Tag Archives: driving training

Should older female drivers be retested?

Every so often there’s a flurry of moans about older drivers, especially when one of them drives the wrong way on a motorway or loses control in a car park.

Somehow these occasional events are more newsworthy than the more frequent serious motorway accidents, usually caused by younger drivers and resulting in fatalities and serious injuries.

Of course we really do need to consider the implications of old age in the light of the ‘baby boomer’ effect which means that the number of drivers over 70 is set to double in the next 20 years and the number of 90 year old drivers to rise by 18% in the next five years.

But just because someone is ‘old’ doesn’t necessarily make them a bad driver, assuming their physical fitness and eyesight is up to the job. So FOXY wouldn’t support any compulsory retesting on an age basis alone. In fact the evidence is that it’s young drivers that are over-represented in accident statistics, causing serious injuries and fatalities as a result of their lack of experience and motoring judgement.

Looking at the statistics behind all this, the facts are that ‘failed to look properly’ followed by ‘failed to judge other’s path or speed’ are the two main causes of accidents for young and older drivers alike. However, when the accident was caused due to a ‘loss of control’ or ‘careless, reckless or in a hurry driving behaviour’ the driver is twice as likely to be young than old.

Leading motoring group the IAM is keen to address these areas in terms of voluntary driver assessments and training, which FOXY supports. Their CEO Simon Best believes that the Government needs a strategy to manage more elderly drivers and make them more aware of the risks they face. The top priority should be non-compulsory driving assessments nationwide, he explains, to help them deal with modern high speed traffic and eliminate any bad habits. Not just that but better training for GPs and other medical staff is also needed.

What about older women?

When I talk to women drivers there is a definite interest in confidence boosting refresher courses to keep us all up to date. Of course we’re all different and some women are more confident and knowledgeable drivers than others regardless of age. However after driving for 20 years or more (and often considerably more) there will be many female (and male of course) motorists who haven’t kept themselves up to date with the latest Highway Code, would like to know more and have many questions they’d like answered, in a female friendly atmosphere and where others like them share the same concerns.

No-one can deny that older women drivers (over 60s+) tend to have more accidents than younger females but their accidents tend to be minor ones such as kerb damage to alloys and bumps in local supermarkets or car parks. More often than not these are caused by a lack of concentration and are then covered by the excess their insurance policy requires them to pay towards any claim. This is assuming they DO claim via the insurer rather than finding out how much it would cost if carried out by a female friendly FOXY approved bodyshop with the right skills and equipment. Which might be cheaper in the end.

Refresher driving courses for women

But perhaps there’s a demand for the equivalent of Vauxhall’s popular Women in the Driving Seat evenings where women drivers come together to learn about car maintenance, self defence and ways to handle road rage.

In this instance, refresher courses would be fun social occasions where women of all ages could share tips about driver concentration, coping with onboard distractions (children, older relatives and SatNovs) as well as the hazards of fast traffic and negotiating busy supermarket car parks.

They’d be able to refresh their knowledge of the Highway Code, have their eyes tested if in doubt, take confidential medical advice and be reminded about driving etiquette whilst learning from the experiences of their female peers.

Why wouldn’t this be a worthwhile exercise for ALL motorists to enjoy, on a regular basis throughout a driving career?

Even better if it came with an insurance discount for all those who had passed the refresher course with flying colours…

FOXY

Should older women pay more for car insurance?

The jury is out as always about the comparative driving ability of women and men drivers. This always depends on a lot more factors than just age (such as postcode, experience and claims) but provocative gender headlines are always popular!

Most of us are aware of the statistics about young men drivers causing more than 90% of all fatalities and serious injuries on the road. Hence the lesser risk assessment for car insurance premiums for younger female motorists.

Previous research suggested that men and women between the age of 30 and 60 were similarly competent drivers, judged by their driving record and insurance claims.

After that, older women had more accidents but they were often local bumps that were less serious and less expensive to repair. I had assumed that they were normally paid for by the motorist within their excess and I have always advocated the likes of the Driving Standards Agency’s Arrive Alive training programme (called Classic for older drivers) for organisations like the WI and TWG to include in their local membership events programmes.

But I read in Guardian Money that insurers are now charging women drivers aged 75 some 50% more for their car insurance than men. From the age of 80 this rises to a staggering supplement of 100%. Ouch.

Unsurprisingly, linked to predictable baby boomer birth rates and social trends the number of women drivers over 70 with licences has increased dramatically from 4% in 1976 to the 1990s figure of 20% and it is now at 36%. This will continue to grow as those of us with driving licences age and replace Mums and Grans who perhaps didn’t drive in their day.

The crossover point at which women start paying more than men has, according to AA Insurance, reduced from 60 years to 50 years in just six years. As other car insurance providers are still working on 60 years as the crossover point it makes sound sense for any 51 to 59 year old foxy women drivers to shop around for rates come renewal time, especially those who might be paying more than they need to AA Insurance…

In Guardian Money’s analysis Asda and Sheilas’ Wheels came out best and surprisingly, bearing in mind their retail market profile one of the biggest increases in premiums was made by Marks & Spencer followed by the RAC (53% more), Tesco (37% more) and LV= (28% more).

I know from experience that many older women drivers lack confidence for a multitude of reasons (divorce and widowhood might have forced them onto the roads after many years of willing back seat driving), can be more likely to get distracted than men (we call it multi-tasking and we often have children with us), are more likely to be doing local shopping mileage (so we WILL be the ones to have these local prangs) and may not have had training in motorway driving which requires a different skill set.

But is it just ‘older’ women that should have driving refresher courses? Even celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow  admit to needing help with their driving concentration skills… And after 10 years, wouldn’t it be a good idea for everyone to have a refresher driving training course to fend off all the bad driving habits we all seem to acquire?

I am all in favour of driving training courses for women drivers of all ages that bring women together locally, are social female friendly occasions rather than what might be perceived as patronising experiences and so that women can learn from their peers rather than superior males…

And perhaps the insurance companies would then reward an independent training scheme with lower premiums for women drivers, where applicable, just as they do with the PassPlus training scheme for novice drivers. After all their risk should be lower with fewer road accidents and motoring claims.

We might even include FOXY’s life assistance membership services including free car fitness checks and FOXY Choice’s female friendly approved garages so she can count on friendly motoring support and good local garages to help her run safer cars and who are measurably better than others.

FOXY