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PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2005 18:27 
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Excuse my first post if I am in the wrong forum but this could be regarded as a campaign.

Did anyone see Tonight with Trevor McDonald on Monday 9th May? It featured the issue of drivers over 70 being potentially unsafe due to their age. They tested 4 OAP's and found that 3 of them would have failed a standard driving test.

This doesn't surprise me at all as I see elderly drivers quite often either driving way too slow for the situation (eg joining a motorway) or just wandering across lanes without looking. My dad, who's 65 and has always been a confident driver, has admitted that he can no longer drive on unfamiliar roads as it takes him too long to read and take in road signs. He ends up slowing right down at very inconvenient places just to read a sign and decide which way to go. But, at least he has admitted the effects of age on his driving (after a lot of comments from me!).

Some are saying its discriminating against the elderly to make them sit re-tests but I think they should for their own sake, not mention other road users, as they often don't realise they are driving badly. There are plenty of safe and competent eldery drivers but there are also too many unsafe and incompetent drivers.

That said, there are also plenty of unsafe and incompetent younger and middle aged drivers so I think retests should be compulsory for everyone, perhaps at 10-15 year intervals - obviously more frequent for the OAP's.

Is anyone aware of this campaign to make OAP's have compulsory re-tests? - or am I getting it mixed up with the health checks

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4390015.stm

What do you think of re-tests? I'm sure we're all competent drivers here - no need to worry!


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 Post subject: Governemt Guide Lines
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 14:51 
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Pensioners may well be banned from driving just for being pensioners.

Let's face it, the government know that OAPs don't get a lot of money in their pensions and can therefore not readily stand the "stand & deliver" penalties of £60 a time for exceeding the posted speed limit by a few MPH.

The only really want younger people on the roads who have the right sorts of ready cash for their power-pissed regulatory teams. They don't want pensioners pleading poverty clogging up the 'due process'

If it waddles, looks like a duck and goes "quack" - it's probably a duck!

If it's a scam, looks like highway robbery and feels like you're being thieved off of - it probably is legalised extrotion!

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Although I used to consider myself to be a "reasonable man", the law just sees me as a criminal... My uncontrolled anti-social activities solely include the undeniable fact I usually drive my car at or just below the 85th percentile.


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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2005 09:51 
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LJ wrote:
Some are saying its discriminating against the elderly to make them sit re-tests but I think they should for their own sake, not mention other road users, as they often don't realise they are driving badly. There are plenty of safe and competent eldery drivers but there are also too many unsafe and incompetent drivers.

Careful now, next year that comment may well be illegal (that's when age discrimination becomes unlawful). As you say, there are plenty of competent elderly drivers, and I say there are plenty of youngsters who are unsafe and incompetent. I have nothing against regular "check-rides" (say every two years, as they do in the world of aviation) for all, but I am against blatant ageism.
LJ wrote:
That said, there are also plenty of unsafe and incompetent younger and middle aged drivers so I think retests should be compulsory for everyone, perhaps at 10-15 year intervals - obviously more frequent for the OAP's.

Standard "check-rides" should cover the driving skills, so more frequent retests should not be necessary. However, medical fitness is another matter. Again from aviation, the system should require your doctor to declare that he knows of no medical reason for you not to drive. For the private pilot's license, that's one declaration to accompany your license application that lasts until you're 50 and then regular declarations from your doctor at intervals that reduce with increasing age (IIRC, annual from age 60 onward).

JMHO,

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