Old But Gold
A new television programme focussing on elderly drivers is missing the point entirely, says Matt Joy
With a name like 100 Year Old Drivers screaming out at you from the TV listings, you know what to expect, and the programme itself didn’t fail to deliver. As you should have expected, we met a gaggle of delightful centurions and a few knocking on the door of 100, all of whom felt confident and happy behind the wheel; followed by footage of them making the odd error.
This is television of course, so there may well have been hours and hours of footage following these drivers making no errors at all, but they were left on the cutting room floor. Or maybe I’m just cynical.
The other thing we see is lots of vox pops of people saying that drivers of 100 (or even younger) are dangerous, can’t be trusted and should have their licences taken away. But we don’t see what their own driving is like – how do we know they aren’t more dangerous due to complete ineptitude?
The current legislation requires drivers over 70 to re-apply for their licence every three years, but nothing more. This is more paperwork than anything else, and doesn’t require an eye test, a physical examination or driving competency check.
Those people who are firmly in the ‘no’ camp are happy to bang their fists and demand re-tests for those 75 and over; we even meet a pair of young men who think the idea of people still being allowed to drive at 100 is just ‘wrong’. I wonder if they’d change their mind by the time they reached 80, assuming they don’t wrap their own cars around a lamppost in the meantime.
Drivers over 75 have as much right as anyone else to be behind the wheel, and in your later years a car can provide much-needed independence. Yes, there is a case to answer that the physical and mental decline that occurs with age is unavoidable, but to tar all seniors with the same brush is absurd and discriminatory; physical fitness is just one aspect of driving competence and a relatively minor one at that. Attitude, on the other hand, makes all the difference.
So to those clamouring for mandatory re-tests, I agree – partially at least. But instead of starting at 75, let’s do it properly. From the day you pass your driving test, you must have a re-test (including eye examination) every five years, whatever age you are. That’ll weed out the incompetent middle-age moaners and the over-confident youngsters and leave the better drivers – whatever their age – to enjoy safer roads. Only someone who fears failing could say no to that…
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