Older drivers in Herefordshire have been urged to check whether they are at risk of causing accidents – and to consider switching to other ways of getting about.
Thirty per cent of road casualties in the county are down to older drivers, councillors heard in a session with top officials on measures to improve safety on Herefordshire’s roads.
“We have a lot of elderly people in rural locations, and good drivers can become bad drivers,” Green councillor Justine Peberdy said.
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“They are quite a big factor in road safety and some probably know they shouldn’t be driving.”
In March, a 91-year-old Colwall man, Peter Burrow, was convicted of causing death by careless driving after ploughing into a group of pedestrians in Malvern a year and a half earlier, killing one woman and seriously injuring two others.
Part of his sentence stipulated he must take an extended driving retest.
The take-up on a voluntary two-hour refresher course offered by Herefordshire Council to older drivers is “quite small” at just 36 between September and March, Coun Peberdy said.
“I wonder if the concern for an elderly person is that if they are exposed to scrutiny they risk losing their licence, in a rural community where they are reliant on their car,” she added.
“Could we facilitate some other way for them to get about, like community transport schemes or buses on demand – so you give up your licence and in return get a travel plan, or financial support for taxis?”
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The council’s road safety officer Julie Freeman said the refresher course instructor “can advise, but has no jurisdiction to enable that person to hand over their licence – though they may need to to protect themselves”.
Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue assistant chief officer Anna Davidson said the service also works with the police on “mature driver sessions using VR headsets” intended to help drivers understand how changes with age can impact their driving – and that these “have been really popular”.
Self-confessed “pretty mature driver” Coun Roger Highfield agreed that drivers were likely to fear losing their licences from signing up to such courses – for which current publicity “doesn’t seem to be sufficient”.
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The scrutiny committee agreed to up the budget for the road safety education in the county, “or to transfer funding from schemes for children to older adults”.
Committee chairman Coun Louis Stack pointed out: “The DVLA say it’s for you to tell them if you have conditions that mean you shouldn’t be driving.”
The Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency requires drivers over 70 to renew their licence every three years.
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