Taking the elderly off the road

CurtisG

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CurtisG
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It’s a really tough one.

I’d have to say I’d support a retest every 5 years for everyone across the board.

Even worse than old people driving but is young lads in tractors. Round the Ballyclare/Ballymena area it’s atrocious and someone is going get killed or seriously hurt.
 

Jbridges522

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same rules to moting a classic car, 95% wouldn’t pass in a million years but they are grand for all the speed and far they go lol
 

Coog

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Pete should have added a caveat at the start to state, quite clearly, that obviously everyone on RMS is an 'absolute pilot'.

And that the process the DVLA should follow is to ask the following questions to determine whether you need a retest or not:

- Age (obviously because old people are a dose)
- RMS user ID
- Dot code on all your tyres including spare. Not allowed to go outside to check, must know them off by heart.
- Preference on number plate format
- DSG or manual

Based on the answers above we can then determine if the driver is in fact a complete menace to society, or an absolute pilot of weapons grade quality.
 

Mel_45

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Mel_45
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A retest every 5 years or whatever sounds good in principle but that's about it IMO.

You fail so your license is revoked, great now you have to get to work for x number of weeks untill you can regain your licence. The taxi (if you can even get one) you use works OK for a few days but then they fail the test, you go for the bus if you can even get one, but the bus driver failed the test. Rinse and repeat several times over and it isn't long before the whole place is slowly grinding to a halt.
 

Gambit

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Gambit
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Chris Mac said:
What you have to remember is that there are still people on the road who have never done a driving test.
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i dont think thats as big a factor as made out, good example of that is my da, never had to do a driving test and was driving daily all his life, and never involved in a single accident....but the past few years (he's 84 now) his driving has went downhill - just now overly cautious/reaction times etc. 2 factors:-
1. Dementia kicking in so wont leave house generally anymore
2. Not leaving house = not driving as much

but like anything in life if you stop doing it as frequently, stop altogether, eventually you become worse at it/forget how to do it. and that's not age related imo or driving specific
 

gary1365

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gary1365
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limavady
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e60 320d
Is it bad that could actually tell you the year code on all 5 of my tyres.

Not the week code obviously that would be silly.

Around evening church service times you see some atrocious antics around up here by the elderly. I also see plenty of dodgy young drivers too. Not looking where they're going or acting the wab doing 60 in built up areas.

My dad is 64 and his driving is dead on. But he's an ex police man and drove armoured land rovers and cars round the country for years.
 

DJMCA

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DJMCA
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Il give my 20ps worth and then leave...

Age is irrelevant imo. In my last job i was on the road all day every day, did thousands of miles per year, thankfully in this job i am based a few miles from the house therefore drive the same short stretch of road everyday.

I have to say that regardless of whether you do thousands or a few miles unfortunately you still experience absolute **** wits at nearly every corner. Young and old. Genuinely i would say the balance of young and old drivers that are **** is about 50/50.

A retest every 5 years is not practicable or logical when you start to look at logistics. Afterall, we do live in a country that for the last few years has had a mess of a vehicle and driver testing system
 

Shannonsir

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I wouldn't narrow this down to age as a means to measure someone's ability to drive. I see terrible driving everyday across the full age spectrum, and on equal levels in many cases. A nervous wreck on the road aged 18 drives as badly as a nervous wreck on the road ages 80.. and everyone in-between. The standard of driving in general appears to be diminishing but then that's probably just because the roads as busier and there is more challengers to deal with on a daily basis.
 

gary1365

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gary1365
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limavady
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DJMCA said:
Il give my 20ps worth and then leave...

Age is irrelevant imo. In my last job i was on the road all day every day, did thousands of miles per year, thankfully in this job i am based a few miles from the house therefore drive the same short stretch of road everyday.

I have to say that regardless of whether you do thousands or a few miles unfortunately you still experience absolute **** wits at nearly every corner. Young and old. Genuinely i would say the balance of young and old drivers that are **** is about 50/50.

A retest every 5 years is not practicable or logical when you start to look at logistics. Afterall, we do live in a country that for the last few years has had a mess of a vehicle and driver testing system
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It was a mess 19 years ago when I did my test. Was supposed to do it early in the year. It was cancelled due to strikes and couldn't get another until August. If I failed I was in for a very long wait. Obviously I passed first time because I'm an absolute pilot 🤣
 

Boydie

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Chris Mac said:
What you have to remember is that there are still people on the road who have never done a driving test.
There are medical occasions where elderly have to sity a test, I'd agree that there should be a manditory test taken at 70 then 75 then 80 etc.....
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*cough reverse donut granny cough cough*
 

gary1365

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gary1365
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Just leave this here 🤣
Screenshot_20230504_142054_Chrome.jpg
 

impact

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impact
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Looking forward to the "I had to sell my 2 door lowered car to buy a Renault Kadjar so I could ferry my mum about for next 20 years because she can't pass the theory test, fking nanny state" thread
 

GrantR

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19th hole
Snoopcousins said:
In the same way that Police can refer/ report drivers to the DVLA for their licence to be reviewed …can Dr’s not refer them? Would make sense if they could …

The way it is atm is that DVLA have to wait until they have evidence of impaired /Ropey driving due to age/medical reasons before reviewing
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Nope I can only advise that they shouldn't be driving and should contact DVLA for further assessment. If I was to report them I'd be breaking patient confidentiality and there are significant legal implications for this.

Unless there's a massive public danger implication and your indemnity provider is willing to back you up in court only then can you consider breaching patient confidentiality.

Often people exaggerate their symptoms and what they don't realise it suddenly means they can't drive for 6/12 months they then backtrack 🤷‍♂️
 

c_rad

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Rover Repair said:
Age isn't the issue. It's driving standards. I did my test 24 years ago and havnt had to redo another since. Now I've done additional stuff with jobs etc, but surely you should be expected some kind of driver ability every 25 years at a minimum.

Also you need to start throwing out jail sentences for dangerous driving, unlegal cars, all sorts. 4 bald tyres? 5k fine or 500 hours of community service and 50 days in jail. Make people think twice about it.
Click to expand...

I was rear ended while stationary at 50mph at a junction into another car turning across the road. I shouldn't be made to take a test again due to someone's absolute stupidity. They were also on their phone at the time, didn't even brake just cleaved into me.
 

Ian A

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Ian A
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I was rear-ended in February this year by an older guy, who frankly shouldn't have been driving. His car was a mess with marks and bumps, and actually commented "not again" when he got out of the car.

Luckily I was only a bit sore, and car (although wrote off in the end) was saved by a the towbar and still usable. If it weren't my old runabout Passat, I'd have been livid.

Thinking that mandatory repeat driving test could avoid this, absolute no brainer.
 

andy9eleven

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andy9eleven
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Isn't Walter Rohrl still an official Porsche test driver at 76?!

No one size fits all solution. Over 80s probably worth looking at. A lot of 70s folk are still very sharp though, provided they're not ill.

My father had to take a driving assessment in his 70s due to illness, in order to retian his licence. The first time I drove him up to Belfast for it he passed the medical part but wasn't able to move enough to walk out to the car to sit the practical.

So we came back another day and he did the practical and passed. We hid the keys after that.
 

407_hdi

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407_hdi
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My dad will be 80 this year and he is still very competent and confident in the car. He doesn’t chitter when he’s driving and just focuses, always been the same. I’d rather sit in the car with him than most young drivers
 
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