Over 70s face driving curfews

Thought this might be of interest taken from Auto Express

Drivers over the age of 70 with certain medical conditions could be subject to limits such as night-time curfews and restrictions on how far they could travel in return for keeping their licences.
The proposals were discussed by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and the charity Driving Mobility, and could see motorists with conditions such as dementia, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, and insulin-treated diabetes have trackers fitted to their cars, restricting both the times at which they were allowed to drive, and the distances away from home they could travel.

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  Should elderly drivers be forced to take retests?
  

Under current rules, motorists must renew their licences with the DVLA when they hit 70, declaring if they have conditions and illnesses that affect their ability to drive. Those suffering from such conditions can see their licence renewals declined, losing their ability to drive.
Discussions between DVLA and Driving Mobility, however, suggest that instead of a total loss of their licences, older motorists could face certain restrictions, such as only being allowed to drive during daylight hours, and being limited to traveling within 20 or 30 miles of their homes.
The discussions, reported by the Sunday Times, could result in greater freedom for older drivers with certain medical conditions, whose cars could be fitted with telematics devices, similar to those younger drivers with ‘black box’ insurance policies have. In addition to night-time and distance restrictions, older drivers would, like black-box policyholders, have their braking, acceleration and cornering forces measured by the devices, with authorities being alerted if they exhibit worrying driving behaviour. Combined, the restrictions would amount to ‘graduated driving licences’, an idea usually associated with younger drivers. 

The Sunday Times reports that Edward Trewhella, chief executive of Driving Mobility, said: “A lot of older drivers stick within their own locality — they go to the shop, the doctor’s surgery, go and see a granddaughter down the road, probably on minor roads with which they are familiar.” Trewhella said the proposals “would regularise that, and make it legal for them to do so as long as they didn’t take a trip outside of an area or outside of a time restriction. That would mean that they were driving safely within their familiar environment.”
The proportion of over 70s with driving licences has doubled over the last 25 years. Driving provides a social and cultural lifeline for many people in this age group, particularly those living in rural areas, or who have conditions that make accessing public transport difficult. There are concerns, however, that while fatalities for most age groups have remained stable in recent years, the over 70s have witnessed a steep climb in this regard.  
Figures from some police forces, meanwhile, indicate as many as 30 per cent of over 70s with ‘notifiable’ medical conditions fail to inform the DVLA of them, as they are required to by law. Department for Transport Data analysed by the Sunday Times shows over 70s are more likely to be involved in collisions where the cause is listed as “driver failed to look properly”, “driver failed to judge other person’s path or speed”, “poor turn or manoeuvre”, and “driver illness or disability, mental or physical”.


Edmund King, president of the AA, said authorities should tread “very, very carefully before introducing restrictions” as the loss of a driving licence can result in severe loneliness among older people, a privation that has been shown to be as damaging to health as smoking. King added that doctors and other medical professions should ensure they report notifiable medical conditions.

"Discussions between DVLA and Driving Mobility, however, suggest that instead of a total loss of their licences, older motorists could face certain restrictions, such as only being allowed to drive during daylight hours, and being limited to traveling within 20 or 30 miles of their homes.
The discussions, reported by the Sunday Times, could result in greater freedom for older drivers with certain medical conditions, whose cars could be fitted with telematics devices..."


I think the above section is the key. The restrictions are an alternative to some people losing their licences and, therefore, would seem to be a good thing.

One thing that doesn't seem to get a mention is that a very high percentage of accidents occur locally. These restrictions would still allow those local accidents to happen, whilst not allowing long distance trips where accidents rarely happen. In effect, allowing the very thing that they are suggesting they're trying to stop. And, of course I realise that the reason there are so many accidents where a driver is local is because most driving, for most people, is done within 20/30 miles of home.

Is this the start of the 1st of April stories

I would like to see the data on which this is based, eg number of accidents and locations, numbers of drivers in each age group and locations. If a driver has a health condition which could affect driving safety that's one thing, blanket restrictions based on age is another.

Askit wrote:Is this the start of the 1st of April stories

I would like to see the data on which this is based, eg number of accidents and locations, numbers of drivers in each age group and locations. If a driver has a health condition which could affect driving safety that's one thing, blanket restrictions based on age is another.

There's no mention of blanket restrictions on age is there?  They state "with certain medical conditions".

As said above, this could be a good thing as it restricts the driving licence rather than completely removing it.

I've seen people driving (who were obviously well over 70) having to squint over the steering wheel and driving in a manner that really shouldn't have been allowed out on the road.  Usually those people tend not to drive at night anyway because they can't see well enough and it scares them.

I think people need to be honest about this and not kid themselves that getting older doesn't happen and with it comes a lessening ability to carry out certain tasks, especially with ill health.  It comes to us all after all. It's not being horrible, just a reality unfortunately.

In some cases selling the car is better and using the money from that and insurance etc to simply use taxi's to get around.  For most it would actually probably work out cheaper.

looks like its easy to see where this is coming from.
I put this on Motorhomecraic and this is the Irish way

Currently, in The RoI, the following restrictions can apply if a doctor ticks the appropriate box(s) on the Driving Licence Medical Report Form which must be completed for ALL drivers aged 70 or over plus drivers of any age applying for truck or bus licences.

limited to day-time driving (one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset)
limited to journeys within a radius of 30 km from the holder’s place of residence.
limited to journeys with a speed not greater than 80 km/h

That would seriously reduce my Quality of life!  I am 76 and a diabetic on insulin.  But my sugar levels are stable and well within limits.
I still drive about 12,000 miles per year in my 2 litre BMW plus about 2-3.000 in my MH.  I regularly drive over 200 miles in a day.
Total mileage in 59 years is 1.3 Million miles No Accidents and no convictions ever!
For me the most important factor in safe driving is situational awareness, and immediately I sense that that is slipping I will happily surrender my license as clean as it’s always been. It’s a matter of personal pride.

TF

Hi  

One think strikes me about all this, why the over 70s?  Surely there are many  people under 70 with medical conditions that are borderline loss of licence. Shouldn’t they have the same opportunity to keep a  “limited” licence?

Tigerfish wrote:Total mileage in 59 years is 1.3 Million miles No Accidents and no convictions ever!

Exactly and there are many under 70s with an atrocious driving record. In my view  attitude is much more important than age.

Brod

The difficulty is, how do you measure attitude? I would suggest that any such change in licencing should extend across all age groups and be graduated depending upon an offence or totted up offences, limiting the worst and repeat offenders to such restrictions as and when they're allowed to drive again. That way, when they get their licence back they'll have the restrictions limiting their activities and reminding them constantly, rather than getting it back and then carrying on as before

In other words the Status Quo!  The existing system already does that. What is actually required is more effective enforcement!
I was a Police Officer for 30 years and almost every day dealt with poor driving standards- often by Stern advice!  It worked then and could do so again.

TF