“You should hang your head in shame,” judge tells 82-year-old driver who ran over cyclist

Unpopular opinion but I say get old people off the road unless they've demonstrated they are up to it every year after age 70 (as is required in many other countries). Driving is a privilige not a right and it has the potential to cause innocent parties death or serious injury, as it has here. What they'll do to get around is a problem to be solved, but it's not the responsibility of innocent road users to sort that out. 

The generation who got free university education, proper jobs, proper healthcare and pensions can't also expect to cut about the place mowing down cyclists without a care in the world.  

You have to reapply for a new passport every ten years so why not a driving license? Charge a similar amount as you're charged for a new passport and be done with it. As has been said, could potentially be done in a simulator which may speed up the process.

As things currently stand it oftens falls upon the family to take the driving license away and that's not the best way.

Longer and truly enforcable bans are what's needed. Maybe something that can be done in conjunction with insurance companies and manufacturers. Perhaps involving tagging offenders?

I know how much my Nan valued the independence having her car gave her but when we took her license away and showed her how much she saved by using a taxi when she needed one she was happy. With the growth of Uber and the ilk (and the rising cost of motoring) it may be education that's needed to convince the elderly to give up driving...

All the stats show that it is young men who pose the greatest danger to other road users ... by far.

The issue of older drivers needs to be dealt with - they will represent an increasing proportion of the population, and therefore age-induced accidents will become increasingly common.

on the one hand, this guy should not be driving...

but on the other, it does seem that, because of the design of both cars and roads these days, there is an increasingly narrow margin of error and demand for almost instantaneous reaction times - so, other than the elderly, we also see a larger number of mistakes made by those who have to drive 10 hour days for a living...

maybe we should make 80 the minimum age limit for driving, and make them all ride bikes before that age?!

Too many drivers to test everyone every 5 years, even though it would improve the standard of driving.

All drivers will get sloppy/lazy etc over time, however older drivers get bad habbits (as do all) AND have physical deterioation at a higher rate than young drivers. As much as it's age discrimination, it is necessary to help older drivers know when it's time to stop driving (maybe just stop driving at night or on motorways first, but eventually completely stop). Right now it seems so many keep driving until something happens, then stop driving. That's a bit late.

Another thought about all this. Age itself isn't the problem. I know a 93-year-old who's still driving & is probably as safe as anyone. On the other hand I know 30-year-olds - we probably all do - who shouldn't be on the road. However, suddenly feeling old does damage one's confidence, & confidence is an essential part of good driving, along with more obvious things like reaction speed & coordination (which may or may not decrease with age). When I see examples of bad driving in real life, many of them - things like going right round a roundabout in the left lane, cutting across all the exiting cars - do seem to me to be issues around confidence, so that's something I'd like to see a retest address.

+1 to pretty well all the above. Retesting everyone every 5 years would be nice, but I can see some practical difficulties (like, a small army of extra testers). Retesting everyone over (say) 70 every 5 years, though, (& maybe every year after 80) looks like a no-brainer. It doesn't have to be a full test - eyes, physical coordination, emergency stop, & a quick spin around the roads would do it I'd think. Could even be done in a driving simulator, with a couple of dangerous situations & emergencies as part of the simulation. But, please!, it **has** to happen soon. I'm saying this as a 67-year-old, by the way.

From the point of safety obviously mandatory regular testing would be good, but even as a cyclist I have to admit is is totally impractical. You have to recognise that people rely on cars for work and other commitments. To lose your job for failing a three point turn when nervous in your seventh driving test would be overkill.

When I recently had a cardiac arrest and an ICD fitted the hospital made me aware that I had to notify the DVLA to surrender my Licence for six months. It might have been sensible for them to action the process rather than relying on me to do it but I imagine that if anyone is medically unfit to drive they are already told and like in the above story it will come out in court if you ignore the advice.

Cycling Uk's comment about the judges having the unenviable job "sentencing elderly and otherwise law-abiding citizens for driving offences, when they have a long and largely unblemished driving record" is pretty pertinent. I think the vast majority of these cases could be dealt with simply with a driving ban, in many cases long enough to make reapplying a non-issue. Sending the elderly to prison or similar is of no benefit to anyone really. With this guy's failure to recognise his liability, possibly dementia is already setting in....

I believe that 5 yearly retest of all drivers should be mandatory. It should serve to refresh​ driving standards and discover medical problems. Drivers who fail should then do an extended test after a debrief and re education of the driving/hazard awareness. Driving should not be a right but an privilege after proving skills .

I don't agree with the idea that just older drivers should be required to undergo mandatory restesting. To a large degree I think that is discriminatory and doesn't tackle the actual issues. 

I think that licences should only last for 5/10 years, at which point everyone, no matter what age, has to reapply and do some form of test to show that they are still of a suitable standard. I also think that there should be a medical sign off as part of this, and that doctors / medical profesionals should have to report any issues that may hamper a driver's ability to drive to the DVLA. It shouldn't be the case that drivers can self certificate that they are fit to drive. 

Cases like this are horribly depressing and just reflects the attitude that driving is a right. I'm so glad that in this case it didn't lead to the cyclist losing their life