Restrictive licences for elderly drivers?

Permabear

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biko

Interesting article. I support a R license for elderly people. Once full licensed people get to that age there will be no need for it any more and it can be abolished but for now it's a good idea imo.

Wishbone Ash

biko wrote: »

Once full licensed people get to that age there will be no need for it any more

I think you're missing the point biko!

Many of the older people on Provisional Licences took up driving in later life.

Regardless of the merits or otherwise of the proposal, how would there be no need for it if in 20 years time? What if a group of 70 year olds decide to take up driving, for the first time, in 2028?

Permabear

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hippiechickie

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SeanW

I think it makes a certain amount of sense, after all, the driving test is a bitch, and it is a very stressful thing - fine for us younger people, but not so much for someone like in their late 60s and 70s. There are two good reasons to bring in this for TODAYs older people.

1) We had a culture where it was OK by default to drive on Provisional Licenses. Tis came about through both lax enforcement and a virtually paralysed driver testing system.

This is no longer the case, and will be less so in the years ahead.

2) In particular, many older women would have been old-fashioned stay-at-home housewives, who would have relied on their husbands to drive them where they needed to go. But when the husband dies first, the wife can be virtually isolated.

Again, with our generation, this is no longer the case.

For both of those reasons, a once-off limited-license deal would make sense for the current generation of older people as a once off and there would be no cause to do it again.

Why should older people be allowed to stay just cos they have been around for 50 years on provisional licences?

If they've been on the road 50 years and haven't hurt anyone, they mustn't be that bad of drivers.

In practical terms, what's the diffrence between someone who's been driving on a provisional for 50 years and someone who passed their test 48 years ago?

Okay, the latter might be less likely to do something silly like indicating when the main road takes a sharp turn, but that's about it.

Permabear

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hippiechickie

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Permabear

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hippiechickie

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Celtic07

sorry to burst the serious bubble..but anyone ever see the southpark episode about eldery drivers?:D..hilarious

the_syco

donegalfella wrote: »

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There are a few thousand people who killed other people. Just because a masive amount of people did it, doesn't make it right. Think the comparison is a bit over the top? Tough. There are thousands of senile old people who not only never took the test, but most likely don't know the rules of the road, driving machines of death.

Permabear

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Wishbone Ash

the_syco wrote: »

There are thousands of senile old people who not only never took the test, but most likely don't know the rules of the road, driving machines of death.

It would appear that your knowledge of the statistics are minimal. Those people you refer to are safer than many of the younger people on our roads. A bit of respect please!

cc

in reality this all sounds like oppurtunistic local politicians getting themselves into the papers and on radio etc i find this idea as crazy as having the famous amnesty on provisionals for people waiting on there test. Ok, its not nice being old and living in an isolated area on your own, but then again what about being a single mum and living in an isolated area, why should there be a difference?

Permabear

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