Old Drivers

[entwisi]

I agree absolutely Westender, I don't care if someone is 37 or 97, what I care about is if they are fit to be driving.

[mallard]

Yes i must agree there with you they should take a re test i have a mate what live,s round the corner and he gave up driveing at 60 years of age and now he is 70+ and still holds a full car licence and he won,t go back on the road now,so he got his bus pass and thats what i think o.a.p.s should do and i would like to say sorry if some of you are reading this at that age

[WillowTheWhisp]

I gave up driving when I developed vision problems. Technically and legally I can still drive but I know I'm not safe as I can't always see things approaching from the side so I could be unaware for example that something was overtaking me and I could pull out into its path.

[Eric]

Worst drivers by far are young men ... they seem only to be familiar with one pedal, the gas pedal. Most accidents are caused either by inexperience or by aggressiveness. Ontario has only recently introduced a graduated licence system; but for the elderly, after 80 they require an annual test. Not a special one, the same one that a new licence applicant has. As some have mentioned, the elderly drivers are experienced, and are usually cautious. Two big plusses. The insurance companies, who must be in the know, charge drivers under 25 more for insurance than they do drivers over 70. In Ontario, a 70 yr. old driver with a clean driving record, will probably pay only about 500 bucks a year for full coverage.

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by entwisi

I agree with Rindy and have said so on more than oen occasion on AW. retests every 5 years irrespective of age should be compulsory. It will improve teh standard of driving considerably. I see far too many poor drivers on the roads for there to be any other answer. Who would pay is one question that has been levied. It costs this country billions in lost production, health services, Police, insurance etc. A simple 1 hour test would be sufficient to test the majority of driving skills. and is not a big ask of everyone every 5 years

On the face of it re-testing every driver every few years makes sense but have you thought it through. There is always a waiting list to take a driving test now so imagine what it would do if re-tests were introduced. I reckon that test centres would have to expand by a factor of five to cope with the extra workload. If nothing else it would take years to train the extra examiners needed.

There are upwards of 10,000,000 drivers in this country so let us assume that a re-test is required every five years that would be upwards of 2,000,000 per year. Even if re-tests were carried out 7 days a week it would still mean 5,479 re-tests per day countrywide.

It just wouldn’t be practical.

Probably a better solution would be to make each new driver take an advanced driving course and test no later than 5 years after they passed the test. If they don’t take the test during that time they lose their license until they do.

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I gave up driving when I developed vision problems. Technically and legally I can still drive but I know I'm not safe as I can't always see things approaching from the side so I could be unaware for example that something was overtaking me and I could pull out into its path.

That’s why there are 3 mirrors so that you can see what is coming up behind you. Remember – mirror, signal and if clear execute.

A competent driver should not only know what is ahead but also know what is coming up behind.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by jambutty

On the face of it re-testing every driver every few years makes sense but have you thought it through. There is always a waiting list to take a driving test now so imagine what it would do if re-tests were introduced. I reckon that test centres would have to expand by a factor of five to cope with the extra workload. If nothing else it would take years to train the extra examiners needed.

There are upwards of 10,000,000 drivers in this country so let us assume that a re-test is required every five years that would be upwards of 2,000,000 per year. Even if re-tests were carried out 7 days a week it would still mean 5,479 re-tests per day countrywide.

It just wouldn’t be practical.

Probably a better solution would be to make each new driver take an advanced driving course and test no later than 5 years after they passed the test. If they don’t take the test during that time they lose their license until they do.

The same criticisms and negativity were probably levelled at the Fisher Education Act of 1918, which saw compulsory education for all children.

If you want something to happen, and it's for the good of all, you can make things happen.

The cost will be a lot less than going to war, and in this case will actually save, not end lives.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by jambutty

That’s why there are 3 mirrors so that you can see what is coming up behind you. Remember – mirror, signal and if clear execute.

A competent driver should not only know what is ahead but also know what is coming up behind.

I prefer to acknowledge my limitations.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I prefer to acknowledge my limitations.

if you had said "Know Your Limitations" would have asked fer yer autograph.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Ok, go on, tell me why!

[cashman]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

Ok, go on, tell me why!

summat "Clint Eastwood used to say in his early films. though he wasn't driving lol

[davo69]

goverment figures show that one third of road deaths involing a car a driven by 17-25 year old driver .this age group acounts for 1 in eight licence holders.so were the blame lies is not just with young drivers what about the other two thirds of deaths.young drivers are being target as i have said before in my opinion because it is a easey way for the goverment to take volume of traffic of the roads in years to come thats why test are becoming harder thats why lessons are more expensive.NOT ALL YOUNG ONES ARE BAD

[entwisi]

Originally Posted by jambutty

On the face of it re-testing every driver every few years makes sense but have you thought it through. There is always a waiting list to take a driving test now so imagine what it would do if re-tests were introduced. I reckon that test centres would have to expand by a factor of five to cope with the extra workload. If nothing else it would take years to train the extra examiners needed.

There are upwards of 10,000,000 drivers in this country so let us assume that a re-test is required every five years that would be upwards of 2,000,000 per year. Even if re-tests were carried out 7 days a week it would still mean 5,479 re-tests per day countrywide.

It just wouldn’t be practical.

Probably a better solution would be to make each new driver take an advanced driving course and test no later than 5 years after they passed the test. If they don’t take the test during that time they lose their license until they do.

heh, your figures are a bit out, ABI2006 puts number of private car owners as 25 million. It would not be unheard of to improve things that some people feel are too 'hard' .

Even taking this number 25million = 5 M/year across the 370 test centres = 40 tests per day extra. or at 45 mins each 5 extra examiners/centre. Not exactly unachieveable now is it. You would probably save nearly 5 people (traffic plod/nurses/doctors/ambulance/recovery drivers/insurance assessors) each day in reduced accidents etc.

See, think things through and its not that hard to come up with workable solutions.

[Ianto.W.]

Originally Posted by mallard

Yes i must agree there with you they should take a re test i have a mate what live,s round the corner and he gave up driveing at 60 years of age and now he is 70+ and still holds a full car licence and he won,t go back on the road now,so he got his bus pass and thats what i think o.a.p.s should do and i would like to say sorry if some of you are reading this at that age

Got to agree mallard, did the same thing myself, still have a full licence but wild horses would not get me behind a steering wheel again. Not only do I not drive I feel unsafe with other drivers, everyone drives far to fast for safety these days.

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by entwisi

heh, your figures are a bit out, ABI2006 puts number of private car owners as 25 million. It would not be unheard of to improve things that some people feel are too 'hard' .

Even taking this number 25million = 5 M/year across the 370 test centres = 40 tests per day extra. or at 45 mins each 5 extra examiners/centre. Not exactly unachieveable now is it. You would probably save nearly 5 people (traffic plod/nurses/doctors/ambulance/recovery drivers/insurance assessors) each day in reduced accidents etc.

See, think things through and its not that hard to come up with workable solutions.

My figures were conservative so as not to weight my point in favour of it. My original guesstimate was 20 million full driving license holders.

I’m assuming that your figure of 370 test centres is a correct one so 5,000,000 extra re-tests would mean 13,513 per centre. Ignoring Sundays and Bank Holidays that would be about 310 days per year or 44 re-tests per day per centre. Even if a re-test took 45 minutes there would still be some 15 minutes ‘change over’ time. Even examiners are entitled to a break - by law.

However all that apart how long would it take to train 1,850 extra examiners to the required standard? It certainly couldn’t be done in a few months. More like a few years. How much does an examiner earn? Well it is advertised that a driving instructor can earn £30K so taking that as a yardstick it would cost a minimum of over half a billion quid just to provide the extra examiners not forgetting the cost of the test centres expansion to cope with the extra staff. I doubt if you would get much change out of TWO BILLION QUID.

It all sounds nice in theory but the reality of the situation is that it would be too expensive to set up even if the incompetent civil servants could actually do so without cocking things up.

I reckon the government would rather keep on increasing the duty on fuel and Road Fund License and price many drivers off the road that way. Fewer cars, fewer accidents.