Should drivers over 70..........

[cee-dee]

Should drivers over 70 be required to take a test every 3 years?

I saw part of a discussion on TV on this subject so what do you think?

Really, it's drivers aged 17 to 24 who're most likely to have a crash and from what I've read it seems drivers over 80 are more likely to cause themselves an injury than other people.

Drivers have to renew their driving licence at 70 and then have to renew it every 3 years but a test as well?

[fallen-archie]

In Industry there are refresher tests all over the place, it has spawned an industry of it's own. Should people of any age have to retake their driving test? absolutely not unless they have demonstrated poor driving, been involved in an accident which was their fault, been banned for consistent dangerous driving etc. If a person is no longer capable of driving for health reasons then you stop. 

[evoman3957]

At one end of the spectrum, you've got people who think they know it all and have accidents because they don't look. At the other, people who have forgotten most of it and have accidents because they look but don't see. At one end, people who don't know the limitations of the car they're driving; or they're own for that matter. At the other, people who have reached their limitations and think the car has reached its own as well......normally at about 30 mph. At one end people who drive a Mini as if it's a Jag and at the other, people who drive a Jag as if it's a Mini. 50 mph means just that, it doesn't mean you can do 100 mph in a Mini and it would also be really helpful if you didn't poodle along at 30 mph in a Jag either.

[cee-dee]

But that's not a definitive answer to the question posed?

[evoman3957]

Well your question kind of had a discussion element about it, in fact you yourself said you'd seen a program; where it was somewhat discussed. The problem with definitive answers, is that they kind of stifle discussion; but it's you thread so "Hey Ho" definitive answer :

NO

end of discussion.

[tommy.irene]

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@cee-dee wrote:

Should drivers over 70 be required to take a test every 3 years?

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No.

[cee-dee]

End of, not a bit. Your opinion matters. A reasoned discussion follows?

[fallen-archie]

Laura Thomas has got 1,000 people through the driving test since 1938 and says none of her pupils needed more than two attempts she has just celebrated her 95th birthday.

[cee-dee]

A few weeks ago I spent some time over the course of a few days chatting to a lady and during one conversation she mentioned going to the cemetary to visit the grave of "her baby".

I commiserated but was really choked when she said her daughter was 18 when she was killed along with her friend when driving her car. She went on to say "the car skidded on a wet road and hit a wall...."

I didn't say it but............ you don't "skid" and hit a wall and you don't get killed along with your friend if you're driving at a normal, sensible speed?

[fallen-archie]

Yes but it may be her way of dealing with the grief, not everyone wants or is equipped to deal with hard facts especially when they simply heap more pain on a situation. I suspect that both you and I have skidded in a car booted with cross ply tyres, poor brakes and hideous handling. What would help young drivers would be skid pan training in an appropriately basic vehicle but one with a decent amount of grunt. Likewise driving in snow and ice, as soon as it appears I drive to suit the conditions, younger drivers start the hard learning process and sadly not all survive to benefit from.

[**bustysinclaire**]

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@cee-dee wrote:

Should drivers over 70 be required to take a test every 3 years?

I saw part of a discussion on TV on this subject so what do you think?

Really, it's drivers aged 17 to 24 who're most likely to have a crash and from what I've read it seems drivers over 80 are more likely to cause themselves an injury than other people.

Drivers have to renew their driving licence at 70 and then have to renew it every 3 years but a test as well?

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Perhaps not a retest of the actual driving test but some form of test to prove their reactions are quick enough and hazard perceptions are satisfactory, also their eye sight should be fit for purpose too.

My father was a good driver right up till he was 80, then it became apparent that the Alzheimers was setting in, I personally had to stop him from driving, he thought he was still fine but he started doing silly things like driving the wrong side of an island, or just too fast. He was a danger to himself and others, but on the other hand there are many over 70 - 80 that are still very competent.

I agree it is the youngsters that can be more of a hazard, they think they are invincible, I  also think they don't have enough training in bad weather eg snow and ice.

[astrologica]

Yes, I do think that every driver should have to resit their test when they reach 70.  And also have a medical test to assess whether they are fit to drive. I have a family member who has been driving for 50 years, and has picked up some terrible driving habits. If they had to take a test, these habits would soon become apparent, and would be pointed out. I wonder how many other older drivers are in the same position, becoming complacent after many years driving.

[fallen-archie]

Come off it Astro, A sample of one is hardly sufficient to draw a conclusion from. How many drivers of all ages have bad habits I wonder?

[**bustysinclaire**]

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@cee-dee wrote:

I didn't say it but............ you don't "skid" and hit a wall and you don't get killed along with your friend if you're driving at a normal, sensible speed?

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You can only remark with that kind of specific comment if you actually know the circumstance of the accident in question.

When I was 20 and my very dear friend was 19, we should both have been travelling in the car that she was driving and got killed in. I had to work that day instead of attending college with my friend.  She had not long past her driving test and owned her own new mini, she went to pull out of a side road onto a main road, slowly turning right and she was hit by a bus and killed, she was DOA. She was a good sensible driver and did not speed. This particular time she couldn't have been going more than walking speed she was pulling out of a juction.

The bus oncoming on her right was signalling as though turning left, she pulled out thinking it was turning left, it wasn't it was sloing right down to pass the road she was coming out of to stop at the bus stop ammediately after the junction, It was just inexperience that did it, she should have waited just a few seconds more to be sure of where that bus was going.

I had a lucky escape that day.

[**bustysinclaire**]

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@astrologica wrote:

Yes, I do think that every driver should have to resit their test when they reach 70.  And also have a medical test to assess whether they are fit to drive. I have a family member who has been driving for 50 years, and has picked up some terrible driving habits. If they had to take a test, these habits would soon become apparent, and would be pointed out. I wonder how many other older drivers are in the same position, becoming complacent after many years driving.

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Some good points in there astro, I know I have a few now.

[cee-dee]

"Yes but it may be her way of dealing with the grief, not everyone wants or is equipped to deal with hard facts especially when they simply heap more pain on a situation."

You're right, that was my thinking too which was why I didn't make my thoughts known. As to skidding with cross-ply tyres, I don't recall any such event and a couple of years after passing my test and having relatively decent cars, I switched to radials.

As to the scenario painted by BS, I've learned by experiences not to trust any signals at road junctions because of the possibility of such a result.

[023mjc]

My driving instructor said to me  " never assume that because they are signalling they are actually going to turn - always wait till you can see the whites of his eyes".  In other words if he intends to turn, he will look that way. I've never forgotten it, and think of it every time I'm waiting to pull out at a junction.

[cee-dee]

Excellent. Many years back I was waiting at a junction ready to pull out and turn right and a car approaching from the right put his flasher on signalling a left turn. I started to move then saw he didn't appear to be slowing so stopped and he went on past me then turned left in to the petrol station just past my junction.... phew, a close one.

[astrologica]

That's exactly my point Archie....how many older drivers do have bad driving habits? A retest and medical examination would establish just that.

[jd.linklater]

It sounds like quite a few of us have had similar near misses waiting at junctions to turn right onto a main road and it sounds like most were due to poor signalling by another driver. I've been in the same position myself but these days I always wait until the road is clear.

I was once given some sound advice by a driving instructor which has served me well.

Assume that every other driver on the road is an idiot.