Re test over 75.s

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Taken from change.com website;

My wife was killed by an 85-year-old driver who hit the accelerator instead of the brake, that’s why I’m campaigning for older drivers to undergo compulsory

On 10 November 2012, just after 8pm, I left my friends’ house in northwest London, a happily married 33-year-old father. It was then that I heard my wife, Desreen, speak her final words: ‘I’m so proud of him’ she said of our two-year-old son Jackson.

Seconds later a car mounted the pavement and struck Desreen. It was a pensioner who’d mistaken the accelerator for the brake, and was going 54 miles per hour in a 20 zone. In that moment I become a widower.

The judge who sentenced the 85-year-old driver who killed my wife said; ‘An elderly driver who knows, or should acknowledge, that he or she is losing his or her faculties is no less a danger than a drunken driver who knows the same.’

I agree, that’s why I’ve started this petition calling for people over 70 to undergo compulsory retesting to keep their driving license.

Right now when drivers turn 70 they can renew their license every three years by filling in a self assessment form. No one assesses an older person’s driving skills or reactions, no one checks their eyesight or hearing, no one sees if their reactions are still sharp enough to stop in an emergency.

I know the human cost of unfit drivers on the road and I never want anyone to go through a tragedy like the one that has destroyed my family.

So I am asking you to sign and support my petition for the Secretary of State for Transport to introduce compulsory age-appropriate retesting every three years once a driver turns 70.

Please help me with this.

Thank you,
Ben

Sign the petition on No 10 website

2

sorry for your loss mate, but not all oldies lose their faculties, i am nearly 70 still trucking across europe, and i have to renew my licence every 12 months, not 3 years, hope your petition fails miserably.

3

No point singling out the over 70s,95% of those on the road need retesting on a regular basis…how many over 70s do you see on the phone or texting whilst driving?how many under 70s do you see doing the above?

4

You have every sympathy from me for your tragic loss, an awful thing to happen.

Sorry though but i agree with the others, the old have been getting increasing flak for being old, drain on resources, drain on NHS, need umpteen millions immigrants to pay their pensions (that one is utter ■■■■■■■■), now they’re the easy target because the roads have become congested and they arn’t currently contributing (never mind that the generation concerned usually worked their socks off)…no surprise the country is grinding to a halt when you increase the population by around 300,000 every years for twenty years and for the next forseeable future is it.

I’ll take a retest every year so long as every other driver in the country does the same, age immaterial, and i’ll pay for my own so long as every other driver does too, age immaterial.

5

I think the text of the OP was cut’n’pasted from another website - I don’t think the OP has suffered the tragic loss described. If I’ve got that wrong, I apologise.

But no, I don’t agree with the premise that all drivers over a certain age should be retested. I think that all drivers should undergo regular retesting every five years or so. Not necessarily to show that they still have the ability but to remind them of the standard which their driving should achieve.

6

I agree with the posts above, how many people are killed by drivers who are much younger than 70.

I’ve said before that I’m in favour of driving re-assessments every few years, I’m not sure that it needs to be a full re-test but if it applies to everyone I won’t complain anyway.

7

Here is the petition the OP has quoted.

change.org/p/secretary-of-s … r-turns-70

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I don’t think there should be a blanket rule introduced, but some of them clearly should of hung up the keys a long time ago,and they are dangerous and a nuisance, the problem needs addressing but not in this way, those who somehow manage to hit a road sign or other street furniture, or those that drive onto a motorway on the opposite carriageway or are holding everyone else up by driving well below a 20-30mph speed limit because they are unable to drive faster, these are the types who should loose their licence and only get it back by passing an extended driving test covering at least dual carriageways

9

I will agree to an extent that a lot of elderly people should have given up driving a long time ago. Some of them are incapable of carrying out simple driving tasks such as staying in lanes or driving at appropriate speeds. Others are just down right dangerous and you wonder if they could ever drive safely in the first place!

In saying that, there are many younger people that are just as bad. I don’t just mean younger as in 17/18-24/25 year olds, people of all ages who wouldn’t be counted as OAP’s. The problem there is as well as being unable to drive properly so many are using phones, doing make up, carrying on etc;

Maybe as said above a simple refresher course every 5 or so years might be a way forward but I wouldn’t go as far as retesting.

10

This is pure guesswork, but I think you’ll find that those under seventy have more accidents than us oldies.
I’m not averse to retests/assessments, but as others have said, do it for everybody, and anyone of any age who has an accident to have a period of compulsory re-training, paid for by themselves.

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Roymondo:
I think the text of the OP was cut’n’pasted from another website - I don’t think the OP has suffered the tragic loss described. If I’ve got that wrong, I apologise.

But no, I don’t agree with the premise that all drivers over a certain age should be retested. I think that all drivers should undergo regular retesting every five years or so. Not necessarily to show that they still have the ability but to remind them of the standard which their driving should achieve.

it would never work ray , when the hgv came out we were going to be retested at i think 5 years , but then it was realised that there wasn’t the testing capacity . with the number of drivers on the road now it would be an impossibity . dave

12

I tend not to stray on this forum too often as my lorry driving was a long time ago and bears absolutely no comparison to what you guys have to put with today, by that I mean rules and regulations, tachos, trackers etc etc.
The gist of the thread of course is about older drivers and should they be on the road :question: I turned 80 Feb this year and in the same week I took a Mature Drivers Assessment with the Institute of Advanced Motorists, my examiner was an ex traffic policeman(rtd), the assessment lasted an hour, city, dual carriageway(no Mways here) and B roads, also a manoeuvring stint, general chat along the way but no reference to my driving which was discussed on debrief at the end of the run.
Living in the north I still travel south a few times a year and some of the capers I see some so called lorry drivers perform :open_mouth: . I will always give way(headlight flash) on dual carriageways and Mways for lorries wanting to pull out for overtake, some acknowledge, some don’t, some pull out with an I’m bigger than you mate, the bad are in the minority, probably on average a couple of times on a trip between Inverness and the M40/M5 regions.
Yes there are some bloody daft old buggers that should not be driving(cars), also middle lane hoggers who are not old :angry: I post the result of my assessment, not perfect, but I have taken on board my examiners advice, for example give parked cars a wider berth (a open doors width) cyclists, a falling off width and you know what some of the 2s I got were inherent from bus and lorry driving, like changing down through the gears approaching r/abouts and junctions etc, no hand brake on and in neutral at traffic lights, crossing hands on wheel when manoeuvring. I know I am not as sharp as I used to be, hence the reason for the assessment so I intend to do them annually until advised otherwise :slight_smile:
Oily

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I am over 70, just passed the medical again so good for another year. This has been the case every year since I turned 65, so I would not agree with the re test of drivers, but i might agree with a medical examination with a fields test thrown in as part of the sight test. This would make more sense, age is not a definer, physical condition is.