AGE LIMIT FOR MOTOR DRIVERS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21805, 10 June 1936, Page 6

AGE LIMIT FOR MOTOR DRIVERS

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS Sir, —A magistrate meets with the coincidence of four old men making serious mistakes in driving: therefore he proposes that no old men should be allowed to drive. Now, if this were part of a general plan to eliminate all incompetent drivers, well and good. But is it? Another magistrate may discover another coincidence, where four, or even forty, motorists have been involved in serious collisions through drink. Will he advocate that every driver must sign a temperance pledge when he signs his driving ticket? Medical experts can tell us what fraction of a second it takes us to react to the sense of danger, and base their estimate of a person’s driving ability on that showing.

There are many men, mostly young, who could pass almost any driving test or medical examination, yet, owing to their foolhardiness and lack of consideration for cithers, they are actually the worst menace to road safety. It would- be rather cruel to them to fix an age limit of 70. for that is about the age at which one would expect them to be developing qualities of judgment and discretion—just the age at which their licenses should be returned to them. Then there are the old young men far below 70, also those who through ill-health or other causes become temporarily affected in their nerves to the extent of being a possible source of danger. There must come a time in any man’s life when his senses gradually decline, and If he cannot develop compensating qualities of steadiness and care, that should be the end of his driving, whatever his age. ‘ However, unless it is proposed to undertake some comprehensive campaign for reducing the number of road mishaps, the idea of fixing an age limit is hardly worth considering.—Yours, etc.. « T.A.S. June 8, 1936.