Question:
I recently read in the press that there is a proposal to make people who want to continue driving over the age of 70 take annual medicals and driving tests.

I find it hard to believe that you are perfectly safe at 69 and a public menace at 71. Where is the evidence?

My GP charges over Ј100 for completing a D4 medical form for my LGV licence and a driving test costs about Ј50.00. It seems a bit unfair on poor pensioners who live out in the sticks where a car is not a luxury but a necessity.

Answer: So it's a sliding scale. Sure, some 70yos will waltz the test. Others will fail miserably. Same at 75, same at 80 - but the proportions will increase each time. It's merely a case of where to draw that line for the first test - and since your licence needs renewing at 70, that makes more sense than any other arbitrary age.

Given the state of some of the Ca 30 yo shell suited simians I have encountered this year, drinking water from titty-bottles as they drove along, in a car with enlarged chromium plated exhaust pipe ends, and a "Woouoompha - Woouoompha-Woouoompha sound system, driving through the traffic like an angry wasp in a swarm.

A mere bagatelle. So why bother imposing the charge at all ?

The real issue is the possibility of failing the test and the subsequent costs involved getting retests done when no such test is imposed on the 30 year old shell suited Woouoompha- monkeys.

TBH I think it might break the disability discrimination / age discrimination legislation. Not that 70 year old bad drivers should not be diqualified, but that a test is applied against them and only them simply on account of their age.