AIBU to think drivers (more so elderly) need to be retested?

[ayonoosh]

I know I'll probably get lumped with being ageist here. I want to preface I think all drivers should be tested after perhaps 10 years but once at retirement age or 70s, every few years?

I live in a town that's predominantly one way. In the past 7 days I have seen 2 elderly drivers run red lights. One elderly driver go the wrong way up a very well signed street, with other drivers beeping and flashing and they just kept going, one elderly driver driving on the opposite side of the road going onto a short duel carriage way (!!) and an elderly driver drive down the middle of the bollards in Tesco.

this isn't an unusual amount of it too, there are so many posts on the local community pages with cars and registrations and people posting about it. It is so incredibly dangerous. We have a uni in town too and have our fair share of young drivers, I do see them hurtling around town at stupid speeds but they aren't as common as the elderly drivers reported.

I know young drivers cause more crashes, but elderly people tend to have low mileage bias, I think if they drove mile for mile the stats may differ. Elderly drivers responsible for deaths have increased by 42% in the last decade.

AIBU to think mandatory testing for all, especially for elderly should be implemented? I know the money, time, stubbornness, etc etc make it unrealistic, and there are terrible drivers of all ages of course. But if age related reaction times are something that doesn't apply to you, then surely it's a tick box activity and back to driving?

im seeing increasingly more elderly pootling at 50 in the middle lane on the M25, as well as stupid taxi drivers doing it too. they ought to be retested too.

what's everyone's thoughts?

Yeah that needs to be reintroduced. If not just for elderly but for everyone, if the elderly are going to kick up a fuss about it being ageist.

at least then everyone's on an even playing field.

You are 💯 correct OP .
I live in Ireland & about 4/5 weeks ago , 3 Women were out for a jog & an 82/83 year old man mounted footpath, & sadly killed one of the joggers, mom of 2 young boys , in her early 40s ..
I’ll get a right lashing here, but I’m going to just be honest
Why the fuck are 80+ people still driving , much more chance of having a medical episode, eye sight can’t be great , everything has slowed way down ..

Younger people are responsible for most accidents

my mother was being berated by family for “still “ driving. She went to a driving instructor to be assessed. She passed with flying colours but doesn’t take the family out so often.

I was at the end of my tether with my Sdad and wheeelchair bound Mum.
I had refused to let him drive my DC for years and even my Mum was starting to realis they could no longer do longer or motorway trips after a few incidents.
I had actually reported him to DVLA and phoned his GP but nothing happened.
My Mum died and as it was her Motability car thats was that, he was talking about getting a car but thankfully it didn't happen

Oh and speed limit is a limit not a target - driving at 50 on the m25 would pass the driving test so your ire is badly misplaced

( can’t recall is below 50 in good conditions might be a fail or a minor )

You lose C1 and D1 off your licence at 70 and have to apply and have a medical

Everyone's driving skills and road awareness should be refreshed every 15 years or whenever there's a big change to how roads are managed/used.

Things change.

Smart motorways for example - I had no idea that the motorway light system for the speed limit during heavy traffic had changed from 'advised' (flashing) to 'mandatory' (steady light).

Absolutely! You don’t want to take away elderly drivers independence, but if they’re a risk to others or themselves then it needs to be flagged. Reaction times and lapses in judgement creep up on you as you age. I won’t ever allow my children to get into a car with my FIL who’s in his 80’s. He’s not a safe driver at all, but refuses to give it up. He’s aware his reaction times have massively slowed and there’s been multiple near misses. He’ll just drive at 20 in a 60 zone instead, but is still swerving into the other lane or mounting the curb.

My friends father has dementia and is still driving. Many times he’s gone missing in his car as he can’t remember how to get home. She’s begged him to stop driving and use public transport instead but he refuses.

Though of course drivers of any age can be a danger or irresponsible. Maybe the age to learn to drive should be increased. Younger drivers have been proven to take more risks, probably as their prefrontal cortex hasn’t developed yet. It does seem a little crazy to allow a teenager to drive a machine capable of killing people, but they can’t be trusted to have a credit card.

I agree op, my gran was really dangerous, still driving well into her 80s. Every stop was an emergency one as she just couldn’t see properly, and her reactions were terrible. My DH’s grandad also awful and still driving at 91, he couldn’t turn his neck at all so would pull out in front of people.

The what about ism on this issue isn’t helpful. Yes young drivers are also dangerous, that doesn’t mean you leave the elderly dangerous ones to cause damage as well.

As someone who is in their early 70s I would welcome retesting after a certain age. I think the problem with most people is they just don’t know when they are getting worse.
I just don’t think it is going to come about anytime soon as there is such a long waiting list for people to take their test.
The government could do other things though. After 70 you have to sign a health declaration every 3 years to renew your licence. They could enforce a compulsory eye test that has to be signed off then. We could also include written tests to show that the person is capable. In Ireland one of the tests old people are given is a circle and have to put numbers in the circle like numbers round a clock. One person put all the numbers in one half of the clock because they had had a stroke so these tests can reveal something.
I would also suggest that any of the testing is done by the insurance companies and the person being tested has to pay. This would stop government things being clogged up.

however, as my parents are planning to do and what their parents did, they moved from semi rural into towns with fantastic public transport for that very reason.

This seems a little extreme. Also logistically difficult - presumably if one is not fit to drive one has fairly intractable medical conditions. Most people in poor health would find a house move difficult and it would create more problems than it solves - being away from support networks and known medical facilities etc.

Plus, where are these towns with fantastic public transport? I don't know any towns that have such. Very little of the UK has good transport - London, Manchester and Birmingham and that's about it. Nowhere in Scotland - even Glasgow and Edinburgh are pretty poorly served.

I'm glad it worked for your grandparents but as a national strategy this just won't fly I'm afraid.

You retest all or none

This is something that I think technology could help with.

Regular, mandatory tests for hazard perception and reaction times could be completely automated and pick up a lot of poor drivers. Most don’t need testing on their physical ability to manually control the car - by the time this is a genuine problem the hazard perception and reaction times have been a problem for some time.

Retest all drivers? What a waste of resources. Being targeted makes more sense.

Completely agree, especially with the medical emergency. Much more likely to have a heart attack or the likes behind the wheel.

Well, it shouldn't affect her then if she's still fit to drive.

This would be pretty easy to sort. My dad is 75 and has a HGV license. He has to have a medical report (following a bunch of tests) signed by the doctor every few (3?) years. It could be rolled out to everyone over a certain age.

I think there should be regular tests for all, but they should be some sort of simulation/reaction time/situational test as obviously there aren’t enough examiners. Someone who is borderline might then need to have a road test.

Perhaps the insurance companies should be tasked with organising and paying for this as it should be to their benefit.

Erm, when you're in the middle lane when Lorries and Buses cannot overtake safely can land you a hefty fine and test fail.
I was making the point at doing 50 IN THE MIDDLE LANE. If you don't see the issue then you're another that shouldn't be on the damn road.

It wasn't extreme.
my grandparents lived in the are end of nowhere. They didn't want their kids and grandkids to be burning themselves out caring for them as well as their own jobs lives and kids.
with them being local, it's manageable as we can all help with lifts, they get public transport, and they've taken reasonable responsibility for their aging and the issues that can come with it, without putting other drivers and pedestrians at risk.

You live not too far away from me 😊

One other thing you can look into (now before you need it) it's a scheme we have here called 'xxx village neighbours'. It's a local group of volunteers who will take you to (mainly) medical appointments and you pay them a small amount of money (the service tells you how much) to cover their fuel.

i'm very fortunate to be on a bus route that goes to my nearest hospital and that there's a bus stop 50 yards from my home, but I have used them a couple of times when my appointment appointments have been early in the morning and the route to the hospital wouldn't have got me there in time.

They will apparently take you to other things such as visiting family and certain shopping places. I haven't used them for this yet but I do have an elderly family member I'd like to visit in if I can't arrange another way to get there. I will ask them if they have anyone free and willing to do this.

I've had a Tesco delivery since before Covid, so that's all nicely set up, my hairdresser doesn't do home visits, but she's on the bus route and so while I can manage that, that's okay & if a/when I can't, I'll try the xxx neighbours group, and as it's quite local I might be able to get a lift.

Because I'm not elderly and mine is due to a stroke, I may also be able to drive an adapted car in time?!

My MIL has virtually stopped driving as she knows she is less safe than she used to be, but she clings on to having a car because it is her independence. She can't walk too well, so even getting to the papershop is no longer an option on foot, but she can drive the few streets there and back. It's hard to take someone's independence away from them. Most of the problems are caused either space awareness/poor vision issues (scrapes) and a paid-for medical as well as an eye sight test should be compulsory at 70 and every 5 years thereafter.

As for driving slowly, that's fine. It may be frustrating, but if that's the speed they feel they are safest at, we should live with that and accommodate. Perhaps an E or OAP plates (like L plates) should be on all cars of people over 75 as a warning to other drivers? In other ways, they are the safest - slow, not on their phones whilst driving, less likely to be distracted by loud music in the car, etc..

Then brave up and get him told!!

Like I say, I'm glad it's working out for your grandparents.

However most parts of the UK have very poor public transport provision, not just in the arse end of nowhere but across the board, in towns and in many cities. Fix that, and we'd see a reduction in car use from everyone, elderly people included.

My mum was driving on a 50mph speed limit winding country road and the elderly woman in front of her was driving on the right hand side of the road for at least 5 minutes! My mum had dashcam footage so submitted it to the police.

There are dangerous drivers of all ages and I’d support any initiative to make roads safer, including retesting the elderly