To think a cometency driving test should be done at retirement-ish age?

[hidinginthenightgarden]

A few weeks ago I read about a crash caused by an old lady who tried to over take a tractor but couldn't go fast enough and ended up knocking a lady off her bike. Her husband then ran over his wife and killed her. It was one of many incidents I have heard of where people of a certain age cannot drive fast enough (or safe enough) to be on the roads. Yesterday I saw a man on the motorway doing 50mph in a brand new landrover. My own Grandfather gave up driving on the motorway when he felt uncomfortable driving the required speed - sensible, but others will not want to lose their "freedom" so won't make such decisions.
Shouldn't there be some sort of competency test around age 65/70 to test you are still able to see far enough, drive fast enough on a motorway and so on? Or if deemed fairer, maybe we should all have to do one every 10 years until we reach 65 and then it becomes every 5 years?

Some people are saying 'my uncle percy is 103, and is an amazing, safe driver!' If that is the case, then he needn't worry about being retested right? smile

As said above uncle 93 was retested in australia last week and passed.
Im sure MIL over here in Uk had to get dr cert at a certain age to say she was ok to drive

Some oversight is a good idea. I know of one woman in her late seventies who cannot remember where she is going or what she is doing who still drives. She gets treatment for Alzheimer’s and the specialists informed the DVLA. She was very angry about this and was determined to overturn the suspension of her “right” to drive.

She got a foreign GP who charged for an appointment and gave her a competency test. I say foreign because this doctor has very poor English and I doubt whether the seriousness of the issue was understood. I haven’t seen the test but I have been in the car with her (she’s very convincing and has learned how to conceal much of her constant short term memory loss).

It was a terrifying ordeal which I will never repeat. A ten minute drive took us two hours. I would have jumped out at a junction if I had not felt I ought to stay in for her sake.

I’ve told her husband who is weak and never contradicts her. The children don’t get involved. As far as the DVLA know she’s competent and that’s that. The useless doctor is locally well known for locking herself in the toilet one day and being unable to get out.

A car is essentially a killing machine, and we’re far too lackadaisical about it

I agree with this. Rather than retesting everyone, we could at least do a refresher every 10 years. Similar to the speed awareness test but for everyone and not just about speed.

He is very proactive with vision and health checks and lives in absolute terror of being involved in an accident, because even if he's not the one who caused it, he's worried some po faced moron with a brass button will see his age and that'll be it

Yes I suspect a lot of elderly drivers drive very slowly for this reason, not because of capability but because they are terrified of being involved in an accident and losing their licence, even if it's not their fault. Of course some do drive too slowly and panic if they go the wrong way, but so do lots of younger drivers.

I'd be happy to have some sort of compulsory testing/lessons every 10-15 years. Driving is a privilege, not a right.

IncrediblySadToo. Getting muddled when driving an automatic generally would refer to pressing the accelerator rather than the brake and then pressing harder when the car does not stop as expected. I’ve attended several rtc’s where this has happened. One resulted in a pedestrian being killed the others were fortunately extensive property damage only.
It is quite a common occurrence especially, but not exclusively, in the older generation.

If someone is competent to drive an automatic after years of driving a manual, then they have nothing to fear in re-taking a test.
Jesus wept for the woman I know who is now paralysed from the waist down by a driver who was no longer fit enough to drive a manual, swapped to an automatic and got muddled up

How would redoing their test on an automatic have prevented them from getting muddled up?

You do not need a retest to drive an automatic. They are very easy to drive!

65 isn't old. The dangerous drivers I see ( driving up your arse when you are driving at the speed limit, too wide on narrow country lanes, overtaking in stupid places etc) are almost always younger than this.