Latest news with #over70s
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Telegraph
The Government's plans for older drivers smack of London-centrism
SIR – I accept that the laws governing the right to hold a driving licence require scrutiny ('Over-70s who fail mandatory driving tests to be banned', report, August 11), but the Government must consider carefully how changes could affect many people. Politicians tend to struggle to see beyond the M25. While they spend most of their time living and working in a place where they can jump on a bus or the Tube, or summon a taxi at any time, those outside London or one of the major conurbations often have none of these things. Driving is a necessity rather than a luxury. I hope that any new legislation will be accompanied by substantial investment in public transport for the regions, reversing the cuts of recent years and preventing further isolation, particularly among the elderly. Mike Bussell Yeovil, Somerset SIR – When I passed my driving test in 1966 I thought I was a brilliant driver. Fifty-nine years later my view is the same. However, it does not seem unreasonable that the authorities could now be the judge of that. Simon Cook Sutton, Surrey SIR – I appreciate the concern about older drivers and their eyesight, but do not understand why there isn't a compulsory annual test for over-70s. I would also recommend a yearly test for all drivers under 25, and a five-yearly test for everyone else. Susan Eccles Tunbridge Wells, Kent SIR – Am I being cynical in thinking that the Government is considering going after older drivers and not younger ones because the younger ones are far more likely to be potential Labour voters? For the record, I am 79, have 20:20 vision and at the last election didn't vote for any of them. John Newbury Warminster, Wiltshire SIR – I have my eyesight tested regularly and always wear the appropriate glasses. I therefore support mandatory tests. However, my late uncle failed his eyesight test while in his 20s. It should be understood that eye health deterioration often occurs much earlier in life than 70. Jim Sokol Minehead, Somerset SIR – It's not the vision of older drivers that's the real problem – it's the lack of indicator use, especially approaching roundabouts. Tina Ramsden Bramhall, Cheshire SIR – If there are to be new driving regulations, the opportunity should be taken to ban blinding headlights and barely visible indicator lights. Numerous surveys have shown that LED headlights are a danger to drivers of all ages, especially on country roads. A V Lofts Salcombe, Devon
Sky News
12-08-2025
- Automotive
- Sky News
What does the data tell us about road traffic accidents in the UK?
Under "tougher" plans to tackle road deaths and injuries in England and Wales, the government has announced measures to make over-70s take compulsory eye tests every three years or lose their driving licence. But are they really needed? Motorists over the age of 70 already self-report their medical fitness to drive every three years, and British roads are safer now than they've ever been. In 2023, the latest year for which the Department for Transport has published data, the casualty rate on British roads fell to 398 per billion vehicle miles. It's the first time that figure has been under 400, and has halved since just 2006. In 1960, the casualty rate was 10 times higher than it is now. The total number of people killed on the UK's roads also reached a record low in 2023, other than the COVID-affected years of 2020 and 2021. There were 1,624 people killed in total, just under half of which were in cars. This figure has plateaued somewhat since 2010, however, after rapid improvements between 2006 and 2010. There was a similar plateau between 1994 and 2006 before the last significant piece of road safety legislation was introduced. The 2006 Road Safety Act introduced higher fines and more points for the most severe speeding offences, as well as vastly expanding the use of speed awareness courses. It was also the first year that people could get points on their licence for using their phone. In the four years that followed, there was a 40% decrease in deaths among road users. In the 13 years since then, it's fallen just 12%. There had been a slight rise in deaths among older drivers for a few years between 2014 and 2019, but that has started to fall again now. There are now fewer deaths among over-70s compared with either the under-30s, people aged 30-49, or those between 50 and 69. In 2019, there were a similar number of deaths among people of each of these age cohorts. Academic studies have previously found that older people are also more likely to develop symptoms of depression, be admitted to care facilities, and even have a higher mortality rate, once they stop driving. The academics found that those links remained even after adjusting for other factors like baseline health and cognitive ability. Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: "It is certainly good for our eye health as we age to have a regular eye test - every two years the NHS advises - but this doesn't automatically mean that a compulsory eye test at age 70 is appropriate. People can develop eye problems at any age so why confine such an approach only to those aged 70 and not to younger drivers too? "From the data we have seen, there is no reason to suppose that eye problems lie behind a significant proportion of accidents. While there may be a case for introducing a regular mandatory eye test for drivers of all ages, it is not clear that this would have a big impact on the numbers of serious accidents involving older drivers." Are younger drivers a danger to themselves? Edmund King, president of the Automobile Association, said that the government's strategy is "much overdue", while pointing to the figures showing that the number of road deaths have plateaued since 2010. He said that making vision checks compulsory for older drivers was a "practical step that can make a real difference", but added that failing to introduce a six-month limit on new drivers transporting passengers of a similar age is "a major oversight". A limit like this has been active in parts of Australia since 2007. Research by road safety charity Brake says that, in the UK, around one in five drivers crash within a year of passing their test. The Department for Transport data also shows that younger people are also significantly more likely to die as passengers compared to people in other age groups. There has also been a suggestion that younger drivers are more likely to die as a result of not wearing seatbelts. More than a third of 17-29-year-olds who die on the roads didn't have their seatbelts on. But the same is true of 30-59 year olds. There is a significant difference between men and women however - 31% of men who died did so without wearing a seatbelt, compared with just 11% of women. That also means that 89% of women who died on the roads did so despite wearing a seatbelt, perhaps adding to evidence that suggests that seatbelts offer better protection to adult men. Drink-driving Since 2014, Scotland has had a lower drink-drive limit than the rest of the UK. The government's new proposals would reduce the drink-drive limit in England and Wales to the same level as in Scotland - 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, instead of the current level of 80mg of alcohol. For an average-sized man, that means they would be over the limit after one pint of beer, instead of after two. In diverging from the other nations in the UK, the new standards in Scotland aligned with most of Europe. It seems to have had some impact. The number of collisions involving drink drivers has fallen by more than 40% in Scotland since it was introduced, compared with 20% in England over the same time period, and 38% in Wales. The improvement is less pronounced when it comes to the most serious drink-driving road accidents, though. They are down just 7% since 2014. Where are the safest, and most dangerous, places to drive? The Isle of Wight has the highest current fatality rate, after accounting for how much driving people do. There were 18 deaths per billion vehicle miles on the island in 2023. Next was Blackpool, with 16. The central London boroughs of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, and Lambeth were the only other local authorities with a rate higher than 10. At the other end of the scale, Stockport (Greater Manchester), Thurrock (Essex) and Nottingham each had fewer than one death per billion vehicle miles. When it comes to accidents that included not just deaths but also serious injuries, London has the worst record. Drivers in Westminster were most likely to end up in a serious collision, but the nine most dangerous local authorities in Great Britain were all London boroughs. Bradford completed the bottom 10. Bath and North East Somerset was the safest area, although three Welsh areas - Bridgend, Neath Port Talbot and Cardiff - joined South Gloucestershire in the top five. Scottish drivers were among the most likely to avoid being in crashes altogether. Eight of the 10 local authorities with the lowest overall collision rate were north of the border, although Rutland in the East Midlands had the lowest overall rate. The top 20 areas with the most collisions per mile driven were all in London. How does driving in the UK compare with other countries? The UK is one of the safest places to drive in Europe. Only Norway and Sweden had a lower rate of road deaths per head of population in 2023 than the UK's 25 deaths per million people. The figures in places like Italy, Greece and Portugal were more than twice as high. There aren't any directly comparable figures for 2023 for the US, but in 2022 their death rate from driving was five times as high as the UK, and 50% higher than the worst performing European country - Bulgaria. The Data and Forensics
The Sun
11-08-2025
- Automotive
- The Sun
Driving laws shake-up has overlooked reckless group we need to rein in and will mean nothing if changes aren't enforced
AFTER decades of careful driving, some motorists may feel miffed at Government proposals to bring in eye-tests for over-70s. At 70, drivers are actually relatively safe on the roads. The figures spike up after 80 and, in particular, after 85 years old. 3 3 But the big gap in these plans is for 17 to 24-year-old drivers who are over-represented in car crashes. They are not at risk from poor eyesight but inexperience and risk-taking. The figures are stark. One in five young drivers crash in their first year behind the wheel and over 1,500 young drivers are killed or seriously injured each year. It is these young drivers that seem to have been overlooked in the planned shake up of driving laws. Almost every weekend now we see crashes with three or four teenagers in the car. It's usually because the driver is inexperienced and having mates in the vehicle can be distracting. And it's not just the young people themselves who are killed or injured. Other drivers and passersby are caught up in this carnage. The Automobile Association has looked at how Australia, New Zealand and Canada do things. They limit the number of same-age passengers a driver can have in their car for the first six months after taking their test. We estimate if that policy was adopted in the UK it would save at least 58 lives and at least 934 serious injuries. It would cut the young road deaths from between 20 to 40 per cent. Moment car speeds down street killing four uni students Some argue that it's limiting driver and passenger freedom. But there's nothing particularly free about being wrapped around a tree at two o'clock in the morning. As for the eye tests for older drivers, 70 is the new 50. People are fitter and healthier after pensionable age. Should the mandatory test be at 70, or would it be fairer at something like 75 or 80, which is a closer reflection of the safety figures? It's important for all drivers to have eye tests, perhaps every three years, not only for road safety but also because it can pick up on other health conditions as well. When you analyse people who kill or are killed in drink-drive incidents they aren't a bit over the limit or a bit under the limit. Many are double the limit Another proposed driving law change currently in the consultation process is stricter rules for drink-driving. Under the new plans, the drink-drive limit is expected to be tightened from 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath to 22 micrograms. This would bring it into line with limits in Scotland, which were lowered in December 2014. Intuitively, you'd think lowering the limit would be a positive for safety but evidence I've seen from Scotland shows that it has little effect. When you analyse people who kill or are killed in drink-drive incidents they aren't a bit over the limit or a bit under the limit. Many are double the limit. So it won't be a massive safety issue on its own, but if it is linked to publicity campaigns and better police enforcement it could have an effect. Another proposed law change is to punish drivers with penalty points if their passengers fail to wear seatbelts. Seat belts are the simplest, single safety measure. They can reduce the risk of death by 50 per cent. So it is a no-brainer that we should have more enforcement over wearing them, but we need the traffic cops to do it. Unfortunately, dedicated traffic police have been reduced by more than 20 per cent over the last decade. That's a big failing because having a police presence acts as a deterrent for things like drink-driving, drug-driving and wearing seatbelts. Serious offenders The big, big reduction in traffic police is really noticeable. Currently, you can drive 250 miles and you will see a lot of speed cameras, but you won't see many marked police cars. For any one of these mooted new policies to work you need more dedicated traffic cops. There's a really interesting study from the Home Office... It found dangerous and reckless drivers are more likely to be a burglar, rapist or murderer Traffic policing isn't just important for road safety, it also helps clear up general crime. The Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, was caught by a cop on traffic duty. There's a really interesting study from the Home Office on the criminal history of serious traffic offenders. It found dangerous and reckless drivers are more likely to be a burglar, rapist or murderer. Therefore having traffic police stop someone for reckless driving means they are more likely to stop someone from committing other crimes. So what we need alongside any new safety measures is proper police enforcement. That means more traffic cops making more stops and acting as a tough deterrent. It's the best way of making roads safer for all of us. 3
Yahoo
11-08-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Three major changes to driving rules planned
Drivers aged over 70 face road bans if they fail eye tests, as part of a proposed overhaul of driving regulations in England and Wales. The anticipated reforms are set to feature in a new road safety strategy that the government plans to unveil this autumn, amid concerns that current safety campaigns are ineffective. As well as the eyesight rules for over 70s, the government is also examining tougher drink-driving regulations and their proposed changes would see the drink-drive threshold reduced from 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath to 22 micrograms, bringing it in line with Scotland's existing limits. Read here about DVLA's warning about posting pictures of your logbook online. Additional measures being considered would permit police to use roadside saliva tests as evidence for drug-driving cases instead of blood tests, simplifying prosecutions. READ MORE: Fire crews tackle large blaze that can be seen from miles away READ MORE: She told police officers she had come to collect her car keys, the problem was it had £45,000 of cocaine in it Government statistics from late last year indicated there had been "a catastrophic rise" in deaths caused solely by alcohol in England during the previous four years. The drink-driving limit across the two nations is poised to be lowered to match Scotland's stricter levels, and penalty points are likely to be introduced for passengers who neglect to wear seatbelts. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here This development follows an inquest into four fatalities linked to drivers with poor vision, which led a coroner to criticise the UK's licensing system as the "laxest in Europe". Transport Secretary's forthcoming plans include a stipulation for drivers over 70 to undergo eye examinations every three years upon licence renewal. Consideration is also being given to testing for conditions such as dementia. In April, HM Senior Coroner for Lancashire Dr James Adeley issued a report to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander calling for measures to prevent future deaths, after determining that enforcement of visual legal standards for drivers was inadequate. His report revealed that the UK stands as one of just three European nations that depend on self-reporting of visual conditions that impact driving ability.
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
DVLA issues fresh warning to all drivers over 70 who risk £1,000 fines
Drivers aged 70 or over have been warned that they could face fines of £1,000 or see their driving licence lapse altogether if they do not take action soon. The Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has advised older drivers of the different renewal rules they face once they hit 70. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, earlier this year the DVLA issued an important reminder to over 70s about renewing their licence. They said: "Are you 70 or over and due to renew your driving licence? Do it for free! Grab a cuppa and renew today at "It's easy, quick and secure on Previously, they had warned older drivers: 'You need to renew your licence every 3 years after you turn 70. Do it online now it's easy, quick and secure." The photocard displays a photograph of the driver, as well as personal information such as their name, address and date of birth. It is valid for ten years and must be renewed with an updated photograph to ensure it remains a realistic likeness. However, once you hit 70 it is mandatory to renew your licence every three years. You will be allowed to continue driving while your licence is being renewed under certain conditions. You must meet the medical standards of fitness to drive, your application must be less than a year old, your previous licence must have been valid, and you must adhere to the conditions of your old licence. Failing to return an expired licence to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 and can be punished with a fine of up to £1,000. How to renew your driving licence The DVLA advises people to renew on its official website as it is the quickest and cheapest method. Applications cost £14 and are usually processed within five days. Third party websites charge additional fees. Postal renewals cost £17, while doing it at a Post Office has a £21.50 fee. A DVLA spokeswoman said: 'We encourage customers to use as applying online is the quickest and cheapest way to renew their photocard driving licence. 'If you stop driving altogether, you should inform DVLA and return your licence rather keeping it as a form of out-of-date photo ID.'
