Motorists over 75 need to take a medical test as their driving becomes “far more risky” with age, a leading insurer has said. 

Until 2022, the requirement to submit a medical report to renew a licence began at 70 but the Government increased the age limit because older drivers are an “an exceptionally responsible group of drivers”. 

Despite this, a survey for Peopl Insurance found the public are starkly divided on the issue; one in five people considered the requirement ‘ageist’ but most people thought the regulation was appropriate or not tough enough. 

“Fifty percent of people felt the current rule was fine and another 25% felt we should apply the mandatory rule to everyone - not just to people at age 75 and over,” Peopl Insurance CEO Paul Walsh told Breakfast Briefing. 

“That was predominantly women; probably there’s a higher level of interest in road safety and higher level of awareness amongst many women of the implications of being safer on the roads.” 

Mr Walsh said when you dig down in the demographics of the poll, older people are actually more relaxed about the mandatory medical examinations. 

“The older the respondent in the survey nationally, the more they were aware that actually we needed mandatory health checking,” he said. 

“Experience on the roads probably counts for something here and I think also, on the back of last year, there was a much higher level of awareness [about road safety].” 

More risk

Whatever the views of the poll’s respondents, Mr Walsh said there are good reasons why older people should not be allowed to automatically renew their licence. 

“There’s a very strong body of evidence that the older the driver, there’s a higher potential risk of an incident,” he said. 

“Also, that incident will be more expensive.” 

A European Commission proposal that would mandate a test for someone over 70 who wants to keep their driving licence has encountered fierce resistance from a number of member states. 

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the policy “does not make sense” to him.

Main image: An elderly couple driving. Alamy.com