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

Most villages around here no longer have a regular or reliable bus service. Lots of villages no longer have a village shop or post office. An outright ban at 80 would mean many people would be totally isolated.

The stats also show under 25s are dangerous, in far higher numbers. Should we stop anyone under 25 driving?

Yabu. There would be way more harm and suffering if you isolate otherwise-healthy 80+yos from their wider community by limiting them to what they can walk to.

There should be more testing as age encroaches and even before then. People's driving skills deteriorate as they forget their driving instructor. Eye tests aren't enough there need to be tests of reaction time and cognitive decision-making because someone with perfectly good eyesight could still become a danger as they get more and more frail and start losing marbles.

I would have the tests being every decade starting from the day you get your driving licence, moving to every 5 years once you are 55+, every 2 years from 70+ and every year from 80+

I think it should be compulsory for every driver to have their sight tested as prescribed intervals, particuluarly elderly, professional and any driver using any additional category on their licence above just driving a car (towing, C1, D1 etc).

There should be lower tolerance of medical conditions the older people get.

There should be a lot more retesting going on, not just for elderly, I'd do away with the fines system as it is now and just have any one hitting 6 points then has 3 months to pass a retest or you loose your license. It makes the punishment more even across the wealth divide as the level of inconvience and stress is high for everyone, it makes better drivers (I've done multiple courses, tests and assessments over the years and they do make a difference - C1, D1, bluelight, then bluelight refreshers), it also makes a much stronger insentive to anyone speeding to slow down if you have a driving test hanging over you.

I'd also have elderly people retested at 70, 75, 78, 80, 81, 82 etc etc. It wouldn't necesarily need to be a full test, just a mini practical and theory assessment.

Driving is a privelage not a right.

"I want people to be allowed to start driving at 30.
AIBU? "
Ageism is frowned upon, I believe.

My mother in law would stop if she had to she drives because she is safe and has good eyesight in fact she is very fit and able !
If she can't do something she would stop ! my father in law( now passed) ! Was a different story he was a very bad driver and in the end mother in law sold his car ! And reported him to DVLA to say he wasn't fit to drive !
I can see where your coming from and unfortunately the law needs to be updated to stop people who shouldn't be driving slipping through the net !
But there are laws for no mobiles while driving people still do it
Speeding but people still do it and Drink driving ect ect the government don't do enough to keep safe drivers safe from careless drivers on our roads !
And this goes across the board not just driving but everything that should keep us safe the government ain't doing !!!
And that is scary !

My mum is nearly 81 and still driving. I’m happy that she’s safe still and she’s happy too. She still drives the children and there’s no way that would be happening if we weren’t happy!

We have had the conversation about knowing when it’s time to stop (my Dad who is only late 70s has already decided to stop driving) but for now she’s still a good driver and why should she have to stop just because she’s gone 80?

I do think that there should be something more to maybe prove that she’s still ok to drive as you do see some elderly people who you think really shouldn’t be driving, but I don’t think it should be an automatic age thing.

My mother is 81 and in exactly the same situation. I envisage and hope she will be driving for a few more years. Op is BU

MS is a reportable condition to the DVLA and requires a DR assessment/note every 3 years.

People who can't drive safely shouldn't drive. It's ridiculous to have an age-based cutoff for when this happens. It will happen for some earlier than others. Some drivers in their 20s are crap at driving and should never have passed in the first place. It's equally ridiculous to trust the driving of someone who passed their test 13 years ago or 33 years ago or 53 years ago. Driving is a privilege not a right and people would be less blasé about letting their standards slip back into laziness after they pass if they knew they would have to retake the test every few years. The shortage of tests needs to be addressed by doubling the test fee in order to have the resources to make the job of driving test examiner more appealing and recruit a whole lot more of them and introduce a system of regular retesting for everyone.

If we are banning people based on statistics of age and fatal accidents, that's most under 25s fucked.

YABU.

How ridiculous and discriminatory. And 80 is a bit arbitrary. If it was 90 I could understand it (maybe). Regular eye tests and health checks would be acceptable.

Not this one again?
Get the popcorn.?

Why 80 and not 79 0r 81?

I know several good drivers who are 80 and 81 they are better drivers than younger people and they have actually more manners than some younger people.

Plenty of older people would become socially isolated if they couldn't drive and that would cause another problem.

The ones I know use their cars to go to the leisure centre to do exercise and active ageing sport. It keeps them fit and they meet others.
How grim and selfish that you think that should end.
You'd have them sit at home being inactive and missing out and putting on weight and becoming boring old farts.

Thank God the decision isn't down to you.

I personally think young males should be banned from driving. They're the group most likely to cause accidents and are over-represented in serious and fatal collisions. Young male drivers cause the most deaths and carnage basically. Accidents involving the over 80's are miniscule in comparison and not out of proportion to any other group of drivers on the road.

YANBU - they are terrifying. Had to remove in laws car due to them being dangerous. The issue with young vs old is that older drivers have years of experience but are still dangerous.

tbh i think young men shouldn't be allowed to drive.

And people who are experiencing any kind of cognitive decline (not just age-related) should have to undergo assessment or lose their licence.

But mostly young men shouldn't be allowed to drive.

No. My Nan is 82 and driving is her lifeline. The accepts that this won't last much longer but right now she's a competent driver why should people be stopped the moment they turn 80?! As pp said the young drivers starting out are also a high risk group .

It would be more useful to require everyone to take eye tests every couple of years and the optician supplies the test results straight to the DVLA. I've known young people with eye conditions told they shouldn't drive, but they were supposed to self report and didn't, carried on driving anyway.

My mum and another woman was killed by a pensioner drifting into oncoming traffic. He also badly injured two others. He couldn’t remember a thing about it. Got a suspended sentence.
Banning seems harsh but there should certainly be some form of regular testing past the age of 70.

As we can't get guarantee that the people taking the tests are the people who hold the licence I think a lot more needs to be done to make the roads safer.

Report with dashcam evidence the poor drivers. Some police forces are happy to consider this sort of evidence and act on it.

The law changed this year
Anyone over 70 before could tick boxes to renew their driving licence every 3 years.

Now they will need to provide proof of an eye test & possibly a fitness test from a doctor.

Over 70, I think.

Info here

https://www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence-at-70

My late DF was one such. He was a truly appalling driver. He passed his test on his 6th attempt, I can only think that the examiner passed him just in case he ever had to test him again. He once managed to crash into a petrol pump when leaving a petrol station. He claimed he "forgot" that his wheels weren't straight when pulling away, ffs.

He never should have been given a licence imo. He gave up driving at 70, and I don't know how he kept his licence so long. He'd had several traffic offences, including at least 2 for driving without due care and attention, and more accidents than I could count.

The reason I feel so strongly about this is that I worked with a woman who passed her test on the 14th attempt. She was an appalling driver yet people were all "yay! Well done you!"

She damaged four cars in the staff car park in the first year of having her license, had three near misses with pedestrians that she was adamant just "appeared" in the middle of the road and then wrote off her car because she didn't like to stop at roundabouts in case she stalled.

I think driving test standards should be higher - there should be limits on what you can do in the first couple of years of driving (it's madness that shortly after passing my test I could have legally taken my 9 month old twins onto the motorway without a second of motorway experience) - and there should be periodical re-testing of people.

Medical and eye exams should also be regular and mandatory.

I also think there should be harsher penalties - if you lose your license a second time (for example) you shouldn't get it back.
Driving is a privilege, not a right. And I say that as someone with a disabled daughter who would be screwed without her car so I know how valuable it is.

I’d rather thhem than 18 year olds