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?

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

Fingers crossed!

I do think as well more generally that cars are getting smarter now, so many problems caused by attention/perception issues are reducing and will continue to reduce as technology improves. Vehicles can already park themselves and stay in lane - we'll hopefully within decades be at the stage where required driver action is minimal.

Well, personally I think deaths are far worse than elderly drivers just being annoying. And irrespective of how many miles anyone is doing the demographic causing the deaths is what needs to be looked at first.

One of my bugbears (and this affects ALL ages) is people blithely driving in winter with no rear lights on.

Many cars (mine included) automatically put on the front headlights but I need to manually switch on the other lights.
Considering how many cars are black/grey/silver they disappear in the dark.

These drivers don't twig no matter how often the car behind flashes or toots the horn .

Young drivers are statically more dangerous but have sharper reflexes

My parents have a neighbour, who is probably mid 80s and he takes about 30 attempts to park in the garage. Note he has a P reg car and only a ladder in the garage. He is bent over badly and struggles to see. One day, he pulled out of the drive without looking and almost hit a car coming from further down the road.

We had a look at his MOT history - anyone can do this, providing you know the reg. He does 320 miles in a year. What's the point in having a car if you are driving that amount?

I'm 60 years old and have been driving for 42 years, for many of those years I was driving 30,000 per year without an accident.
In all those years, I've lost count of the people that I knew who were under 25 who caused serious accidents while driving. Some of them survived, many didn't, one was a car full of late teens who all died at the scene.
Two of my adult children had "at fault" accidents in their first couple of years of driving, but thankfully no serious injuries. I only know one person who had an "at fault" accident in his 70's and he was a former driving instructor. He just lost concentration for a few seconds. He was the only person injured.
Eye tests should be mandatory for every driver, but no matter their age, every 3 years to keep their licences

Autolights only work when its dark - ie not daylight. If it rains, snows or foggy in daylight hours, the lights don't switch on, only manually.

If you are unable to switch headlines on manually, give up driving.

I couldn't afford to learn to drive until I was 19 and had started a job, so yes I agree the driving age could be raised, apart from those on DLA who have disabilities and need a mobility car.
Arguably the most dangerous collisions in my opinion are drivers that you find unexpectedly on the other side of the road - I remember one old lady doing this on a dual carriageway I went past once, especially if its at night.
I believe there are separate assessments undertaken by another company that can reassess older drivers, but I'm not sure if a relative or the driver themselves have to request one, which there lies the problem if the driver thinks there are no problems, but the relatives are worried.

Yes they should but older people vote and they don't vote for retesting so no politician would ever propose it!

It ageist to insist that older drivers are more dangerous than younger drivers when actual data used by insurers states the opposite.

Age related disadvantage tends to begin in late 80s, not retirement age. Youth related disadantage on the other hand persists well into late 20s.

Haven’t read the full thread so apologies if I am just repeating here, but yes I agree past a certain age, purely because the nature of cognitive decline means the person often doesn’t realise it is happening to them. I watched a road police episode not long ago where an 80+ year old man was driving the wrong way down a motorway and by some absolute luck didn’t have an accident but was spotted by a passing police car. The man was completely oblivious to what he’d done and police were very kind to him, but called his 50 year old son who begged them to remove his licence as the family had been asking him to stop driving for some time already due to their own concerns. I also had a friend whose grandparent was still adamant they didn’t want to give their car up despite dementia diagnoses.

I’m a new driver (late learner at 29) and my cheapest insurance quote was £1400 on an 8k car. The younger first time drivers are facing insurance costs of more than double that in some cases. Yet the other day whilst walking across a zebra a speeding elderly driver zoomed straight through it and missed me by about an inch with no attempt to slow or stop, yet I’m sure his insurance costs f all!!

Retirement age is not "elderly", and anecdotal stories are not evidence. The evidence says that younger drivers are more likely to cause accidents. If you are going to have retests, surely retests for everybody should be the rule - there are plenty of lazy and unsafe drivers of all ages out there. A 30-something told my friend the other day (when he was parked illegally) that the highway code no longer exists in the UK!

But I don't think anyone has suggested that the average retirement age driver is unsafe have they? They're not. It's generally the very elderly that are dangerous. And they are. Very dangerous.

My 80 year old aunt only drives locally now, but her car looks like it was attacked with a hammer. She's endless bumping walls, cars, fences. And when she couldn't control her manual car, she bought herself an automatic.
Her insurance is very cheap, which i just cannot understand given the amount of damage she's caused to others.

But deaths are looked at first. Younger drivers insurance is sky high, many have to have a black box and have restrictions like curfews, black boxes and no passengers.

it doesn't mean shit elderly driving should be overlooked.

I haven't insisted that elderly drivers are more dangerous. I've insisted that elderly drivers are dangerous. (If they are not fit to drive.)

In about 5 years or so me and DH will be downsizing and travelling a lot.
We plan to buy a small flat here in the middle of a town on the assumption that one day we will not be able to drive, it will also be ground floor or have a lift to future proof.
I wish more people would plan for potential bad health, |I think we are more aware becuse of my Mums situation, by the time she realised she needed to move it was too challenging for her

Precisely!

Completely agree. My grandparents did this and my parents (in their 50s) eventually will.

staying in the sticks with no reliable transport when you have the means to move, and using that excuse of 'I need my car' putting other people at risk is so irresponsible.

Maybe some people aren't ABLE to move out of 'the sticks' into a town or city. What a ludicrous and ignorant remark!

Horrible, ageist thread. Can't wait for YOU to be elderly @ayonoosh

I literally said 'if they have the means to move.' Stop being terminally offended.

I also won't get old, so you'll be waiting for a long time my hun xxx

Ooooookaaayyyy.

The reaction in this thread are 😂😂😂

Saying a group of people (in this case young or old) has specific issues associated with driving isn’t ageist. It’s recognising that not all age groups behave the same way.

Saying statistically older drivers cause less deaths doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem. Someone driving against the flow IS a huge issue even if there is no death and only scrapes on a car.
eg the near accident can cause trauma/injuries and life long issues.
eg someone’s car can be written off and not replaced by insurrance (too old etc…) causing the owner to loose their job because they can’t replace it etc etc….

Death isn’t the only parameter to take into account imo.

And it certainly is the case that some older drivers cause deaths on the road too.
The main cause is lack of capacity - as many posters mentioned about their own grand parents. Another is lack of public transport that would allow to easily replace a journey by car with buses.
Its vastly different from younger adults who need more training and to grow up.

After I had an eye operation I was told officially I could drive. My eyesight was dreadful! The surgeon and I had a brief discussion on how low the sight requirement is for driving in this country.
That should be looked at .

It's two separate issues. I'm not commenting on whether he should be driving or not, but it's literally none of your business how many miles he does!! if that's enough to get him to the places he needs and he can afford to keep his car on the road that's his business, not yours, that's probably plenty to get him to his GP, any bits of shopping he needs, et cetera

Anyone - in any age group - is dangerous if they are not fit to drive.

What a ridiculous comment! 😆