Older car drivers

[tyred]

The standard driving test proves very little imo.

The medical profession need to be more pro-active in removing licences from people who have eyesight or re-actions which clearly fall far short of the standard required. I know people who have passed medicals as fit to drive (over 70s) and they are half blind and have the reflexes of a comatose tortoise.

For the people of any age with all their faculties intact, it is up to police to weed out the persistent law breakers.

 

[CopperCyclist]

People need to take responsibility for their own standard of driving, whether young, old, whatever. The reason behind the bad driving only matters so much as the question can be asked 'Can I change this?'. If the old man in your case knocked your friend off because he didn't anticipate the road narrowing, and if he had simply improved his concentration and driving the accident would have been avoided, then he doesn't need to lose his licence. If he knocked your friend off because he couldn't see him due to failing eyesight, or confusion due to mental failings brought on by age, then it's a medical matter and he shouldn't be driving.

Did you report it? If the police felt it was a medical issue, they can refer him to his doctor suggesting his licence should be revoked, and it's then the GP's decision as to whether that happens - not even a court case. One of the simpler bits of paperwork to do as well, only one page. If its not a medical issue then I'd suggest he needs to be dealt with as any other bad driver - anything from advice, through driver improvement schemes to court, as is appropriate to the circumstances.

 

[bof]

Getting elderly drivers who are past it to stop can be an issue.

My wife and her siblings had it with the Mother-in-Law (in Holland not the UK). The solution in the end was for one of her sons to drive the car to the other end of the country as the idiot doctor would not state she was unfit to drive. Ironically apparently she had the same misgiving about the aged grandparents and told her own kids when they were young never to get in the car with them. A work colleague had to "grass up" his mum as a danger and as you can imagine this did not lead to family harmony.

Actually my last "close encounter" was with an elderly driver. I got eye contact, I thought, at a mini roundabout but he still pulled out in front of me just as I was turning right. I caught up at lights a bit further and when I remonstrated, his daughter, I'd guess, said "He's said sorry" - which I hadn't heard - and I replied along the lines he should stop driving. I suppose I should have taken his number and reported the incident - but of course I thought about that a few seconds too late.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Actually in my experience many elderly drivers are extremely careful and aware of their actions. I see way more incidents and near misses caused by speeding impatient irresponsible people who are not 'classed as' elderly. Just because the younger and middle aged generations are moving at the speed of light does not make them safe.

 

[snailracer]

People are not taught how to drive. They are taught how to pass a test. I doubt testing would do much unless it tested everything.

It would also have to test the driver's attitude, which is rather difficult. I know many drivers who have no difficulty passing a driving test or a medical, but are a complete liability behind the wheel because they choose to drive irresponsibly.

 

[Over The Hill]

But as it is, they still think they are ok, and there's no mechanism to stop them at all, unless they have an accident serious enough to involve authority, by which time, it's maybe too late.

No system will be perfect, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try and make things better than they are!

I agree with what you say and we should do what we can to make sure those not up to driving do not drive. This is true of all ages but is often an issue as people age and lose their ability. This is perhaps hard for them to judge themselves so it is often brought up by others and rarely gets to the point of an accident (illustrated by their very low insurance premiums).

The nature of the problem with old people is not addressed by a periodic test. They could go down hill the week after the test or be the same for three years. My worry is that if you give them a bit of paper saying they are OK and come back in three years time they them may take it that they are OK for three more years.

As it is most have family around them, doctors and other support and their own judgement. Usually from my experience they stop at about the right time. There is always then a problem with others that perhaps will not stop driving as is is an admission of getting old and those around them let them carry on. I agree a test may highlight some of these but only if the test comes along at the right moment.

With technology today it would seem fairly easy to set up a computer program to test people so that it was easy to test them say monthly.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

...

With technology today it would seem fairly easy to set up a computer program to test people so that it was easy to test them say monthly.

and how do you plan to introduce them to computers?

just curious because my grandfather is 90, still has his license and well even a digital camera is an issue - the TV he can just about handle, if it is left how he knows it, he can get from digital channels to freeview and to PVR/internal HDD recorder. He can just about manage email, but don't suggest it is an "email account" - he hasn't signed up for anything that he knows about, we had to do it for him and therefore insists it is not an account. My in-laws can more or less manage email (in their 70's), basic internet but if it wants to install a new version of flash/shockwave etc it involves a phone call to check it is OK or they wait until we are next over to ask. My mother in her 60's borderline - doubt she could pass anything on a computer though I frequently get round robin emails from her, so she can pass those on.

 

[Lance Jack]

Cut and paste from the AA website but interesting reading.

• In 1971 13% of the population was over 65 and 7% of those were over 85. By 2009 17% were over 65 and 12% of these over 85, and the population had grown. The proportion of older people with driving licences has risen from 15 to 57% in the same period.
• One in 56 casualties among pedestrians in their 20s is fatal. This rises to one in 13 among the over 80s. The same applies to drivers rising from 1 in 141 to 1 in 38.
• Drivers over 80 are two and a half times as likely to be killed in a collision as drivers in their forties but are less likely to be seriously injured.
• Older driver deaths and serious injuries are falling – but not as much as all casualties. This is probably because the number of older drivers is increasing steadily as the population ages.
• Drivers over 70 are as safe as drivers of 25. Drivers over 80 are less safe, but still safer than drivers in their teens.
• More than 50% of drivers over 75 say they leave longer following distances, are more cautious, and avoid heavy traffic and long trips compared with when they were 50. Many also avoid night driving, motorways and drive more slowly.
• Older pedestrians face the same problems as older drivers. In 2009 155 pedestrians over 70 were killed crossing the road, compared with 37 child pedestrians. Getting older drivers out of cars does not ensure their safety on the road.
• Older drivers are involved in very few drink-drive or single vehicle accidents which are much more likely among

 

[Salis]

A problem with saying to older drivers "You're no longer safe to drive" is that suddenly, and involuntarily, having your ability to travel taken away from you is a major and shocking event, with research showing that in many cases it sends people into serious depression. Suddenly having your ability to travel taken away from you isn't that different from being locked up, in some cases.

What's needed more than anything is a shift in our society so that people have (and perceive) more options for getting around than just cars. Amenities like doctors' surgeries and shops are often placed on the assumption that people will drive there; public transport is eroded (especially in rural areas); various levels of government and the legal system regularly send the message that driving is the proper way to get around... As long as this massive set of pressures is in place, it will never be as easy as just telling people they can no longer drive. There need to be proper alternatives, is what I'm saying in a roundabout sort of way.

 

[Over The Hill]

and how do you plan to introduce them to computers?

just curious because my grandfather is 90, still has his license and well even a digital camera is an issue - the TV he can just about handle, if it is left how he knows it, he can get from digital channels to freeview and to PVR/internal HDD recorder. He can just about manage email, but don't suggest it is an "email account" - he hasn't signed up for anything that he knows about, we had to do it for him and therefore insists it is not an account. My in-laws can more or less manage email (in their 70's), basic internet but if it wants to install a new version of flash/shockwave etc it involves a phone call to check it is OK or they wait until we are next over to ask. My mother in her 60's borderline - doubt she could pass anything on a computer though I frequently get round robin emails from her, so she can pass those on.

It is an issue, and the short answer is I don't know. But I did not really think it would be done on a home computer.
My line of thought was that a re-test off at the driving test centre (20 miles away) was a bit of big thing and was costly and so would be done too infrequently to be any good. It was just the thought that if it could be as simple as popping in the chemist then it could be done cheaply and often. Bit like an arcade game with tests of reaction time etc. Then there is the problem of someone else taking the test for them!! So perhaps I am not onto a winner here.

 

[Rezillo]

At least older drivers appear to be aware that cars come with little orange lights that can be turned on and off to show other people which way they intend to turn. Everyone else seems to assume I'm psychic.