How dangerous are elderly drivers?

The number of over-70s holding a UK driving licence has exceeded four million for the first time. But how dangerous are older drivers?

There are occasional very well-publicised stories about elderly drivers going the wrong way on a motorway or dual carriageway. Only last week an 84-year-old woman died after driving the wrong way on the A1 in Northumberland.

The RAC Foundation says the UK's oldest licensed driver is a 107-year-old woman, and there are 191 people over the age of 100 with a licence. They are among 4,018,900 people aged over 70 with full UK driving licences.

The Department for Transport (DfT) says there is no evidence older drivers are more likely to cause an accident, and it has no plans to restrict licensing or mandate extra training on the basis of age.

There were 10,974 accidents involving drivers over the age of 70 in 2011, says the DfT. That compares with 11,946 accidents involving 17-to-19-year-old drivers and 24,007 accidents involving 20-to-24-year-old drivers. These statistics do not account for who caused the accident.

Figures also show that 46 drivers aged 16 to 19 died in an accident, while 173 drivers aged between 20 and 29 involved in an accident died. That compared with 59 deaths in drivers aged between 70 and 79 involved in an accident, and 52 over the age of 80.

The young-versus-old driver data is used by a number of road safety charities to argue elderly drivers don't pose the greatest danger behind the wheel.

Research by the RAC Foundation suggests drivers aged 75 and over make up 6% of all licence holders but account for just 4.3% of all deaths and serious injuries. By contrast, drivers aged 16-20 make up just 2.5% of all drivers but 13% of those killed and seriously injured.

"There are huge benefits to people driving, it helps them feel empowered. What we want people to do is see their optician regularly, and go to independent assessment centres if they are concerned," she says.

"There's some evidence that suddenly stopping driving and a lack of mobility leads to depression, so we want to keep people independent for as long as possible. The key thing is for people to start preparing for it early so they have other options,"

42 Penalty points motorist still driving around

afzal school of motoring    UK photocard driving licence

MOTORISTS with 30 or more penalty points on licences are still driving, according to figures.

A woman from Isleworth in west London accumulated 42 points last year, statistics from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) highlighted by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) showed. The points were all for failing to disclose the identity of the driver between May 26 and December 21 last year.

Drivers can be banned if they accumulate 12 penalty points on their licence over a three-year period.

The IAM said the second-highest points total was  36 - for a person still driving went to a man from Warrington, Cheshire, who was caught driving without insurance six times in less than two weeks between February and March last year.

Other notable still-driving offenders included: a man from Southend with 30 points, who was caught speeding 10 times between March 2011 and August 2012; a man from Blackburn with 29 points, who was caught speeding eight times between September and November 2011; and a man from Pevensey, East Sussex, with 24 points who was caught speeding six times in two weeks between September 30 and October 13 last year.

IAM chief executive Simon Best said: "DVLA and the courts service are upgrading their computer systems to ensure that offence information is shared more efficiently, but this is not due to be in place until October. When drivers with 10 speeding offences are getting away with holding a licence, these improvements cannot come quickly enough."

He went on: "The IAM has no sympathy for owners who refuse to reveal the identity of the driver, and we would welcome an urgent consultation on new ways to deal with this problem. Drivers must expect that 12 penalty points means a driving ban or the whole system falls into disrepute."

A spokesman for HM Courts & Tribunals Service said: "The vast majority of drivers who get 12 or more penalty points are fined and disqualified from driving. Magistrates can use their discretion to not enforce a driving ban if doing so would cause exceptional hardship, such as losing a job or the ability to care for a dependant. A fine will still be enforced. Only a very small number of cases are affected by the data-sharing issue and we are working closely with DVLA to improve this."

A DVLA spokesman said: "The DVLA's role is to record the information provided by the courts. The courts are able to use their discretion to decide whether or not to disqualify a driver."

Young Drivers Welcome Night Driving

Research conducted by Road Safety analysis on behalf of Michelin showed that 40% of young drivers aged between 17 and 25 would welcome compulsory motorway lessons and night driving.

The Study also revealed that young drivers in rural areas are twice as likely to be involved in accidents as those drivers in urban areas.

Michelin’s head of government affairs, Darren Lindsey said: “ It is not the fact that rural roads are inherently more dangerous than urban  roads. The fact is that young drivers are more likely to crash, either because they feel more confident driving at speeds, negotiating bends or driving on unlit roads.”

Not all of the government’s proposals received backing from young drivers.  Only 14% of respondents back a year’s minimum learning period and only 1 in 10 backed post test curfews.

The  survey questions were put to 700 young drivers for too much, too young, too fast report, which provides a compelling case for some of the DfT’s green paper proposals.

TIPS TO REDUCE THE COST OF YOUR CAR INSURANCE

Here are a few tips to help you reduce your car insurance premiums:

• Buy your Insurance online. It may be cheaper to buy your insurance policy online rather than going through a call centre and many companies offer discounts for doing so.
• Accept a higher voluntary excess. Virtually all car insurance companies will require you pay a minimum voluntary excess, this is the amount you pay towards the cost of any claim made on your insurance policy. The higher this is, the less your insurance premium will be.
• Limit the policy to cover:  only specific named drivers as opposed to allowing anyone to drive the insured car with your permission.
• Try to lower your annual mileage. The less you drive, the less likely you are to be involved in an accident.
• Increase Security. Motor vehicles available in the UK market are assessed by the insurance industry's research centre Thatcham to establish the level of standard fit security. Owners of vehicles that are fitted with security systems that meet the Thatcham criteria may well benefit from reduced premiums. Older cars may also benefit if subsequently fitted with a security system that meets the criteria.
• Keep your car in a secure location : such as a garage or driveway when not in use.

Adding a responsible driver to the policy who has a good clean driving record with no convictions or claims could also help to keep premiums low, especially if the driver in question will drive the car quite a lot in which case it may work out even cheaper if they were on the policy as the main driver.

Another thing to consider is the insurance group rating of your car. All cars are listed under a particular insurance group. The greater the cost of a car to repair, and the greater the engine size and speed of a car usually means it will fall into a higher insurance group rating meaning premiums will rise. The reverse is also true.

Consider getting a car with a low insurance group rating when you first take to the roads after a driving ban, this will help reduce your premium until your driving record improves again.

HOW TO BUY A USED CAR

For most people buying a car is one of  the most expensive single purchase. Regardless whether you have just passed you driving test or you have been driving for a while. If you don’t know much about  cars it can be a  daunting experience, because there are hundreds to choose from and then there are  different makes, models, engine sizes etc. If you get your selection right, you are promised problem free motoring, but if you get it wrong , it will cost you thousands  in fixing it.

If you are not sure which car you really want to buy, you are better off  visiting a big car supermarket.  Its great way of checking out used cars ,  without spending hours driving to different dealers. Once you have decided which car to go for, you can hit the web and do some research.

There are loads of web site , but there are 2 that I use. One is “ Honestjohn .co.uk“ . Select the car that you want and it will list all the good points and the bad points about that car. Its also great place to check out, real miles per gallon, that you are going to get out of it. Many car manufacturers promise huge 60, 70 mpg. This site lets owners report exactly what they are getting out of their car and It can make huge difference if you are switching your car to save fuel.

Another good site is the what car web site. This is good for new and used car reviews. It’s a good place to go to get owners feedback on the cars they bought and make sure that you avoid the customer mistakes that they made.

One of the biggest dilemma most people face as a used car buyer, is whether to buy petrol model or a diesel model car. On the face of it diesel cars offer great economy and lower car tax, but they are not always the best and cheapest models to buy. Nearly used diesel cars would cost you about £1500 more than the petrol ones, when you add in the fact diesel cost more to buy than petrol, probably 5p per litre. You have probably got to be doing 14,000 miles per year, more than most people do to make diesel model financially worthwhile.  Reports of £2k turbo replacement, injector replacements, are not uncommon. And buying older diesel is a bit of lottery, many will go on without a problem for years , but if yours does go wrong it will be expensive to fix, and more than wipe out petrol saving you intended to make running a diesel car.

Cars with higher the mileage, have lower prices. If you buy 3 year old car that’s done 70k miles, you would probably only pay about 45% value of a new car, which means there are huge bargains out there. Most people are put off by high mileage, but you shouldn’t be, because a car that’s done 20k miles a years is probably been driven up and down the motorway. These cars are great purchases, because they have suffered very little wear and tear.

Nearly new cars or preregistered cars are great purchases too. Car dealers when they get to end of the month would preregister the models  to get the commission on them. It means they come to you with low mileage on car and you are the second owner, and you can save thousands of pounds  on the original price.

Once you have found the car you like at the right dealership, at the right price, what do you do ? Do not hand over money yet.

 Check out what they said is actually true, if they promised full service history, check that is the case, its important because the warranty may be invalid.

Also If you are not sure about the mileage, which is a real possibility, go to GOV.UK web site and check when the mot was done and check what the mileage was on previous MOTs. If the car you are checking out has 10k miles fewer than it had on last mot, you know something funny has happened. Once you have established mileage is correct, you need  to ensure that the car has not been stolen, crashed, or its been financed. Hire purchase check would cost you about £20 and there are many site on web that will do it for you. If you do not carry out finance check and the car has loan outstanding on it, then there is nothing to stop loan company coming and repossessing the car. They  will take it away on flatbed trailer and with it goes the money you spent to buy this car. Cars on supermarket tend to be little more expensive but they do offer plenty of consumer protection. And while you are purchasing it the dealer or sales man will offer you a hard sell on used car warranty, do not bother with this , because if there is problem with the car within 6 months  after you have purchased it, take it straight back to cars supermarket, they  have to fix it under the terms of  sales of the goods act.

If you are buying it privately its different matter, buyers be aware, you have got to go with eyes wide open, but you have done the checks on the car, you know its good, you know sales history is fine, mileage is consistent with mot records etc

Good luck in buying your used car and safe driving for life .

WHAT ARE SPECIAL REASONS?

Car related offences, often leads to financial penalty and points on your driving licence. Once you have accumulated 12 penalty points you would be banned for driving for the next 6 months. However there are occasions where loss of your driving licence would disadvantage community or family members and in these situations the court can hear your “Special reasons” and allow you to keep your driving licence.

Special reasons must relate to the commission of the driving offence in question and in order to constitute a special reason the Court of Appeal advises that a special reason not to endorse or disqualify must:

• be a mitigating or extenuating circumstance;
• not amount in law to a defence to the driving charge;
• be directly connected to the commission of the driving offence;
• be one which a court of law ought to properly take into consideration when considering what sentence to impose.

           What must the court consider?

When special reasons are put forward in driving related cases the sentencing court must consider the following factors:

• the reason for driving the motor vehicle; eg was it an emergency situation.
• the distance the motor vehicle was driven; ie very short, long etc.
• the manner in which the motor vehicle was driven; ie did  you cause danger to other road users.
• the condition of the motor vehicle which was driven; ie road worthy or not.
• whether not it was the drivers intention to drive the motor vehicle further;
• the road and traffic conditions at the time the offence took place; and
• the possibility of danger to other road users at the time (most important factor)

If court is satisfied that there were special reasons then you would be allowed to keep your licence and you can continue driving.

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PARKING RULES ON YELLOW LINES ARE ABOUT TO CHANGE

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles wants to introduce a “grace period” within months that would allow drivers to park on double yellow lines for 15min. It is hoped this measure will  boost trade in neighbourhood high streets.

As part of the coalition horse-trading needed to secure support for the move, higher fines could be introduced outside London for motorists who park dangerously.

A source close to Mr Pickles said: "The high street is in danger of shrinking or dying off, because of over-aggressive parking enforcements.

"If people are worried about paying a fortune in parking fines, they are more likely to do their shopping online or go to out of town shopping centres. For too long parking has been a revenue-raiser. It's time to end that.

It is understood the Lib Dems believe the Tory Cabinet minister's plans could prove "unworkable" .

Lib Dem transport minister Norman Baker said: "We are keen to ensure that the high street works for businesses by stopping people parking illegally for hours on end.

"I have been in discussions with other colleagues from government about how we can best take this issue forward.

"This is about tackling motorists who are parking illegally, and  not about raising charges for those who park legally."