Motorists aged 70 and over in poor health may be restricted to driving in daylight hours only. They may also be ordered to stay near to home, with their cars fitted with trackers to ensure compliance.
Under proposals discussed between the DVLA and Driving Mobility – a network of test centres – over 70s who could otherwise lose their licence because of ill health could be eligible for ‘graduated driving licences’. These would restrict them to a radius of 20 or 30 miles from home and ban them from night-time driving.
Driving licences expire when a driver turns 70, and those wanting to stay on the roads must inform the DVLA of medical conditions such as dementia, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, diabetes (if treated with insulin) and any condition that affects both eyes or the total loss of sight in one eye. Reviews take place every three years.
According to a Sunday Times report, there has been an increase in elderly drivers on the roads in the last 25 years, with the proportion of drivers over 70 doubling, from a third to two thirds. However, the number of deaths on the road in this age group leapt from 95 in 2010 to 145 last year, while fatalities for every other age group fell sharply or stayed stable.
Proposal could lead to loneliness
Edmund King, president of the AA, criticised the possible plan, warning it could lead to loneliness, and called on the medical profession to report drivers to the DVLA: “They are there to save lives and what better way to save lives than to prevent someone who you know is capable of killing through their own medical condition,” he said.
However, Edward Trewhella, chief executive of Driving Mobility, defended the proposals, saying many elderly motorists stick to their own local area already. “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.
“This process 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.”
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