Elderly should be tested for fitness to drive, say insurers
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent
DRIVERS aged 70 and older are three times as likely to be killed or seriously injured in a road crash as those aged between 40 and 65, according to an insurance industry report that calls for tougher restrictions on elderly motorists.
The casualty rate remains steady for drivers in their forties, fifties and early sixties, but starts to rise sharply once they reach 65.
The Association of British Insurers studied police crash reports and found that nine drivers aged 70 and over were killed or seriously injured for every 100 million miles driven by that age group. That compares with three deaths or serious injuries among drivers aged 40 to 65.
Elderly drivers have slightly more crashes per mile than middle-aged drivers and tend to be more frail and less likely to recover from injuries. They are also more likely to be in cars hit from the side at high speed at junctions.
The association studied thousands of insurance claims and found that elderly drivers tended to have poorer judgment when pulling out at junctions and roundabouts, and were more likely to have crashes involving several vehicles.
In a report to be presented at a road-safety seminar today, the association urges the Government to identify “unfit drivers” promptly and revoke their licences. It wants the DVLA to hasten the introduction of cognitive tests and eye examinations for elderly drivers, who can carry on driving indefinitely simply by filling out a self-assessment form declaring themselves fit to drive.
The association argues that safe elderly drivers are being penalised with high insurance premiums because there is no effective way of weeding out those whose fading faculties have made them dangerous.
Justin Jacobs, its head of motor insurance, said that insurers, who typically raise premiums by £100 for drivers aged 70 and over, would offer cheaper rates if elderly people were subject to more rigorous tests.
The proportion of people aged over 70 with a licence has risen from 15 per cent in 1975 to 47 per cent in 2004. The association estimates that a quarter of all drivers will be over 70 by 2050, up from 9 per cent today. It wants local authorities to spend more on telling elderly people about public transport options available to them.
Since April, anyone aged 60 or over has been eligible for a free bus pass for local buses. From 2008, they will get free bus travel across Britain. The association acknowledged that bus passes were of use only to those who lived near a stop with a regular service.
Research commissioned by the DVLA found widespread abuse of the self-certification system for drivers aged 70 and over. Only 10 per cent of people with notifiable conditions were admitting to them.
STILL LICENSED
Joan Gordon, 86, was allowed to keep her licence after causing vehicles to swerve out of her path as she drove the wrong way down the A1 near Alnwick, in Northumberland. She told a court last week that she needed her licence to ferry other elderly people about and to visit her son in Surrey. She was fined £225 with eight penalty points
John Orr, 83, of Motherwell, became confused after leaving a motorway in May 2001 and drove the wrong way round a roundabout near Falkirk, narrowly missing a lorry. Mr Orr kept his licence but was given six penalty points and fined £75
Annie Dunlop, 76, damaged five cars, a bus and a camper van because she forgot her hearing aid and did not hear her engine revving. Mrs Dunlop, of Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross, told a court in 2002 that it was her first crash in almost 60 years of driving. When her car kept accelerating, she thought that she must be skidding. She was ordered to have a driving lesson to assess her ability
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