Car Accidents > News
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Re-Testing For Elderly Motorists Will Not Reduce Road Accidents
Wed, 14 Apr 2010

Elderly motorists are among the safest drivers in the UK, according to a new report by the RAC Foundation .

The motoring group said older drivers should not be forced to retake the driving test as their safety record is better than that of many young drivers, and it would do little to prevent road accidents from occurring.

It added that introducing mandatory re-testing could break equality legislation and will limit elderly drivers' mobility.

RAC director professor Stephen Glaister said: "Despite the myths, older drivers are no less safe than other age groups. It is in everybody’s interest to keep older people mobile for as long as they are safe to do so."

He added: "They should be encouraged to do refresher training where the evidence shows it has benefits. But they should see this as an offer of help, not a compulsory measure which will leave them fearful of losing their licence and becoming increasingly housebound."

The report also revealed that more than half of over-70s (53 per cent) hold a driving licence (3.7 million), and 63 per cent of over-70s travel by car, either as a driver or passenger.

It also found that the number of elderly drivers is set to rise over the coming decade and therefore called for additional measures to be put in place to help accommodate their needs.

According to the RAC, these should include larger lettering on road signs so that elderly motorists have less difficulty reading them.

Mr Glaister explained: "Fatal accidents involving older drivers generally occur in daylight, at junctions and at low speeds. Interacting with other traffic at junctions is the main risk for older drivers, particularly when turning right across traffic."

"Improvements such as consistently clear and unambiguous signage across the road network would help."
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.