Older drivers. Should we take a test at 75?

Driving I now find complicated junctions difficult to interpret, lane changes to get to the exit I need is not always correct, it’s fine on roads I know it’s unfamiliar roads. Although night driving isn’t a problem my reaction time is not a quick as it used to be.

As for a test, on familiar roads I would find it easy because a lot of maneuvers would be familiar and automatic, on strange roads I wouldn’t be so confident

I would happily retake a test, if we could fit one in.
Whilst driving with a younger friend, in 50s, I have never felt so nervous, she was taking risky manouveres, and talking with her hands whilst driving. I know who is the safer driver, it wasn't her.
Daily travelling I see younger drivers happily speeding, going through Red lights, cutting people up on rounabouts, and having no idea how to use filter lanes. I know who is the safer driver,it's not them. One cut me up on a roundabout, my quick reactions saved us from a bad smash. Think all ages should retake a test after certain number of years.

I think it should be 70, with compulsory eye and hearing tests, then ever 3 years thereafter.

I also think GPs should be obliged to notify DVLA of new medical conditions. At the moment it’s up to the driver to report them.

Weirdly, my insurance is less since I added 2 younger drivers to it. I lend my car to a 50yr old friend occasionally and was told my new premium would be £100 less annually. My DS is also on mine for when he visits from NZ.

Before my cataract operation last year, my eyesight was quite poor but the optician said I was just on the legal limit. I stopped driving until after the operation but it made me wonder how many others are driving with poor sight.

Thats the one!

LOUISA1523

Does anyone recall the TV programme ( can't remember the name) where older people volunteered to have mock up driving tests ?

Wasn't that called 100 year old drivers or something similar? They had Advanced Driving members sitting alongside them and giving them an honest appraisal at the end of their test. Many had ignored their families requests to stop driving so a qualified driver unknown to the driver was roped in to deliver the good/bad news.

Does anyone recall the TV programme ( can't remember the name) where older people volunteered to have mock up driving tests ?

NotSpaghetti

^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/

Thanks for the link NotSpaghetti. I was shocked when my car insurance doubled this year. I tried various companies before phoning my insurer. The helpful young man reduced the policy by altering my estimated 10,000 miles to 8,000 per year. He explained that older drivers are statistically a greater risk than young drivers.

I have never driven as I couldn't pass my test when young. I hated every minute of lessons and instructors advised me that I just wasn't adept at a lot of the skills needed. I have felt the need to try again.
My 90 year old father is still driving locally even though we've tried our best to stop him.
A test of some sort, maybe eyesight, check of NHS and insurance claim records, and a theory test (rules are ever changing), would be good. There aren't the resources for a practical test as new drivers can't get tests booked for months.

M0nica

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

That's a really good idea MOnica, and would mean that the waiting list for tests would not be a problem.

I think we should take a test at 70 and also a medical, both payable by us, to make sure we are safe on the roads for ourselves and other road users. As we age reactions do slow down and we need to be very honest with ourselves whether or not we should still be behind the wheel. At 77 next birthday, I no longer drive on the motorway because I don't drive fast enough but still drive at night and I am competent at roundabouts etc. 58 years driving with no fines, speeding tickets or accidents. The DVLA take too much on trust that when applying for an extension to our driving licence we can tick all the appropriate boxes knowing nobody will check.

I live in a rural area and without a car I'd be unable to function as we have no public transport. However, I think we should have to take a test to provide evidence that we are still able to drive safely. I'd go for every 5 years after 75 but currently we can't even cope with testing first time drivers, there's long waiting lists in most areas.

Oh dear, but it says in the media reports that the elderly driver had cancelled her insurance because she only used her car once a week and didn't want to pay the premiums for it.

That once a week trip was enough to kill that child, insurance or no insurance.

Bring on driverless cars?

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.

Wow Chestnut!

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

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.

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

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.

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/

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?

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

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.

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.

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.