Should there be compulsory driving retests for senior citizens (OAPs)?

Question

Its Sunday so many are on the roads visiting their families, thus I came across a LOT of appalling senior citizen driving today:

A lady who was so intent on peering at her speedo to stay exactly on 29mph that she mounted a grass verge going through a village. Had it been a kerb she'd have bounced across into the other lane.

A driver who hit his brakes every time a car went past in the opposite direction. He was so afraid of the oncoming cars that on a stretch of road marked for 40mph, he was doing 25mph.

On the motorway, a man pulled out in front of me while I was in the fast lane, with just a cars distance between us. I had to slam my brakes on then sit behind him while he overtook at crawling speed.

I've huge respect for OAPs, but they can be a danger to themselves and others on the roads. Anyone else think retests should be mandatory every 5 years over the age of 70? I'm aware that for many its their only way of getting around, but its dangerous to others on the road.

Answer 1

Yes......................

Of traffic fatalities involving older drivers, 82 percent happened in the daytime, 71 percent occurred on weekdays, and 75 percent involved a second vehicle.

Answer 2

Absolute RUBBISH

The under 25 age-group of drivers are the most likely to be involved in an accident. In my experience, it is within THIS age group that you find the most reckless drivers who have no regard for other road users.

If you want to consider re-testing drivers, then it is those who cause accidents who should be targeted rather than just discriminating against a section of the population by virtual of their age.

Answer 3

maby a better idea would be to have a retest of everyone of any age who is found guilty of any traffic violation of any sort even a parking violation. these all show a complete disregard for the rules and laws of the usa and cannot and should not be tolerated.  at least we're free.

Answer 4

There should be mandatory retesting for every one every year.

Answer 5

65 and over , every year. They go through stop signs, have their blinkers on without making a turn, go 15 in a 55 mph zone, back up without looking, can't see at night...the list goes on and on. If teenagers drove like old people, they would up the driving age to 25.

Answer 6

I am sixty next year and can drive as well if not better than a lot of younger folk.I was 18 when I started driving and touch wood have never had an accident yet. I drive to the conditions of the road and the speed limit hence having survived on the road this long.

If you want to go down that path of retests it should be for all every five years.

Also how many young drivers pass the test then think they are Lewis Hamilton.

You are taught how to pass a test not how to drive,You start to learn after,Even though I am sixty I am still learning so please don't go on about older drivers,Be observant and suspect every other driver to do silly things and you wont go far wrong,I wish you safe driving and a Happy new year.

Answer 7

I believe so. When you hit a certain age, your vision, motor skills, start becoming effected. Some, more than others. This would help them realize their limitations. Though just because your over a certain age, doesn't deem you a bad driver. Especially when statistics show, that they are some of the safest drivers on the road. The worst drivers are between the ages of 16 and 25, with young men, being at the top of the list. They take unnecessary risk.

Answer 8

My personal view is that we do not do enough training or retraining of our drivers of all ages. One of my first instructors put it to me like this. " When you stop learning how to drive then you become the most dangerous person on the road." Vehicles, driving conditions and laws all change over time some for better and some for worse. This needs to be adressed in the government but it all cost money and time so don't hold your breath.

Answer 9

There is a reason most senior citizens get safe driving discounts, and that is most senior citizens are safe drivers.  There is a reason most young drivers pay surcharges, and that is because they have the highest accident rate on the road, and are several times more likely to kill or be killed while behind the wheel.  Every insurance company has statistics to prove it.  You want to test seniors, I say fine, as soon as you agree to annual tests for new drivers up to the age of 25.

~I have never been tailgated by a senior citizen, but I have had young drivers tailgate me in fog and in snowstorms.

~I have never had a senior citizen honk and yell at me to get going while I have been stopped at a cross-walk waiting for a mother with a baby to cross safely, but I have had young drivers do that.

~In winter it isn't the senior drivers who floor it in pick-up trucks and go all the way across an intersection partly sideways, wheels spinning all the way, it is young punks that think they know how to drive.

I bet you a bazillion dollars, every time you see a bad senior driver, you say to yourself "bad senior driver", but when you see a bad 40 year old driver, you just say "bad driver", and don't attach an age group.    

Yes, there are seniors who are bad drivers, but there are bad drivers in every age group.  There are 22 year old drivers who will NEVER be good drivers.  Most seniors who are bad drivers have been bad drivers for 40 years.  If you are a bad driver now, you will be a bad senior driver.  If you are a good driver now, you will be a good senior driver.  There is a reason very few senior drivers are involved in accidents during snow storms, or freezing rain.  It is because they are the group that has learned it isn't safe to drive then, so they stay safe at home and let younger people go out and get killed.

To Francis7, I too, am 60.  I wager you could pull the same trick I have pulled.  I have challenged younger "know-it-all" drivers to a race across the city.  The rules are simple.  First one to the other side of the city wins, and you can drive any route you like.  You are not allowed to break a single law, and you each have a passenger to make sure.  You do not break the speed limit, you do not do rolling stops, you do not floor it when the light turns yellow, you do not cut people off, you do not do a single discourteous thing.  In a race where neither driver breaks a single law, I have not lost once.

Agreed, kittcarson_99, young people are not taught how to be drivers.  It is far too easy to pass a driver test by merely displaying how to operate a vehicle.  Every person I taught to drive passed first time because I exposed them to city and highway, night and day traffic, rain, snow, sunny days, a little of everything, and any conditions regular driving schools do not teach, and no driver exam actually test.