Another Telegraph article asks if older motorists are unfairly penalised. The short answer is, no – they bloody well aren’t!
Penalised, maybe. Unfairly? No.
All you have to do is look at what happened to Cassie McCord and Neil Colquhoun to see that any penalisation is based on sound facts. If you search this blog on the word “elderly” you’ll find examples of injuries also caused by older drivers.
Joan Bakewell – a TV personality I used to have the hots for when I was younger (look, it was an “older woman” thing”, all right?) – is 79, and when she travelled to Malta she wasn’t allowed to hire a car because the rental companies have a maximum allowed driver age of 75 in Malta. She says:
I was furious because people age at different speeds. It’s seriously discriminatory; there shouldn’t be an age limit. I have no problem having a medical or driving test to prove I’m a competent driver.
They might age at different speeds, Joan, but when they get older the relative rate of ageing increases. You might get someone who is 90 who is a better driver than someone else who is only 20 – but on average, everyone who is 90 is a worse driver than everyone who is 20! That’s just because they are 90.
That’s why they are penalised. It’s a damage limitation thing.