Sir Stirling Moss has called for drivers over the age of 70 to take regular driving refresher tests.
Sir Stirling, who still races at the age of 80, told The Times "You should have a refresher test when you get to 70 or 75. It would be a good idea if [older drivers] were given an evaluation test to see how responsible they are with modern roads, signs and cars, because things are so different now."
His comments follow RAC figures revealing that 61 per cent of people polled agreed with mandatory driving tests for drivers over the age of 70 and 69 per cent backed compulsory health checks.
This is despite research showing that older drivers are only involved in four per cent of crashes that lead to injury, a figure much smaller than younger drivers.
Current rules for drivers over 70 state that they must renew their licence and declare themselves medically fit to drive.
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Re: Moss: driving tests for over 70s
I still don't agree i'm afraid - I have had several reasonably quick, 90's hatchback / coupe's mostly fwd and it is near impossible to induce lift off oversteer without being really really stupid ( i.e barreling into a corner at ridiculous speeds, the car slips slightly at the front, totally and utterly letting off the accelerator altogether, car turns too much, very quickly - if you're stupid enough to do this you're having an accident sooner or later anyway) , remember these cars dont have any asc etc to help you, just your right foot.
There's also a world of difference between getting the back out in powerful a rwd car by giving it a bootful mid corner and actually managing to get it to lift-off oversteer, it's not the same type of oversteer at all, the car acts very differently in both situations (it's called snap-off for a reason) although as before it's much easier to get control of a rwd car again than fwd.
Re: Moss: driving tests for over 70s
As I said, SC isn't standard on all new cars even today, and can fail, so you should be prepared to act to save your neck when the safety nanny isn't there. Of course, with it on, and with big tyres giving lots of grip, it's not easy to provoke oversteer at all, and oversteer only counts for a tiny proportion of deaths overall... but surely educating people to the max is worth it even if it only saves one life?
Re: Moss: driving tests for over 70s
I've seen modern, post-1993 FWD cars lose the rear due to lifting off and spin. It isn't that difficult. Particularly as stability control isn't standard on all new cars even today - and electronics can and do fail, so you should always have the ability to cope without them. It's not THAT hard to catch a slide, you just need to know what you're doing. It's not about encouraging young chavs in Corsas and Clios and whatnot to try to 'drift' their stupid little hatchbacks, God knows they do it far too much already, you'll never stop them, but it's about educating responsible drivers.
I admit, though, RWD generally gives more benign handling on the limit. Catching a slide in a BMW is pretty damn easy.