To think people over 80 should not drive

[TorridAntelope]

I don't care how bright and sparky they are, the stats show they are dangerous

I think it completely depends on the individual, and I have certainly known 80+ year olds who are still fully competent (and younger people who shouldn’t be on the road).

I do think there should be more medical / eye / reaction time checks for older drivers, however. Self-declaring online isn’t really a good measure of whether someone is actually fit to drive.

What @AlcoholicAntibiotic said.

I DO think there needs to be an objective test, but I don't think you should automatically be banned at any age. Driving skills are individual to each person. Driving can be invaluable to many.

If you want to talk statistics, I think you'll find the deaths on the road, and serious injuries are not caused by those 80 years plus, but by much younger men and by teenagers.

I have voted yabu as the stats don’t mean they shouldn’t all drive.

I agree with previous poster, more assessments (eye sight, reaction times etc) should be required to verify on a regular basis, with perhaps the frequency increasing accordingly to age and / their score on the previous test

She most dangerous drivers I experience daily are young men in their souped up cars . Generally the older drivers are just frustrating crawling along at 10phr below the speed limit.

YABU. Young men are statistically the most dangerous drivers. Older people have more experience, more time to get to places and are largely not as hot-headed as young men. Driving is a lifeline for many.

I don't know which "stats" you have consulted but I would be very surprised if young men who have only recently passed their test are not , statistically, the more dangerous.

However, I agree with PP that there should be more rigorous health checks for older people to renew their licence. I don't think though that it could, or should, be one age where there is a cut off. I know someone in her late 60s who has stopped voluntarily because she "lost her confidence". However, I know plenty of people in their 70s who still seem perfectly safe and capable.

I admit that it might get more problematic as people head North of 80 but, again, I think it should be on individual assessment rather than age. Must admit I am relieved that 95 year old FIL has finally given up.

Do you want to pay higher taxes? There is enough micromanaging by the state.

Why on Earth do you want to take away people freedom? There should be more focus on why they reduced the age of driving buses. That is more dangerous in my opinion.

I'm pretty sure there are some people in their teens, 20s, 30s etc. who are not safe driving. As with anything you can't make a blanket statement like that. People don't suddenly take to a sedentary life the day they turn 80, they still need to get themselves to places, do their shopping etc. Are you going to offer to drive all the over 80s in your area? Thought not.

Incidentally I think you will find that the age group which causes the most accidents is not the 80s and over.

Don’t over 80s have to regularly get their licences renewed anyway?

As someone who tried to learn to drive and failed miserably, I can safely say that age is only one factor in whether people should be on the road or not. I certainly shouldn’t be and I’m a long way off 80!

To bring something like that in there would have to be massive investment in public transport.

I don't think there should be a blanket ban. I do thing driving test standards should be higher, people should have to show a set number of hours driving experience before being allowed more powerful cars, and I think you should have to re-sit your test every twenty years, then every two/five years after 80.

People of all ages are shit drivers.

I also think people in general need to be far less "oh just keep practising, you'll get it eventually. It's a life skill" about driving.

Some people shouldn't be drivers. They shouldn't be talked round when they say so. They should be applauded for realising it's not something they can do.

Of course there are other factors. But I'd agree that 80 is a decent cut off as so many people are less mobile, less good reactions, poor eyesight, quite a few have dementia by then. And the 'independence' argument shouldn't excuse people driving who are dangerous. It's not properly checked on - I knew someone whose GP wrote the DVLA to say his eyesight was too poor to carry on driving. They just reduced his licence to 3 year terms but didn't remove it.

If people gave up when it was sensible, all well and good, but usually they don't. They say they're fine, they only go short distances and so on. Then you have things like this happen

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/out-control-elderly-driver-admits-8091790

Read that and say 'oh, you can't curtail their independence'. I'd just about agree with anyone over 80 carrying on only if they passed another driving test plus an eyesight and reactions test. Otherwise, we need more buses instead.

The age group with the most killed and seriously injured while driving is 17 to 24.

The ability to drive safely over 80 very much depends on the person. My mother is 88 and still drives, as do all her friends of a similar age. She is fully compos mentis, very good eyesight and perfectly safe to drive. However she has chosen to no longer do long drives( over 2 hours) as she feels tired, and prefers not to drive in the night because of glare.

She is very sociable, has lots of friends and goes to lots of activities such as language classes, book clubs etc, as well as doing grocery shopping etc. She lives in a village with poor public transport and her life would be diminished if she had to stop driving. She is fully aware that may happen at some point though.

I'd be with you if you suggested they should retake a mini driving test.
But just straight up banned? No. 80 year olds are all different and there will be many who are perfectly fine drivers.
I do agree though that people who have been driving a certain amount of time should be forced legally to take a refresher test every so often. And over 60s should have health and sight checks for driving every 5 years or so.

My mum is an absolute terror for this. There's no way she can safely drive yet shes very focused on it.
I thought there'd be some mechanism by which the dvla would prevent it as she has multiple health issues. Well no they just gave her her licence back with nothing.. no test no evidence of anything

She immediately crashed and totalled a car she had just bought. Luckily just in her own courtyard abd luckily she wasn't hurt

She starting up about it again now and im honestly going to ring them and start shouting at people if she does.
Biggles the mind who's just being allowed on the roads.
My mum can't even see out of the car. She has scoliosis. She also has MS and no upper body strength. She uses an electric wheelchair. She's also elderly with sight problems and hadn't driven fir 20 years (as my dad prevented her but he's since died and this is when she decided she would get her licence renewed)
I just cannot believe the ease with which she got it.

YABU it should be based on driving ability, not age. If there was a blanket cut off at 80yrs old my rural living parents would be fucked when they reach that age. It's not too far away, they are both good drivers, both have their full wits about them, and there's no public transport where they are. Their well-being would be massively negatively impacted and they'd likely rapidly decline.

It would also mean my Aunt & Uncle who live even more remotely would have to move, as they cannot get anywhere where they live without a car.

Whilst I agree that some people should have to give up their licences, it should not be based on a blanket age.

I’d support retesting every 5 years, after the first decade of driving, to be honest.

Many drivers far younger than 80 have poor driving habits (including myself in this, I’m not deluding myself that I am the world’s most perfect car owner). Reaction times slow as we age of course, but that process is rather more rapid for some than it is others.

@SemperIdem whilst there is such a massive shortage of Driving Examiners, there's no way the country could manage 5 year retesting for all after the first decade.

I think more realistically, would be retesting every 20 years until say for example 70yrs old, then 5 yearly testing from there. It would still require a massive recruitment of DEs though, and higher salary for them as they don't earn much for the stress and responsibility they have.

On that basis, teenage boys shouldn't either.

Men shouldn't be allowed out without a tag because most crime is committed by men.

Where would your ageism and sexism stop ? Before it affected you, obviously.....! What a good thing you aren't in charge.

Retesting is the appropriate safety measure.

My 80 yr old m’n’law is the best driver I know. She’s a widow and relies on her independence.

@ReadingSoManyThreads you’re quite right, it was more a ‘pie in the sky’ idea on my part. Sounds great, but as you say, can’t work in reality.

I suppose it’s more an awareness that even at my age there are going to be bad habits formed, I’ve been driving for 20 years. Add a couple of decades on, not only are there bad habits but also a genuinely decreased reaction time.

The dangerous drivers are men under 30. Looking forward to your campaigning on getting them off the road.

My brother is 74 and about to climb to Annapurna base camp with my 72 year old brother. They are certainly fitter than many 35 year olds. As long as their sight is checked which it is regularly then why should 80 be the limit?

Statistics clearly show MALES 17-24 are involved in over 70% of motor vehicle accidents and over 60% of fatalities.

Ive seen threads on Mumsnet where some adult child has speculated that mum or dad is no longer safe and brags about "taking their keys". If one of my adult children took my keys I would whack them with a baseball bat!

Probably just as well then that I am child free and have never learned to drive.

I think you’re being very unreasonable. Some older drivers should not be driving, but by no means all, and many younger drivers are just as dangerous. My mum was still driving safely until her early 90s, to the point where I was happy for her to drive my daughter, which I would never have been comfortable with if I’d had any reservations. I’ve always felt that the most dangerous drivers are 40ish women who generally only drive to and from school in their huge 4x4s, without a thought for other drivers or the Highway Code. I would be in favour of everyone, regardless of age, having to take a new driving test every ten years, maybe more frequently for people over a certain age, but realise this would’ve very expensive and difficult to implement.