UK driving licences are valid until age 70 with renewal every 10 years and no mandatory retesting for any drivers. From age 70, renewal is required every 3 years via self-declaration of health and eyesight standards, with no practical driving test required. The government has consulted on mandatory eyesight tests for over-70s but has confirmed no plans for driving retests for any age group.
Vote to unlock the result — plus the full breakdown by age, gender, constituency and political leaning.
Should there be a public inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the Brexit referendum?
Constitution · 103 votes · 18h 57m left
Should the Royal Family’s finances, including the Sovereign Grant, face an independent review?
Governance · 102 votes · 18h 57m left
Should schools stop teaching about LGBTQ+ relationships?
Education · 103 votes · 18h 57m left
Should UK banknotes keep historical figures rather than switching to wildlife?
Culture · 103 votes · 18h 57m left
Should every UK resident’s DNA be held on a national database?
Justice · 103 votes · 18h 57m left
Should generative AI tools be banned in the UK?
Infrastructure · 103 votes · 18h 57m left
Should the chancellor reduce duty on alcohol?
Economy · 102 votes · 18h 57m left
9 Opinions
The roads of today have different traffic and rules than they did 20 or 40 years ago. For example, the Hierarchy of Road Users (H1-H3). Retesting would help ensure that current drivers are sufficiently safe for the roads as they are now, not as they were years ago.
Not unless there's a reason to do so. Such as a change in health.
There are quite a lot of drivers about, are there enough driving examiners to go round? The wait for a test would be far too long, with the possibility of it being a year or more. There are driving simulators to practice on. Could the over 70's take a test on those instead of having the stress of a real road test?
Learners already wait half a year just to book a driving test. Where are we magically finding an army of examiners to retest 35 million drivers every few years? The DVSA would collapse overnight. I think we need mandatory eyesight tests for the over 70s and retests should there be X amount of at-fault incidents in a 5 year time scale but blanket retests just punish even the safest of drivers with a blemish free record for 20+ years etc.
There should be a mandatory health check, covering eyesight, physical ability and reaction times etc
Expensive, impractical and ultimately pointless it wouldn't catch anything or improve standards
No, not possible to execute. Some could for example if exceeding average of participation in collisions. Or receiving too many fines.
Maybe make the test harder or add a second harder test after the first, to raise the initial quality. But mandatory regular retests would be costly and aren’t really needed.
Not everyone should have to retake, just those over 70 or recently diagnosed with conditions that impair driving.