if the reasons I switched to them was that, in an emergency, someone else could drive my car.

DOC stands for "driving other cars". The driver of your car would need to have his/her own insurance, which allowed driving of other cars, but only with third party cover.

I’ve just checked my Saga insurance and it doesn’t say that someone else can drive my car if necessary unless they have DOC insurance ( whatever that is) and then it’s only third party. I really thought that when I first used Saga one if the reasons I switched to them was that, in an emergency, someone else could drive my car.

If the government ceases funding bas passe, the bus companies will introduce their own schemes. There is no subsidy for older people on trains, but there is still a Senior card available that gives reduced fares and other benefits.

I think anything pensioners get that is other than cash in the pocket, free prescriptions, the lot, should go, it is demeaning, suggests that we are too old and stupid to manage our own money and set aside money for buses or nedications. In their place I would put up Pension Credit sufficiently to cover the extra costs. This would also give help by bringing into Pension credit, a significant number of those just above it, so that they do not suffer.

As for bringing people on the roads who weren't there previously. I doubt many people would go out and buy a car because their bus pass stopped - but all but the better off would see their pension increase to cover the extra cost, and many who already own cars would probably still prefer to catch the bus, to save on car park costs and difficulties.

Jaxjacky

Cabbie21

I am concerned by the number of people who have commented that they have no public transport and NEED to drive to the doctor’s, vets, etc, or to visit family and cannot afford taxis.
What are you going to do if/ when you are no longer able to drive for whatever reason?

I too thought this Cabbie and it’s rather concerning as is the defensive reaction if anyone infers one’s driving might not be up to scratch.

Our reflexes aren’t as good as we get older. Which is why I don’t drive on motorways. I’m still pretty sure that there’s no one safer than me driving on other roads. When I say I’m a nervous driver I should probably replace nervous for careful which I’ve always been. It terrifies me how some people drive on motorways.

Am I right in thinking that bus passes are paid for by the local council, most of which are starved of money. The main shopping centre in town will really suffer if people no longer go into town for free. I won’t drive in because I can’t afford the parking.

Blondie49

MOnica I used to work in Insurance and we were always told rules were as follows-
The driver is legally responsible for telling the DVLA or DVA about any such condition or treatment. Doctors should therefore alert patients to conditions and treatments that might affect their ability to drive and remind them of their duty to tell the appropriate agency.

I think you’re right. One of my WI friends was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She was advised to inform the DVLA and consequently was asked to take a test to assess her ability to still drive (it wasn’t at a driving test centre). Anyway she passed with flying colours so can continue but will take another test in 6 months time.
From a different viewpoint I have heard rumours that the government may decide to take our senior free bus passes off us ………. someone said to me if they do there will be an awful lot of incompetent drivers back on the road - I hadn’t thought of it like that but probably true.

Cabbie21

I am concerned by the number of people who have commented that they have no public transport and NEED to drive to the doctor’s, vets, etc, or to visit family and cannot afford taxis.
What are you going to do if/ when you are no longer able to drive for whatever reason?

I too thought this Cabbie and it’s rather concerning as is the defensive reaction if anyone infers one’s driving might not be up to scratch.

It seems in our area that it is some young people who put their cars into a hedge or up a bank in a vehicle that is a faster type than those of some of us Oldies

We are in the process of selling our house in a well serviced large village: buses, large Co-op self service, railway station on bus route a couple of miles away, partly to be nearer children, but also to the centre of a town where all facilities are within walking/buggy distance, including social activities - the one thing our village is deficient in.

We chose the town with great care. It has a mainline station, a hospital in easy reach and everything else, doctors, dentists, supermarket etc in the town centre, also groups and activities that interest us.

To those who say younger drivers are the problem, yes, they may be, but older drivers are a problem too and we just have to accept it.

If we can find a way to mitigate, we should.

Chestnut

twinnytwin

This is a thorny issue. Will we all be expected to pay for these extra tests? It's expensive to pay for the vehicle, road tax, insurance, vehicle upkeep etc already. We live in a village with a very unreliable bus service (once an hour but sometimes it can be 40 minutes late or doesn't turn up at all) that stops early evening. Doctor, hospital, dental, optician and hair appointments would be impossible to plan due to the irregularity of the bus service. A taxi is £10 each way for a three mile trip. The train station isn't on a bus route.
A visit to our two children and their families would be almost two hours by bus to one and a train and taxi to Bristol for the other. There are no shops in the village so an online shop will be necessary and our weekly meet up with friends and family in the pub will be curtailed.
When we'd persuaded my father to stop driving I used to travel 18 miles each way to take him to his appointments. I was over 65 years myself then.
When it becomes necessary for both of us to stop driving we will, but our quality of life will certainly change for the worse.

Unfortunately this is why older people should retire in or around a town or city with easy access to medical care. It might be a lovely dream to retire to a village but transport will be difficult as you get older. I am right next to several buses going to the town centre and a 10 min taxi ride to doctor, dentist and hospital. I planned all this when I moved here.

That's well and good, my friend hs a bus stop right outside her door. I bought a house near my work so I could walk, unless on nights, didso. Promise of regular bus service never materialised,nearest stop 20 minutes walk, not able to do so etimes. Can't afford to sell and move, even in my area house prices have gone up a lot. So left on an estate with no forward planning executed, although now have a shop for essentials, we waited 20 years for that .So I'm stuck,have to use my car, or a very ,nowadays, expensive Taxi.

I have no bus service, even to nearest town without a car I'd be very isolated. I do feel more testing would be good but should include all ages. It's kind of like the M.O.T., pass on the day but can fail the next day. There are more incidents major and minor involving much younger drivers than those of older years. Black boxes don't register wreckless, careless driving, only speeds. No words to describe the Edinburgh event.

My mother-in-law moved from a village to the edge of a town specifically to be able to manage without a car should that be necessary. She was quite pragmatic about it. "I don't want to be stranded with nothing but a view" she said.

If only we could all look to the future like this, Grammaretto.

Now she is unable to drive - but can walk to a chemist, a supermarket a whole range if shops and a beautiful park (without even going onto a road, only footpaths) ... she says she should have moved sooner. She was about 85 when she left her village.

I hope I will grasp the nettle... I look to her continued independence at 100 for inspiration!

Those saying that they can't afford taxis. You'd have money from the sale of the car, insurance, tax, maintenance, parking and petrol money too.

I think if it works for Ontario, it would work for us and is the kind of thing I think will be quicker and cheaper than resitting the test. There are people in their 90s who are safe to drive and people in their 60s who aren't.

Seriously, poor eyesight is very dangerous, recently an elderly driver pulled out of a junction not seeing a motorbike, killed the rider,

Was it proven that it was an eyesight problem? Motorcyclists often drive at well over the speed limit and appear from nowhere. My sister was knocked off her bike and killed at a junction by a lorry driven by a man in his early 50s. I won't go into all the details, but quite simply, even in a city, a combination of trees and parked vehicles meant that he couldn't see her cycling down the road.

Every accident involving an older driver is not necessarily the older driver's fault. Since I was 60, I am now 80, I have been involved in three accidents, none led to injury, but in one my car was written off. In each case I was unequivocally not at fault.

On the last occasion the insurance company claims rep was telling me it was a 'no fault' accident before I had fully reported it. I was on a main road and someone came out of a side road and drove into the side of my car, claiming he didn't see me coming. He was about 25 and it was broad daylight and I was on road, straight for about a mile in each direction.

Grammaretto

I was struck by that too Cabbie.
TV programmes such as Escape to the Country are irresponsible in my opinion by concentrating on the beauty and peace of an area but glossing over the lack of transport.

It's different if you are a farmer with family all around to look after your needs or in a self sufficient village but it's worrying to think of isolated ageing communities with no buses.

Dad was a farmer, and at 70 he asked us to help fill in his driving licence application.!
Hang on dad how bad is your eyesight?, we knew his driving was poor but he had macular degeneration and was a blind as a bat - so it was a bike after that.

Seriously, poor eyesight is very dangerous, recently an elderly driver pulled out of a junction not seeing a motorbike, killed the rider, in my opinion at least eyesight tests should be compulsory over a certain age

I live in Ontario Canada and once you reach 80 it is impossible to renew your driving licence without first taking a ‘classroom’ test to assess cognitive skills and vision. You are advised of this requirement by mail a month before your licence expires that is sent to your home address together with the appropriate forms to make an appointment to take the pre required tests. If you pass both tests, then results are reported and it becomes a straightforward process to renew the driving licence on line. From the age of 80 it’s a requirement (by law) to take the test every two years from then onwards.

If you fail the test, you are required to have a full eye test with your optician and also received written confirmation from your GP stating the level of cognitive skills meet the requirement levels set by the Province.

Here in Ontario a GP and/or a licensed optician has the authority to deny an elderly driver a current licence by reporting their decision to the appropriate ministry based on test results their patient is unsafe to be driving.

Even as an elderly driver myself I believe in this approach.

I was struck by that too Cabbie.
TV programmes such as Escape to the Country are irresponsible in my opinion by concentrating on the beauty and peace of an area but glossing over the lack of transport.

It's different if you are a farmer with family all around to look after your needs or in a self sufficient village but it's worrying to think of isolated ageing communities with no buses.

It would be ideal to sit some sort of test as we get older but my son can't even get a date for an ordinary driving test, currently just wouldn't be possible 😕