They would be restricted to motoring in daylight hours near their home under the plans being considered by transport officials. Licences expire when motorists turn 70 and those wanting to keep driving must inform the DVLA of medical conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes – if it is treated with insulin – and anything that affects both eyes or the total loss of sight in one eye. Reviews follow every three years.
Under the proposals being discussed by the DVLA and Driving Mobility, the official network of driving assessment centres, the over-70s could be eligible for “graduated driving licences”.
These would restrict them to a radius of 20 or 30 miles from home and bar them from night trips.
They would apply only to those who would otherwise face losing their licence because of ill health.
Edward Trewhella, the chief executive of Driving Mobility, said: “A lot of older drivers stick within their own locality, going to the shop or doctors, probably on minor roads with which they are familiar.This process would regularise that.”
The proportion of over-70s with a driving licence doubled from a third to two thirds in the past 25 years.
Deaths on the road among this age group jumped from 95 in 2010 to 145 last year, while fatalities for all other age groups fell or stayed stable.
