Car licensing system for old people 'outdated'

The government is being called upon to monitor elderly drivers more closely.

A spokesman for the RAC Foundation has suggested that the current licensing system is 'outdated' and has called for motorists over the age of 70 to undergo some form of independent verification before being declared fit to drive.

Under current rules, drivers over 70 can certify themselves as capable of getting behind the wheel by declaring themselves able to drive. However, Kevin Delaney, the RAC?s road safety expert, has pointed to a number of recent accidents involving elderly drivers, The Western Mail reports.

The former Metropolitan Police traffic chief criticised the current system, which is based on trust. He claimed that pensioners were unlikely to be objective about their ability to drive, particularly as many Brits retire to remote areas with poor public transport links or are unwilling to give up their independence.

Mr Delaney and South Wales Police's road safety officer Sergeant Nigel Whitehouse told the newspaper that there is a growing case for requiring drivers over 70 to undergo medical tests in order to ascertain their fitness to drive. They called on elderly drivers to have their health and vision checked regularly and urged the government to implement a system of testing for drivers over 70.

Mr Delaney said: "When you become 70 and there is a form asking whether you are medically fit you will tick the box. It's not that they are trying to defraud the system, but because they think they are medically fit - though they may or may not be."

According to the Department of Transport, drivers aged 80 and over are nearly twice as likely to die in a road accident than the average motorist.

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