To think people should re take their driving test at 70?

[PotterAndHisWand]

Most of my Grandmothers friends (age 80 plus) who drive should not be on the road in my opinion as they drive dangerously and don't have the reactions of younger drivers.

I realise that there are a lot of accidents caused by young drivers but I really feel fr safety's sake people should re take their driving test at 70... AIBU?

I have had two cars written off by elderly drivers. My fil is in his 80s and insists on driving despite being blind in one eye and has severe glaucoma in the other. He walks into furniture because he can't see properly. We have repeatedly spoken to him about it and he refuses to stop.

My dad handed in his licence voluntarily when he was in his 60s because he felt his eyesight wasn't up to driving. It's a shame more unfit drivers aren't this honest and sensible.

OTT, I just spotted that link. That poor poor girl! I was working just round the corner that day, I'm so glad I missed the incident! How does anyone live with the memory of witnessing something like that!

Open! He needs to be stopped NOW! Before another 16yo ends up dead!

My friend daughter had an awful experience before Xmas.

Riding her pony on a small road and was driven into from behind by an elderly lady, pony seriously injured rider ok.

Elderly lady was twice over the drink drive limit having been out for a pub lunch.

I ride regulary on roads and it is the elderly I worry about most, they just don't notice me, they have 2 hands gripped on steering wheel and eyes fixated on road ahead, no peripheral vision to notice anything else.

On the horse I have the height and time to observe the driving style and horse & I are decked out in high viz you can't miss us.

I am from Australia where they have had tests for over 85 years old for the last 20 years or so. My grandfather passed his but unfortunately tripped over a few week after and hurt his neck. He never drove again as he felt the mobility of his neck meant he couldn't turn his head quick enough.

In the state I am from they have to have a properly conducted medical examination each year from 75 years and a test from 85 years.

They have just brought in a new rule that specially accredited driving instructors can also carry out the driving test for older drivers. Perhaps this is the way for the UK to go ahead.

I really think my mum (78) ought to be taken off the roads retested. She has never had an accident, no idea how, but she regularly goes through red lights, drifts across the middle of the road, never signals....

Come to that I think we should all be retested regularly, maybe every 15 years or so?

And it's not just about health - when I'm driving my mum she constantly tells me the wrong things.

"Stop, he's going to pull out in front of you." a) I have right of way b) he's not.

"Don't you want that lane?" No, I want this one.

(plus general sucking in though teeth causing agitation and alarm to driver)

We live 300 miles away from fil otherwise we would have taken the keys off him. $

Can we report him to dvla? Would they investigate?

OP I agree with you, but I think we need to go further. I took my test in 1983. I haven't been tested since and I only read the Highway Code if something comes up on MN I want to argue about . There should be a way of observing somebody on their normal journey for a period of time/ so many miles.

My grandad was dangerous and travelling in his car was terrifying. The family finally persuaded him to give up the car when he was 80 after a memorable journey through town when he must have said "what red light?" several times

I'm almost 49 and DH and I have discussed the fact that our reflexes are slowing :( I don't feel as safe on the road as I did 10 years ago. So how much slower do you get at 70?

Yes it must be hard to lose your independence - I dread it. But other people's safety has got to be the priority. If you aren't safe you shouldn't be on the road, whether you are 26 or 92. End of.

Report him to the police. Hopefully they will go visit him.

Not sure about re-test at 70 but certainly at 80 and every 2 years after. the stats about accidents are obviously right but the old joke "i never have accidents but i see lots of cars in front and behind me having them!" is actually true. At 80 your eyesight is worse and your reaction time is masses slower. unfortunately people who are 80 dont realise this and dont want to lose their independence. The fairest way is to ask all of them to take a simulator test. if they pass that fine, if not then a proper road test.

Thanks saggy, that's a better idea. I'm sure they will take it seriously.

I know we have to take action - we've tried threatening reporting him in the hope that he will see sense, but he insists he is fine to drive. Says he only drives short distances locally, as if that makes it ok. Will speak to dh and do it today.

I completely aggree with Folkgirl.

elderly drivers tend to drive so slowly, that other drivers can easily avoid them. Thus their driving skills have significantly deteriorated, but the slowmspeed masks this.

Also, the slow speed means that any damage to the car is minimal, and is affordable without going through an insurance claim.

Even though elderly people may self-limit their journies to 30mph areas, unfortunately there are more pedestrains around.

DS1 was knocked down, and dragged under, a car driven by an elderly lady. She was reversing into her drive and didn't see him on his bike. She was wearing glasses and I suspect her perihperal vision was't great.

As DS1 was thankfully unharmed, I didn't take it any further. Maybe I should have?

Open. I have just had a nice chat with a friendly police officer here on the market. He says your best bet is to get in touch with the local traffic branch, and they will send someone round for a chat. X

I agree with you OP. My FIL's driving has deteriorated over the last few years - he is 83. He insists on driving, but he is very slow, dithery and fails to notice things like other cars turning.

He hasn't had an accident and I think that is down to the fact he drives very few miles, drives very slowly so other drivers have time to react to his mistakes and only drives a few familiar routes. But I doubt that he could react quickly enough to a child or animal running into the road for example.

Thanks so much for doing that saggy. Will google his local station and take it from there.

I have read that the DVLA get lots of relatives writing to them every year begging them to take away elderly relatives driving licences as they are no longer fit to drive.

And the idea of retesting is not an ageist thing. Yes these drivers are very experienced. But some will be affected by gradual deterioration in health and the affects of old age. And in some cases this will make them no longer fit to drive.

Perhaps a mini test 1-2 years after passing the driving test, then again every 5 or 10 years after?

I agree on retesting - my husband thinks a way of introducing it would be to make the insurance companies premiums for those who took a training course/retest for a few years, then make it mandatory. He might be onto something.

But I agree something has to be done. I had a near miss with this over Christmas, driving back from seeing a relative.

There's a motorway interchange near our house for three major motorways. It's fairly famous and aptly named and the changeovers are evil. Coming from one motorway to another, the slip road is a blind bend, single lane which becomes a dead end in a barely a hundred yards onto the new motorway.

I'm wary of the corner, and I always drop speed going into it, knowing there could be someone in front of me that I can't see. Fortunate, on this occasion.

As I cleared the corner, there was another car. I braked, then had to brake again, hard, as it became clear that other car was doing, at most, 25 miles an hour.

At 25, he pulled off the slip onto the inside lane on a major motorway. No indication, nothing, just a blind merge.

The car already on the inside lane, doing a proper speed (and definitely NOT speeding) had to screech and swerve.

Slow car appears oblivious. He trundles along, blocking the lane, and I'm running out of slip road, leaving me a choice of either stopping dead at the end of the slip until he clears out of the way and risking a rear end prang at ~ 70, with my 2 year old in the back, or chancing an incredibly risky jump across two lanes of motorway with no real chance to accelerate until I'm in the middle lane, which I did, scraping away from another by inches when headlights in my rear view gave me no choice.

I'm a good driver, and the road was quiet, thank God, and no-one was hurt - but that one driver nearly caused three major, possibly fatal accidents.

As I passed the car, my DH got a look at the driver. 90 year old, still doing 25, glasses like bottle bottoms, clutching the wheel, nose to the windscreen and fixedly staring straight ahead.

And here's my real issue - arguably, had any of those accidents happened, they'd not have been recorded as his fault, but ours. Unless we could rpve the speed he was doing and the failure to indicate, it would have looked like the fault of one the other drivers, when in fact he simply wasn't fit to be driving on the motorway if he wasn't prepared to be a) driving at a proper motorway speed, b) correctly indicating his movements or c) using his hazard lights to warn of non-standard driving!!