> Most over-70s are significantly worse than the average driver and some are so dangerous they shouldn't be on the road at all.

Evidence? I thought over-70s were on average safer than young drivers

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GJR 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

UK statistics here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casua... The issue is that the rate of accidents rapidly increases after 70 and the easiest detectable indicator is deteriorating eyesight.

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joeig 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I opened the link and didn’t expected a report about younger drivers. This link is about older drivers: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casua...

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notahacker 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yep. In practice, you've probably got a group of over 70s who are much safer drivers than the average 17-24 year old and some with declining eyesight who are worse. The test proposes to distinguish between the two

	▲	pwg an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The issue is that the "over 70s" group, while on the whole averages out to moderate safety, includes a number of individuals that are very dangerous drivers (to themselves, and to others). If one looks at the overall statistics, the group as a whole looks ok, but those dangerous outliers are the ones that get the "press coverage" on the nightly news when they do cause an incident, skewing peoples view of "over 70s drivers".
	▲	graemep an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I am not objecting to the test. I am disagreeing with the sweeping statement. I think testing eyesight is important. In fact you need to make a declaration about your eyesight when you first get a license and when you renew after 70. There is no real enforcement of the former either (they just ask you to read a number plate at a distance IIRC).

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jl6 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

https://www.racfoundation.org/media-centre/study-sheds-light...

I imagine there’s something of a bathtub curve where young (under 25) drivers have higher accident rates due to some combination of inexperience and immaturity, while older drivers (over 70) have higher accident rates due to disability creeping up on them without them noticing.

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recursivecaveat 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Seems that is true, at least for the ones currently on the road https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/overview/age-of-dr...

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steveBK123 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Agreed over 70s are safer than younger drivers, but consider young drivers in most jurisdictions face restrictions while elderly drivers do not.

Further I’d say anecdotally that past a certain point, certainly by 80s, elderly drivers are not accident free. It’s that they have an increasing number of small accidents until someone takes away the keys. If they do not have someone in their life to do that it’s probably reasonable that the government make that determination.

At some point the reduced vision and reflex speed makes them too hazardous on the road to others, even if they are driving slowly and carefully. Parking lot accidents, hitting kids, slamming the gas instead of the brakes, etc.

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graemep an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> Agreed over 70s are safer than younger drivers, but consider young drivers in most jurisdictions face restrictions while elderly drivers do not.

What jurisdictions? The one that is proposing the eye tests?

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cucumber3732842 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Teenagers have obligations. Retirees don't or if they do they're far more flexible. Grandma can just not drive at night or in bad weather. Somme teenager typically can't.

So the inherent risk of the situations in which they drive does tend to favor seniors generally

	▲	graemep an hour ago \| parent [-]
		The people with the most obligations are us middle aged who have to do stuff at times set by kids requirements, or elderly parents, or work.