Elderly drivers should be tested

[HeidiHoNeighbour]

91 year old killed a 3 year old in Edinburgh.
She’s been arrested.

Where I live (NW London) lots of elderly drivers are scarier than the teens racing.

A woman was killed in Sainsbury’s car park near me and the 80ish year old was upset he’d be late!

I think everyone should be retested every ten years.

What you mean is that people who can afford such can find better paid work elsewhere, whilst the many who can't are stuck with the low paid jobs
Indeed. For example the nearest city is 30 mins drive from my house but 2 hours on the bus. The first bus wouldn’t get you there in time to start work at 9am. If you can’t drive you’re restricted to low paid local jobs in small nearby towns. For youngsters wanting casual bar or restaurant work the cost of a taxi home after midnight exceeds the amount they would earn, so only drivers can work. Driving absolutely divides the rich and poor, especially when you consider the high cost of getting a licence in the first place. Being retested and losing a licence would be devastating for many working families.

Driving absolutely divides the rich and poor
I agree and would argue that many of the costs of driving are externalized and not born by the rich who benefit from having access to driving

Can you agree with my assertion that driving is a privilege, not a right?
No I think it is a right and a necessity, and will continue to be as long as our society is set up so people need to drive. In America they offer free driving lessons at school because driving is absolutely essential. Everything is far apart and many places have no bus service. In fact in a lot of places it’s not possible to stand at a bus stop because it’s too hot or cold. My cousin lives in Wisconsin where it’s often -15 degrees in the winter. Britain doesn’t get that cold but is increasingly following this model of out-of-town malls and long commutes which require a car.

Can you agree with my assertion that driving is a privilege, not a right?

No I think it is a right and a necessity

So we should do away with traffic police, penalties and indeed insurance.

Well, you know how the political system in the UKs. Outline your policies here, and we can start to see how to get them adopted.

Can I request a free pony with the free car ?

many of the costs of driving are externalized and not born by the rich
I agree. Friends who passed the test quickly and easily were those whose parents owned cars and took them out to practise. Those whose parents had no cars only got one lesson per week and took years to pass. In other words the rich could drive long before the poor (and thus could access better paid jobs and other opportunities).

I wasn't thinking so much of the 'bank of mum and dad' angle although of course you are completely right Glamazoni
I was thinking more about air pollution, the fact that so many of our streets are cluttered with cars and commercial vehicles, making it difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to get about unhindered and safely.
It's as if the whole of our society is organised and run for the benefit of the car, if you want to get about via any kind of shanks's pony method you have to wrestle with cars vans and lorries at every turn ☹️

@Glamazoni

many of the costs of driving are externalized and not born by the rich I agree. Friends who passed the test quickly and easily were those whose parents owned cars and took them out to practise. Those whose parents had no cars only got one lesson per week and took years to pass. In other words the rich could drive long before the poor (and thus could access better paid jobs and other opportunities).

Since we’re relying on anecdote, that’s nonsense. Both my stepchildren passed their tests first time within months of their 17th birthdays. Neither had any access to a car outside their lessons.

Personally I think this may be a transient problem - autonomous cars will mean that the ability to drive isn't as critical as it used to be.

However most discussions around that invariably descend into an unhelpful "it's all about meee " ping pong. Even though the past 6 months should have shown even the most egocentric person that sometimes, just sometimes, it's not all about you, and things can change from necessity rather than agency.

I live here in the states and a couple months ago here in Atlanta a woman in her 70s plowed her Mercedes through the door of an emergency department killing one (age 55) and severely injuring several others. She's received no driving citations and is at home free as a bird. My urologist had a patient drive into his office through the receptionist's area-one person was on vacation thankfully because her desk was demolished. Had she been at work she'd have died. Most of the time they claim confusing accelerator and brakes and get away with only a fine.

Society is set up so people need to drive
Yes you can only get on in life if you agree to line the pockets of the motor industry and contribute to all the problems that it causes!

But it is a privelege as not everyone has access to it, it isn't a right. It invariably makes life easier and opens up more opportunity, but it's very naieve to believe it's a right. Whether you think it should be or not is a different matter to the reality.

@Choochoose

But it is a privelege as not everyone has access to it, it isn't a right. It invariably makes life easier and opens up more opportunity, but it's very naieve to believe it's a right. Whether you think it should be or not is a different matter to the reality.

Everyone does have access to driving if their health allows. It’s neither a right nor a privilege. It’s a skill you can pay to acquire.

Everyone does have access to driving if their health allows. It’s neither a right nor a privilege. It’s a skill you can pay to acquire.

Do you really believe that everyone has the money to pay for lessons and to be able to buy and run a car? Wow. Health is a factor, yes. But money is a huge issue too.

My mum at 81 shouldnt be driving. Last year I refused to renew her insurance etc after her second accident where she couldnt park safely in a drive in space by misjudging the space and scraping the car next to her. Both times she refused to admit fault and drove off the first time and the police had to visit to tell her it was illegal.

Second time she also tried to drive off without details until passers by stopped her.

Both my brothers over ruled me and renewed it all. I have repeated told her and them I fear for her life and others but they all ignore me.

She has pulled out from parked at the side of the road, didnt see a moped rider , hit him and broke his ankle in recent years too. But they all think she is safe.

I have given her a taxi firm number which she has used and even pointed out that she could use them once a week every week for a year and it will be cheaper than her car. But still ignored.

She renews her licence with DVLA but its just a tick box form. No one checks up on her. I have more checks as I have to renew every 3 years due to a health condition and they check with my consultant when I renew, but she doesnt have any of that.

But they all think she's safe
Or they all turn the blind eye because they don't want to deal with the consequences of her not being able to get about independently?

We’re in France and here they get retested! Didn’t realise this wasn’t the case back home!!

@Kwaiting

We’re in France and here they get retested! Didn’t realise this wasn’t the case back home!!

Well as you've seen some posters here think it's an impossibility rather than just an economic and political decision.

I agree, but we'd also have to make it much more culturally normal than it is to really assess your home - both the property and the location - in late middle age and think about whether it's suitable for old age. Very few people do this, they wait until they absolutely cannot cope to even consider change, and that's why so many elderly people who, hand on heart, do know that they shouldn't drive because they're no longer capable still do it, because they've essentially trapped themselves somewhere that not driving means losing all independence.

My parents were quite vocal when my grandparents died (three of them, in quick succession) that they would move in their late 50s/early 60s to future proof, as their house is patently unsuitable for old age. It's now 10 years later, they are early 60s and they won't talk about it any more, I guess because now it feels like they aren't old enough to think about it. So they'll stay in their massive, remote house that needs endless maintenance and where you have to drive to get a pint of milk until they are forced to stop, at which point it'll all be as traumatic for them and me as it was for my grandparents and them. I can predict now that dad will never stop driving without being forced to.

I agree, but we'd also have to make it much more culturally normal than it is to really assess your home - both the property and the location - in late middle age and think about whether it's suitable for old age.

Which all sounds very good, but things change - sometimes very quickly - over time.

@DGRossetti

I agree, but we'd also have to make it much more culturally normal than it is to really assess your home - both the property and the location - in late middle age and think about whether it's suitable for old age.

Which all sounds very good, but things change - sometimes very quickly - over time.

Which is exactly why it's such a disaster to do what is currently the norm, which is to wait until you're forced - quite often by a sudden and traumatic event, like a fall - to move. You can never completely plan for the future, but most people don't even really try in this respect.

You can never completely plan for the future, but most people don't even really try in this respect.

Given recent events, planning seems a tad over rated. A lot of people will have been carefully planning for their retirement for the past 30 years. Somehow I don't think it's going to count for much.

Funny that we are quite happy to unlock a phone with a fingerprint, but nowhere near as happy to do the same with a car - even if it could save lives.

It’s a very hard subject and only when we are in their shoes will we understand, My late Father was a Long distance European driver for over 40 years and in the Army drove the lorries that moved the Tanks around,
When he reached his Eighties his eyesight worsened and he had a few scrapes, His wife, my mother passed away and he was living on his own remotely, He drove everywhere, it frightened the whole family, I talked to him about his driving and he said he might as well be dead if he couldn’t drive, we tried talking him into moving closer etc, he would have none of it, Then one day out of the blue he phoned me up and asked me to sell his car as he was no longer going to dive, never found out the reason as a few months later passed away at home,

Just to reiterate, can everyone reading this thread please report anyone they know who shouldn’t be driving. You may save a life.

I didn’t realise you could until I read this and have now reported an older person I know who told me she was now almost blind yet continues to drive!

All that is needed is a compulsory eye test that has to be submitted with the application to renew the licence which is every three years from seventy. Also a reaction test which could be on line, but cannot be cheated by someone else doing it. We don’t need the driving test centres being clogged up any more than they already are.

@perfumeistooexpensive

All that is needed is a compulsory eye test that has to be submitted with the application to renew the licence which is every three years from seventy. Also a reaction test which could be on line, but cannot be cheated by someone else doing it. We don’t need the driving test centres being clogged up any more than they already are.

If driving centres are clogged up, there's always the option to spend more on the system ?