The Justification For Mandatory Driving Test For Drivers 65 Years Old or Over.

-
elderly driver

The minimum age of driving in the United Kingdom is 17 years. Any person under this age is barred by the law from driving a vehicle. The rationale for this restriction is that driving a vehicle, amongst other things, involves having the ability to make sound judgment. People under 17 years of age are assumed to not have this ability because their brain is not fully matured before 17 years and enough personal experience to form a sound judgment. Immediately a person reaches this driving age and passes the driving test, he or she can theoretically drive for life unless he or she commits a serious traffic offence such as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and is banned from driving by the court, or the driver can no longer drive due to underlying medical conditions.

Critics have argued that this current arrangement in which a driver is given a licence to drive a vehicle for life once that driver passes the driving test at 17 years of age is flawed. According to them, elderly drivers pose the greatest risk to both themselves and other road users on the roads because of the fact that a person’s ability to perform any demanding task such as driving a vehicle tends to decline markedly once that person is 65 years old or over. The critics are proposing a mandatory driving test for these older drivers to assess their competency in driving.

This mandatory driving test should not be as rigorous as the driving test undertaken by people under 17 years of age. The test should only assess key aspects of an older driver’s ability to drive a vehicle. It should measure for example the rate at which an older driver responds to emergency situations such as when a person runs across the road suddenly or when another vehicle pulls up without any warnings. The mandatory driving test should also assess the ability of the elderly driver to drive in poor weather conditions such as driving at night. It is hope that this assessment can help reduce the number of road accidents involving older drivers and make the roads safer for everyone.

Aside from the fact that the cost of running a mandatory driving test for elderly drivers will be enormous, statistics collated by RAC on road accidents appear not to support that drivers who are 65 years of age or older are the worst drivers on the roads. Instead of showing that elderly drivers are the worst drivers on the roads, these statistics show that the drivers who tend to be involved in most road accidents are drivers between 19 and 24 years of age. They also show that the number of road accidents involving older drivers is only slightly higher than the number of road accidents involving drivers between 25 and 65 years of age.

Therefore, the calls for a mandatory driving test for drivers who are 65 years old or over because they pose the greatest risk to our road networks is not necessary. These calls can be regarded as nothing more than the stereotypical views that younger people seem to have for older people which is older people are generally poor at performing any demanding task. Any measures designed to minimise road accidents and improve road safety should apply to all drivers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spanish Dog Fouling Law: Are Spanish Politicians Pursuing The Wrong Agenda?

-
Image
 Dog fouling Spain has some of the strictest laws regarding pets possession in Europe. One of its laws governing animal possession in Spain, for example, bans having exotic creatures as pets and requires dog, cat and ferret owners to declare their animals to the authority within three months of bringing them into the country. Until recently, however, Spain has no law nor sanction for failure to clean up after dog fouling in public places. It was up to dog owners whether to clean up such mess. This has now changed following the introduction of the dog fouling law. The new law states that the fine for any person failing to clean up after his or her dog fouling in a public place such as a park or kids play ground should be 1500 euros. The rationale for this legislation is to deter dog owners from leaving their dogs messing up public places such as parks. Regular visitors to parks can testify how the sight of such dog foul can be an eyesore. However, asking dog owners wh
Read more

Social Media Networks: Calls For Tighter Regulations

-
One of the most fascinating technological inventions of the twenty first century is the development of social media networks such as YouTube, Twitter, and Face book. These social media networks make it possible for people to meet new people and make friends, locate old friends and family members, or to form a relationship that can result in marriage. They also provide a platform in the form of advertising for conducting businesses. Despite these benefits provided by the social media networks certain things can go awfully wrong on the networks. The most recent example of how the social media network can be turned into a weapon of criminality is the case last week involving threatening rape and murder messages sent to a number of British women on Twitter. Feminists are attempting to use this incident to rally for support for tighter regulations on activities being conducted within social media networks. Is it possible to control activities within these networks? Having legislat
Read more

Marketing Tricks: How Many Times Have You Fallen Victim?

-
Image
 Fat free food Whereas business owners call them marketing strategies, none business owners regard them as marketing tricks. Regardless of what you like to call them, businesses cannot survive without marketing tricks. Marketing tricks are the flywheel that keeps businesses engine running. We tend not to be concerned about them because of our perception that we are familiar with them and can avoid them. However, a careful look at the marketing tricks used by businesses will reveal that many of us have fallen victims of them in the past and can still fall victim of the malpractice in future. Let us consider two of these popular tricks used in supermarkets. The first marketing trick used by retailers is relating to the slogan “75% reduced fat”. Items labelled 75% reduced fat are often displayed on supermarket shelves. Some of us who are conscious of our health tend to go for them to avoid consuming excess fat. Excess fat in the body is considered to be a risk factor for
Read more