Re: Petition to retest at 70 years of age.
Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2016 2:34 am
MGF wrote:jwatkins wrote:Given that nobody has been able to provide a serious argument against re-testing, does it matter? If it saves one accident, it's worth doing, and if it improves the general standard of driving on our roads, then all the better. The cost will be met by the driver, and compared to the expense of running a car, fuel, insurance, etc. paying for a test every 10 years is pretty negligible.
For such a large scale investment of resources I would expect a better return than the saving of one life. If we took the test fee off all drivers every ten years or so we may achieve greater returns in safety by investing it in policing the roads.
Or public service broadcasting of more road safety material. Or making all drivers attend some form of retraining, perhaps along the lines of the current speed awareness courses, every few years. Or other initiatives more targeted at high risk groups. To offer another subjective view, I would expect all of those to deliver a better return than regular retests.
By the way, the idea that opponents of retests are motivated by fear of failure is palpably ludicrous. You are talking to a group most of whom put themselves forward for voluntary tests of their driving, be it observer tests, Rospa retests, IAM Masters or whatever.