Labour is ready to declare war on pensioners in 2026 with over 70s the victims of a mass overhaul of motoring rules. The Government is currently consulting on new mandatory eyesight checks which will see older drivers forced to pass an assessment at 70 to retain their licence. Officials have also not ruled out “cognitive” checks while consideration will be given to other “fitness to drive measures”.
It’s an onslaught and the UK’s older drivers are right in the firing line despite data showing they are far from the biggest problem on the road. Young male car drivers aged between 17 and 24 are the most dangerous, four times as likely to be killed than those over 25. While eye tests for over 70s is no bad thing - why just over 70s? Why not for everyone?
And rather than giving the impression that it's only pensioners who need their car keys taking off them, why not start considering a few new rules which would actually make Britain's roads far safer.
Passing at 17 may allow teenagers an extra bit of freedom on the roads, but at what cost? Despite accounting for just 1.5% of licence holders, motorists between 17 and 19 are involved in 9% of all fatal or serious collisions on the road.
Meanwhile, data from safety charity Brake shows that one in five motorists crash their vehicles within a year of passing their test. Increasing the minimum age limit to drive would cut accidents, but how are youngsters supposed to get to full-time employment with access to a vehicle?
It means 18 year olds need a car, but a minimum six-month learning period and restrictions on having any passengers under 30 in the car six months after passing a test should help.
Even if we are still allowing motorists to get behind the wheel at 17, restrictions should still apply around what vehicles youngsters can own.
Would you throw a trainee pilot in an F14 fighter jet? Probably not! So why are teenagers allowed to bomb around UK streets in supercars without restrictions? Models offering more than 250/300hp should be off limits until drivers reach 21 and at least one year after passing a test.
Motorists will likely drive a lot slower if a dashcam is slapped in the front of every vehicle in the UK. Not only will this put off boy racers from pressing their foot down, dashcams can be vital in proving culpability when trying to secure car insurance payouts after an incident.
It is also likely to end the rise in crash for cash scams, where fraudsters purposely drive into vehicles to fraudulently make a claim.
Labour looks set to introduce tough new drink-drive limits, reducing alcohol thresholds from 35µg to 22µg per 100ml of breath, but alcolocks are now the only way. Officials are already looking into alcohol ignition interlock devices but this should be sped through and adopted as soon as possible.
The devices effectively stop drink drivers from starting their ignition if a breath sample shows they have consumed above a certain amount of alcohol.
Around 300 drivers are killed every year due to alcohol, making it one of the biggest killers on the road and something that could be easily fixed.
Many residential areas around the UK are now fitted with 20mph speed knots to slow cars down in built-up areas. However, we’ve all seen drivers push well above this and fly through side streets like they’re at Silverstone.
In the future, let’s use GPS and navigation data for vehicles to take control out of drivers' hands and automatically slow cars outside high-risk areas such as schools, shopping centres and hospitals.
