Should over‑65s take a driving test refresher every 5 years?
UK drivers renew their photocard licence every 10 years until age 70, then every 3 years with a self-declaration of meeting eyesight standards and no relevant medical conditions. A 2026 government consultation proposed replacing self-declaration with mandatory eyesight tests for over-70s at each renewal to improve road safety. Public surveys show 60-70% of motorists support some form of regular reassessment for older drivers due to age-related declines in reaction times, vision and cognition, while older respondents and groups like Age UK highlight risks of isolation if licences are lost.
34 Opinions
It should be on doctors recommendations
If this was for older people (think 80+) then maybe, but not 65.
Older people generally tend to ve more responsible drivers. Accidents among younger drivers are more commonplace, so once again, leave us older people alone.
Either everyone does or nobody does
65 seems arbitrary, any reassessment should reference health status not just age.
I think mandatory re-checks are fine but 65 is too young these days to be starting it unless the individuals have significant other medical issues
What age group cause the most, and most serious, accidents? Maybe concentrate the attention around them.
Outrage in UK is always quite narrowly defined. Groups are targeted when those who actually are guilty of the thing which started the ‘outrage’ generally stoked by the media are ignored. The young, those who recently passed the test, foreigners on non UK licences & those with fraudulent licences from certain communities make up the bulk of those who could be described as ‘unfit’. The elderly less so but Drs play a role & if they feel a danger should report it & then a test.
I noticed a drop in my own driving standards after COVID. This seems like a pretty sound idea to me. We all know that look of white knuckles on the steering wheel and someone leaning forward to see more clearly because they haven't seen an optician for years. The tests and rules for cataracts are a joke, as they make no allowance for the hazards of driving at night. All fixable with this one idea.
I voted yes, but if extend that to under 25s too. They should be mandatorily tracked until they are 25. Under 25s account for 1/4 of all fatal accidents in the UK, twice as many as the over 70s