Elderly drivers: Confused.com put OAPs to the test
Elderly motorists have been urged to take extra driving lessons to “improve road safety” skills as experts call for new testing rules.
Seb Goldin, CEO of RED Driver Training has suggested refresher courses could help older motorists to “brush up” on training.
He feels the courses will help “prioritise safety” on UK roads but make sure elderly road users are not targeted with tough new rules.
It comes after a leading expert has backed calls for older road users to face a new driving test.
Data has revealed a massive surge in the number of people contacting the DVLA worried about a driver’s ability behind the wheel.
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Goldin said: “The conversation around the safety of older drivers on our roads and whether they should be retested at a certain age continues to rumble on.
“It’s a conversation with multiple layers of emotion that risks grouping a significant proportion of the UK’s drivers in a category that is deeming them unfit – and that’s certainly not what we want to do.
“But we do need to prioritise safety on our roads at all times.”
According to the BBC, a massive 48,754 concerns over road users fitness were submitted to the DVLA in 2022.
This was up a whopping 82 percent on the 26,717 reports which were filed just a year before.
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During the first three months of 2023, there were another 11,548 disclosures, suggesting the numbers could well be higher this year.
Prof Charles Musselwhite has published a report suggesting elderly drivers were not more dangerous and were simply over-represented in collision data.
However, he has still suggested that the concept of a driving test or medical check for older road users was “probably a good idea”.
Instead, Goldin has suggested lessons could provide a healthy alternative which would not put all older drivers in the same boat.
He added: “We encourage all drivers to take refresher lessons during their lifetime.
“Be it a confidence-builder for someone who’s been involved in a traffic incident, a skills brush-up for those who have been out of the driving seat for a little while or even just the average driver ensuring they haven’t slipped into bad habits since passing their test, refresher courses only serve to improve road safety and attitudes towards driving.
“By encouraging lifelong learning, drivers remain astute and don’t slip into lazy habits, while also not forcing them to retest just because they’ve reached a certain age demographic.”
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