Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

It should be mandatory to retake a driving test again age 70 and every five years after that

511 replies

InSlovakiaTheCapitalOfCourseIsBratislava · 22/10/2026 13:55

What it says really, especially given the aging population and associated cognitive decline, impacting on reactions, and also cars being larger, and fifty years of bad habits that the driver has got away with
Obviously young men are the most likely to have the worst accidents because of their tendencies towards risky behaviour, but there are steps to address this, and they do tend to hurt themselves more than others
presumably this came up in past years especially given the terrible incident in morningside 2020 with the little boy, but after trying to reason with an obdurate 75 year old father who only hasn’t done something awful for sheer good fortune it’s feeling on my mind

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Passaggressfedup · 22/10/2026 14:00

This has been debated for donkey years! The issue is how do you make it a law that isn't ageist? Because the majority of 70 years old are statistically less a danger on the road than 20 years old.

Netcurtainnelly · 22/10/2026 14:00

Yawn 🥱 🥱 🥱 🥱 🥱 🥱

thepollyanna · 22/10/2026 14:02

Also, driving tests are pretty hard to book due to very Hugh demand

thepollyanna · 22/10/2026 14:03

Or even high demand

YYURYYUCICYYUR4ME · 22/10/2026 14:03

I'd like frequent stop and check for drink / drug / on a regular basis, including more in workplaces, having witnessed the death caused by a young man under the influence.

QueenOfAccountability · 22/10/2026 14:04

Passaggressfedup · 22/10/2026 14:00

This has been debated for donkey years! The issue is how do you make it a law that isn't ageist? Because the majority of 70 years old are statistically less a danger on the road than 20 years old.

Exactly, it's speed thats dangerous on the roads and the elderly mostly don't speed, thats a young mans habit

Treylime · 22/10/2026 14:05

Extremely long waiting lists to book a test currently. So this is a non starter.

Original poster
InSlovakiaTheCapitalOfCourseIsBratislava · 22/10/2026 14:05

It’s not ageist if it’s proportionate in terms of reducing risk though surely?
young people on their 20s have much higher insurance than someone in their sixitirs because it’s calculated on risk
my father is an absolute liability, refuses to acknowledge that he’s a danger to himself and others -and only hasn’t hurt someone because it turns out they’ve got better reflexes than he does . He took the battery out of my grandmothers car when she was 80 , with vascular dementia and refused to stop driving , but I don’t see that working at this stage

OP posts:
MrTiddlesTheCat · 22/10/2026 14:05

Do you think older people are incapable of judging for themselves if they're fit to drive or not?

Olderbutt · 22/10/2026 14:05

Passaggressfedup · 22/10/2026 14:00

This has been debated for donkey years! The issue is how do you make it a law that isn't ageist? Because the majority of 70 years old are statistically less a danger on the road than 20 years old.

This AND the DVSA can't cope with providing driving tests for provisional licence holders, hence the long waits. How the heck would they provide the tests? Don't suggest recruiting more examiners as they've tried that and the uptake is so slow that it's painful

Original poster
InSlovakiaTheCapitalOfCourseIsBratislava · 22/10/2026 14:06

Treylime · 22/10/2026 14:05

Extremely long waiting lists to book a test currently. So this is a non starter.

Suspend licence whilst they wait on test? Could be an even better scenario

OP posts:
Original poster
InSlovakiaTheCapitalOfCourseIsBratislava · 22/10/2026 14:06

MrTiddlesTheCat · 22/10/2026 14:05

Do you think older people are incapable of judging for themselves if they're fit to drive or not?

yes, at a certain point

And won’t take advice

OP posts:
Johnogroats · 22/10/2026 14:06

I’m with you OP. I posted on here maybe 2 years ago about my elderly father having a minor crunch (no one else involved) and it was an almost universal shriek saying I needed to take the keys off him. Personally I thought that was too extreme… it’s a warning and I said if similar happened again it would mean time to give up driving. So far he’s been ok and is driving ok but somewhat tentatively.

id be a huge fan of a mandatory test that goes beyond the ludicrous self certification. So is my dad! He is very keen to tell me about how other elderly drivers are crap… but has less insight into his own driving. To be fair his car looks fine and he’s not scraping it regularly, but his spatial awareness isn’t good.

An objective test of some sort would be very sensible.

saraclara · 22/10/2026 14:07

Given that it's close to impossible for new drivers to get a test, there isn't a chance in hell of this happening.

I agree that there should be eyesight tests and maybe even reaction tests. But a full driving test for every 70+ driver out there is entirely unfeasible.

MrTiddlesTheCat · 22/10/2026 14:07

InSlovakiaTheCapitalOfCourseIsBratislava · 22/10/2026 14:06

yes, at a certain point

And won’t take advice

Show quote history

All of them?

beeautifullif3 · 22/10/2026 14:07

I'd like to see the age of getting a licence raised to 25 , too many absolute young immature idiots on the road and will only get worse thanks to the utterly useless parenting trend over the last 10 years

Original poster
InSlovakiaTheCapitalOfCourseIsBratislava · 22/10/2026 14:08

And if you started at 70 as a formality, passed, and then retested five years later and didn’t , you might be more willing to concede your driving days were done

it would also pick up people who need glasses but hasn’t had their eyes tested since they left school

OP posts:
KojaksLollipop · 22/10/2026 14:08

I think this is a problem with your father, not with the vast 70+ population.

Johnogroats · 22/10/2026 14:08

MrTiddlesTheCat · 22/10/2026 14:05

Do you think older people are incapable of judging for themselves if they're fit to drive or not?

Yes. I do having seen several lovely older relations carry on driving when they were not safe.

Cucurella · 22/10/2026 14:09

I'm much more concerned about people using phones when driving, driving uninsured or without licences at all or driving after taking drugs.

I had a close family member killed by a speeding driver. He was 23 years old and had recently passed his test, he wasn't over 70.

Skdkhvyvrhej · 22/10/2026 14:09

YANBU.

Unfortunately this whole issue resulted in a huge no contact drama for a year and a half in our family.

I really wish this was the law and not left to individual families to navigate.

Coconutter24 · 22/10/2026 14:09

MrTiddlesTheCat · 22/10/2026 14:05

Do you think older people are incapable of judging for themselves if they're fit to drive or not?

Do you not think older people carry on driving even though they know they shouldn’t because they think they are no risk because they’ve been driving 60+ years?

user47639820987 · 22/10/2026 14:10

It’s a six month wait for a test for teens, so adding a load of pensioners to a test list is gonna make it years long! But I do agree there are dangerous older drivers about. I think cars will be totally automated in quite a short time frame so no one will actually be driving whatever their age give it a decade or so, and all the safer for it I think!

Original poster
InSlovakiaTheCapitalOfCourseIsBratislava · 22/10/2026 14:11

MrTiddlesTheCat · 22/10/2026 14:07

All of them?

Show quote history

I reckon most friendship groups could probably pull up at least one person, or a person with a parent or in law who only hasn’t hit someone out driving because of their decline in driving ability through of sheer luck and good reflexes on the other party, who just won’t be told.
it might also run in families
Also lots of people living alone deteriorate and just don’t notice

OP posts:
Matzochist · 22/10/2026 14:11

beeautifullif3 · 22/10/2026 14:07

I'd like to see the age of getting a licence raised to 25 , too many absolute young immature idiots on the road and will only get worse thanks to the utterly useless parenting trend over the last 10 years

Problem with this is the disastrous effect such a law would have on employment opportunities for the young, which are shit enough already. Better public transport would help, but not enough.