Traffic safety
The majority want senior citizens’ fitness to drive to be checked regularly
After passing the test, the driver’s license is valid for a lifetime – critics demand driving safety checks from a certain age to prevent accidents.
A lifetime driving license? According to the majority of Germans, that shouldn’t happen. The majority of those questioned in an AutoScout24 survey are in favor of regular testing of fitness to drive.
An outstanding majority of German car owners are in favor of regular tests of fitness to drive. This is the result of a survey by AutoScout24 among 1,002 vehicle owners in Germany. Failure to pass the check would result in the loss of the driver’s license. A full 86 percent of those surveyed are in favor of driving aptitude tests to prevent accidents, only eleven percent are against such a procedure.
The proponents come from all age groups. Although there are significantly more respondents among the younger generations in favor of driving aptitude checks (94 percent of drivers under 40 years of age), the majority of the older semesters also see the benefit in this. There are also no major differences between women and men in this respect.
Physical performance dwindles with age
Diminishing eyesight or deteriorated cognitive abilities in old age repeatedly cause accidents with serious personal injuries. But from what age should the regular tests be carried out? At 23 percent, the majority of the survey participants are in favor of starting the examinations from the age of 70, eight percent consider 80 as the appropriate age limit, and around one percent consider a review to be necessary only from 90. Then there are around eight percent of those surveyed who think that driving fitness checks should take place before the age of 50.
Source: Statista