New yearly driving tests ‘distressing’
Changes requiring annual medical tests for older drivers will be onerous and distressing, says an over-50s seniors lobby group. Under reforms announced last week by Queensland Transport Minister Scott Emerson, drivers aged 75 years and over will have to pass a medical test each year.
Changes requiring annual medical tests for older drivers will be onerous and distressing, says an over-50s seniors lobby group.
Under reforms announced last week by Queensland Transport Minister Scott Emerson, drivers aged 75 years and over will have to pass a medical test each year.
National Seniors chief executive, Michael O’Neill, said the changes, due to be phased in from the middle of next year, were based purely on age and not on driving ability.
“Official figures don’t bear out or support this move,” Mr O’Neill said. “This will be distressing for older people who will have to undergo and pay for the yearly test.
“Assessing whether or not anyone is physically and mentally fit to drive safely should be up to a medical practitioner, not to an arbitrary law based on a person’s age,” he added.
Mr O’Neill said the cost of the test was also just another impost on the already overstretched budgets of seniors struggling to make ends meet, unless the test was bulkbilled.
In its submission last year to the Older Driver Safety Advisory Commission, National Seniors said aged based licensing was discriminatory and that the ageing process affected individual drivers differently.
“We strongly believe that medical assessments should occur at all ages at the first detection of a condition that may affect a person’s capacity to drive safely, not just when they reach a certain age,” Mr O’Neill said.
In 2011, 4.4% of fatalities on Queensland roads were people aged 75 years and older. This compares to 5.2% for people aged between 25 to 29 years and 7.06% for people aged between 30 and 39 years.
