Crucial cognitive test plans for older drivers must overcome bumps in the road

At present, drivers need to renew their licence every three years once they turn 70, a cut-off point introduced in 1976. Applicants must answer questions about their health and eyesight, and declare medical conditions that may impact their ability behind the wheel. But crucially, they are not required to provide any proof of their fitness.

In his written determination in the Fatal Accident Inquiry into Xander’s death, Sheriff Principal Nigel Ross this week deemed the self-certification system “significantly defective”, and proposed cognitive tests for drivers aged 80 or over who wish to renew their licence. The DVLA says it is “carefully considering” his recommendations, but failing to implement them in full would amount to an abdication of duty.

Not the first tragedy

As Xander’s death demonstrated, the dangers of self-certification cannot be overstated, especially in relation to progressive neurological conditions; according to Alzheimer’s Research UK, around two in three people living with dementia in Scotland are undiagnosed.

The three-year-old’s death was not the first tragedy to spark calls for an overhaul. In 2014, teenager Eilish Herron was crushed to death after a disabled 83-year-old driver reversed up to a petrol pump in Linwood. The next year, Ben Brooks-Dutton, whose wife, Desreen, was killed in London by an 85-year-old driver who mistook the accelerator for the brake, garnered over 300,000 signatures on a petition calling for drivers over 70 to undergo compulsory retesting every three years. In 2018, meanwhile, coroner Deborah Archer recommended mandatory tests for older drivers after Evelyn Fisher, 61, died after being struck by an 88-year-old who was showing early signs of dementia.

How many more tragedies will it take before the UK Government listens? Over the past two decades, Labour and Conservative administrations have mulled possible changes, but the issue has fallen off the political radar. It should not require another preventable death to focus minds. 

Public transport must improve

It should go without saying that many older drivers are perfectly capable and safe, yet Department for Transport data shows a sharp increase in the rate at which they are involved in catastrophic accidents compared with middle-aged motorists. Last year, only 32 drivers aged 66 to 70 were killed per billion miles. In the 81 to 85 age group, there were 104 deaths. For those aged 86 and above, the death toll stood at 203.

There will, of course, be bumps in the road to establishing a more stringent system of checks. An already burdened NHS has scant capacity to undertake hundreds of thousands of cognitive tests, and to mitigate the risk that some older people could become further isolated, wholesale improvements are required to Scotland’s desultory public transport network, particularly in rural areas.

As our population continues to grow older, this issue is only going to become more urgent. The vast majority of older motorists may be responsible enough to know their limits, but the threat posed by those unwilling or unable to do the same is too great to countenance.