Under current laws, people over the age of seventy can keep driving without taking a test - but after four tragic deaths linked to drivers with poor vision, experts have warned the system is too relaxed.
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00:00Undoubtedly, there is an issue. We're becoming an older generation, so by virtue you're going to have a lot more older drivers and there is no doubt that as you become older, your reaction time slows down, your eyesight most particularly, which of course is the most valuable part of the driver's tools, if you like, apart from of course their hands, is to sort of see what's going on.
00:23So quite clearly there is an issue of older people driving and of course it's more likely that you may have a bump and of course the other thing is that sort of the people coming up to 70 now, they probably qualified maybe what, 50 years ago when they were 20, maybe even before that, indeed tests are sort of not a recent phenomenon but of course they've possibly only come in in some of these people's lifetime, therefore of course the whole road conditions have sort of changed, if only of course the sort of the amount of traffic on the sort of the average
00:53highway, so of course getting people to sort of do more in terms of updating their skills and having a sort of check on their ability would be no bad thing.
01:01But not everyone agrees there are concerns about the knock-on effect, with test centres already under pressure and long waiting times for appointments. Adding more people into the system they warn could cause even longer delays.
01:13What we'd be talking about is if you like a sort of a test that's sort of say 70, now if I can sort of say that the average wait for a driving test for new drivers is 20 weeks, what would then happen is of course you'd have to have all these other people sort of tagging on to the end, so of course 20 weeks, you know that's five months in effect.
01:31The system is, you know, it's creaking at the moment, like a lot of sort of the systems we have in this country, so putting this on would be very difficult.
01:39Yeah for sure maybe there can be sort of something that's online, but of course unless you make it mandatory people don't have to do it, so it's a difficult one, but for sure we want sort of safer roads for all concerned.
01:49And for many older drivers there's another fear that tougher rules could threaten their independence, especially in rural areas where public transport is limited.
01:58There is no doubt, as people get older, then of course they want to sort of hang on to that independence, and for sure having a car and be able to go from point A to point B, wherever that might be within the local town or the city, or indeed to sort of drive abroad.
02:13It's one of those things that people believe there's sort of a right to do.
02:16Critics say targeting older drivers could be unfair, especially when many have decades of experience and clean records.
02:23They argue it's ability, not age, that matters, and say any checks should apply to all drivers.
02:28SPENGLE
02:40RECOLED
02:46to all drivers.