Should the elderly retake their driving test?

Here, driving licenses are good for 10 years. I think it's too long an interval for everyone. People after age 65 should have to be re-tested every other year; every year after age 75! I am due to renew next year.
I wasn't notified the last time I was due for renewal and had been driving with an expired license for months. It was caught by an employee of Saratoga Casino when the senior's club went there for lunch in their buffet room years ago. They have to check everyone's ID to make sure no minors are allowed in.

car through window.jpg
 

Last edited:
Veronica said:
Thankfully there are a lot more services available for those who are housebound like grocery delivery and visiting physicians.
Click to expand...
Around here the grocery delivery services are very costly and I think physicians stopped making house calls back in the 1960s. (They stopped making house calls back in the 50s in the big city area I grew up in.)
 
In BC license renewal is every five years. The questionnaire asks if you have any medical or other issues that might affect your driving. If you fail to disclose this and have an accident, your car insurance is void.

I know people that have issues and just lie because they don’t want to lose their license. They could declare it and get a medical checkup that would clear them.
 

During one of our many moves when we was young married, we was transferred back to Texas.
I had to take the Eye Test to get my Texas Drivers license back. We did not have to do the actual driving test.
However......
I told the lady that there was something wrong with the Eye Test machine :unsure:
When she got done laughing, she told me there was nothing wrong with the machine.
That was me getting my first pair of glasses 🥸 30 some odd year ago... Ha !

Nowadays, I just hope I make it long enough to have to go in and take the Driving Test 🤠
Tx DL Age Requirements .jpg
 
I think it would be more cost effective to only require retesting if a person has started getting traffic tickets (unless there is a medical condition that prevents safe driving, and then they just shouldn't get a license - pointless to have a test).
 
1) "Seniors are involved in fewer accidents than other age groups yet they often pay higher insurance premiums."

2) "Drivers in their 30s are far more likely to get in accidents than drivers over 65."

3) "People over 74 tend to pay higher car insurance rates than most their age demographics."

4) "Though many people stereotype older drivers as a “danger” on the road, research says otherwise. According to the National Safety Council, people between the ages of 25 and 34 are nearly seven times more likely to be involved in an accident than those age 75 and above."

The above statements were copied and pasted from this link -> Seniorliving.org.

[I don't know if all sources concur, I'm just posting what I found.]
 
officerripley said:
Around here the grocery delivery services are very costly and I think physicians stopped making house calls back in the 1960s. (They stopped making house calls back in the 50s in the big city area I grew up in.)
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that. My Local grocery offers unlimited free delivery over $35 if you have a $99 per year Boost member ship. No membership costs $10 a trip. If you order from them online. Pickup at the store is free. I dont use either one yet. Although I have started ordering more stuff from Walmart etc. Going to the grocery forces me to leave the house and I need that. :D

Around here they do still make house calls. Doctor comes in a van with his nurse. They perform basic procedures, and they bill your insurance just like an office visit. Mom had a doctor come to her house. Also a podiatrist to trim her toenails.
Try googling "Visiting Physicians" for your zip. I dont use them either. Same reason. If Im not forced I would never leave my house. :D
 
jujube said:
My mom was still driving at 95. Her eyesight and reaction time were excellent and her night vision beat the heck out of mine.

She loved to drive and I always felt safe with her.

My aunt, on the other hand, was getting to be a hazard. Somebody (we suspect it was her doctor), ratted her out and she had received a notice that she was going to have to come in for testing. She was madder than a wet hen.
Click to expand...
Sounds like my aunt. It was terrifying to sit in the front passenger seat. She approached corners rather too fast and cornered at almost a perfect angle of 85 degrees. Once she backed the car into bakery shop and more than once she forgot where she parked the car. Then she would report it to the police as stolen. On one occasion she left my uncle sitting in the parked car and reported the car stolen. Poor Uncle, he was so patient with her.

Also, she would have numerous scrapes with other cars and neglect to report them to the police. She never made an insurance claim and the other party was left hanging, unable to obtain recompense.

We all breathed a sigh of relief when finally she had to stop driving.

Her doctor and my cousin tried to have her licence cancelled but to no avail. It's not easy, She intimidated the young man who gave her a second driving test after failing the first one.
 
In my state of Australia (all states have their own rules on these things) you have to get a Dr's certificate of fitness to drive if you are any age and have a relevant chronic condition. (diabetes, cardiac, epilepsy etc )

People over 70 who have a heavy vehicle licence or a motorbike licence also have to do so, even with no medical conditions. But not for ordinary car licences

If your doctor is concerned they can advise motor registration to cancel your licence - you have the option to appeal and do a driving test to prove your driving is OK and/or your condition does not warrant cancellation
In over a decade working in primary care I have only ever known one person who successfully got the decision reversed.
 
I hope I will know when it is time.

When I drive someone to a strange location I need the directions beforehand. Is it on the right or the left? Don't surprise me with turn left here! Where?

When I'm alone I will drive a mile out of my way to avoid a dangerous intersection or to come out at a light.
 
Oklahoma has no special requirements regarding older drivers. I had to get my license renewed last year (real ID) and was surprised to learn I don't have to renew it again until 2032. I will be 80 then. I notice I prefer traveling quieter roads now and am not sure if that is age related or if I am just happy to no longer have to commute in that Dallas rush hour traffic.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
1) "Seniors are involved in fewer accidents than other age groups yet they often pay higher insurance premiums."

2) "Drivers in their 30s are far more likely to get in accidents than drivers over 65."

3) "People over 74 tend to pay higher car insurance rates than most their age demographics."

4) "Though many people stereotype older drivers as a “danger” on the road, research says otherwise. According to the National Safety Council, people between the ages of 25 and 34 are nearly seven times more likely to be involved in an accident than those age 75 and above."

The above statements were copied and pasted from this link -> Seniorliving.org.

[I don't know if all sources concur, I'm just posting what I found.]
Click to expand...
There are some lil tiny elders just like young who can barely see over the steering & dash to drive.
They should buy smaller cars too is my thought.
 
Warrigal said:
Sounds like my aunt. It was terrifying to sit in the front passenger seat. She approached corners rather too fast and cornered at almost a perfect angle of 85 degrees. Once she backed the car into bakery shop and more than once she forgot where she parked the car. Then she would report it to the police as stolen. On one occasion she left my uncle sitting in the parked car and reported the car stolen. Poor Uncle, he was so patient with her.

Also, she would have numerous scrapes with other cars and neglect to report them to the police. She never made an insurance claim and the other party was left hanging, unable to obtain recompense.

We all breathed a sigh of relief when finally she had to stop driving.

Her doctor and my cousin tried to have her licence cancelled but to no avail. It's not easy, She intimidated the young man who gave her a second driving test after failing the first one.
Click to expand...
Your aunt sounds like a hoot and quite a bother to other drivers, but her sort rarely cause the fatalities on the highway that young people cause while speeding down the road, their mind on their speaker phone conversation, and their vision impaired by the bottom of their Starbuck's cup.
 
Many drivers here in California obviously from what I see them do, don't know regulations because the state stopped reasonably testing people decades ago due to advocates for poor and immigrants complaining. Everybody regardless of driving record or age ought to periodically have to take a written test. A need to take a physical driving test ought depend on whether a person of any age has been caught in recent years breaking driving laws including speeding tickets. There are plenty of drivers with physical limitations that ought be tested more frequently, especially those with visual issues.

State because of lack of enforcement also has far too many drivers without insurance, vehicles with bogus out of state plates, missing front license plates, because of same complaining advocates. And plenty of drivers with suspended licenses and no insurance that are causing accidents with the rest of we citizens paying for it all. Our entrenched, mostly urban region state politicians are totally to blame.
 
My answer to the OP is no. Retaking the test should be based on traffic infractions, accidents, and warnings. Here the police can pull over a slow moving car for a courtesy check. If the driver appears to have an old age impairment, then they will contact relatives and suggest they intervene. I think most seniors realizing they can't drive as safe as they once could, restrict their driving. I know I do and the hubs is finally admitting he isn't the great driver he once thought he was. We are only 75, but we both have the wear and tear of 85 year old's. :ROFLMAO:

I usually have one of the granddaughters drive us if any distance or on the freeway, since the hubs has road rage that is growing worse daily. He thinks tailing a stupid driver at 80 MPH will teach them.
 
Deya said:
Here the police can pull over a slow moving car for a courtesy check. If the driver appears to have an old age impairment, then they will contact relatives and suggest they intervene.
Click to expand...
Goodness. Where do you live that police will contact an impaired driver's relatives with an intervention recommendation?

Police here cite unsafe drivers. The more unsafe, the more serious the citation. They can also file an "unsafe driver" report with the state's DMV.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top