Driving rule for elderly Victorians under scrutiny after fatal crash

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Driving rules in Victoria are again under scrutiny after a car driven by a 91-year-old lost control and struck a woman, man and toddler near a playground in Melbourne’s east this week. The Victorian government is considering increasing testing for elderly drivers with the Acting Premier Ben Carroll acknowledging it is a valid concern.

Transcript

00:00Rules are different wherever you are.

00:04It depends on your age, what type of vehicle you're driving,

00:08what type of testing needs to be done

00:10and how often that testing needs to be done.

00:12It might be a medical fitness to drive test with a GP

00:16or with an occupational therapist.

00:19It might be an optometrist testing your vision.

00:22It might be with a specialist older driver assessor.

00:25It might be a practical test of your ability to control the vehicle

00:30and comply with road rules but not actually testing your skills

00:34in driving as such.

00:36So the rules are different no matter where you are

00:39and the inconsistency just makes it more difficult for people

00:43to understand when they need to be starting conversations

00:47around their driving as they age.

00:51And when you've got things like, well, I live near a border

00:53and so does the rule still apply when I cross over to the border?

00:57That just makes it so much more difficult for people unnecessarily.

01:01So some consistency would really improve things.

01:03So if there was some consistency around the nation,

01:06some sort of standardisation, what should that look like?

01:10Well, that's one of the things that we don't really know.

01:12We could do with a really good study which looks at the different rules

01:18in each jurisdiction as they're currently applying

01:20and what is world's best practice

01:22and figure out what is having the best impact

01:26in terms of maintaining safe drivers

01:29and then apply that consistently to each of the jurisdictions.

01:34So what would be world's best practice?

01:37Can we look overseas to other countries

01:39that are doing this better than we are?

01:43Absolutely.

01:43I mean, this is not just an issue which affects Australia.

01:47Ageing populations are happening all over the world

01:50and we know that there are various age-related factors

01:54which can affect an older person's capacity

01:57to maintain control of a motor vehicle

01:59and to react as and when necessary to avoid crashes.

02:04And it's all sorts of things.

02:05It's hearing and vision, problem-solving abilities,

02:10your memory, your decision-making,

02:12also physically your strength, your flexibility,

02:15your ease of movement.

02:18So declining physical health, motor skills, cognitive capacity,

02:23they do increase the risk for older people with driving.

02:26But also we need to understand that the cessation of driving

02:30can bring about significant feelings of loss.

02:34Yeah.

02:34And so it needs to be handled really sensitively.

02:38So that was going to be my next line of questioning there for you.

02:42We know that driving gives people independence at whatever age,

02:47but that obviously needs to be taken into consideration

02:50when looking at some sort of standardised rules

02:53or rules for different jurisdictions.

02:55What has the opposition been in the past

02:57to changes to these rules?

03:01I mean, it is a very sensitive issue.

03:03People do hold dear to the feelings of kind of independence

03:07and freedom that licences provide to them.

03:11And we need to be realistic about if when someone has to stop driving

03:17because they're no longer able to safely continue driving,

03:21there have to be realistic alternative forms of transport.

03:25And so it needs to be convenient, reliable, accessible,

03:30affordable alternate transport options.

03:33And in some places that's really difficult to achieve.

03:36So we've got to make this as easy as we can for everybody

03:41to start the conversation early with people as they age,

03:45to provide information and give people as they're ageing

03:49some feeling of agency and control over this

03:52so that it's not happening to them,

03:55but they are part of a transition process

03:57and a decision-making process.

03:59And we can be making sure that the road environment

04:04is as simple and clear as it can be.

04:06We know that older drivers tend to self-regulate.

04:10They might stop driving at night time.

04:12They might restrict their driving to places

04:14where they feel most comfortable and familiar places.

04:18So we can be providing more support to people

04:21to do that in a formal way

04:23so that we are extending the time

04:26when people can be driving safely,

04:28but easing the transition to a time

04:31when they're not able to.

04:32Right.

04:37Right.

04:37Yeah.

04:38Yeah.

04:58Yeah.

05:00Yeah.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended