Science in the News: Should old people be allowed to drive (essay, .doc)

Should old people be allowed to drive?

In this essay I will answer the question: ‘should old people be allowed to drive’ with an unbiased viewpoint.

Elderly people should be allowed to drive, however to a certain age. If you are aged 60-74 you have a 1.56 out of 5 (31.2%) chance of crashing, however if you are aged 75+ you have 4.73 out of 5 (94.6) chance you will crash! [4] Suggesting that up to 74, the elderly driver is suitably on the road, but after that they will cause jeopardy across British roads. Also, they are experienced drivers, and have usually had over 30 years practise. Studies show that per 100,000 causalities, 16-29 year olds had more causalities (26) than drivers older than 70 (18) [1]. 16 year olds are 3 times more likely to die in a motor vehicle crash than the average of all drivers [3] showing us that younger people are more vulnerable to having a car crash. Senior citizens sometimes are told to go on public transport instead of driving a car, however this is unsuitable for them as it is not convenient and doesn’t get them everywhere they want to go to, as buses only go to main locations. Also elderly people may feel intimidated on a bus, because of teenagers and load noises; they would feel more secure in a privately owned car. From an economical point of view it is essential that the elderly should drive a car because this provides extra money to the government because of road tax. 9% of the population are elderly [8] , and if we stopped them driving then the government would make less money, also petrol stations would make less money as the elderly aren’t purchasing petrol. Elderly people would feel awkward talking to friends and family on a bus, and might feel that they’re being listened to. So they might feel more comfortable speaking in private. If an elderly person bought a car, money would go to car cleaners, factories and car dealers having a positive knock on effect on the local economy. Bus journeys usually take an alternative route to the customer so that they can go to various bus stops, this can take longer than a car, and could use up more petrol as the elderly person may have just wanted to take a 2 mile journey, but ended up having to travel 5 miles because of alternative routes. Also, buses are sometimes seen as dirty and unhygienic.

This is a preview of the whole essay

However, old people shouldn’t be able to drive because poor eyesight is very common with old people so it is likely that they could cause a collision in the road, as it is hard to judge distance. If all old people had a car it would add to the greenhouse effect as more Co2 is being added to the carbon dioxide blanket, so if they save money but not buying petrol they will not be adding to global warming. Also, it is proven that you have slower reactions as you grow older [2] so it is more likely that the older driver wont swerve out of the way of a car quick enough. ‘Studies show that 75% of crashes, the older driver were the cause,’ [9] clearly showing us that older drivers are a health hazard to us. It is much more sociable going on a bus as you can talk with people that you wouldn’t usually interact with. ‘Drivers aged 75 or above are at risk of a car crash more than any other age group’ [4] because they have a slower reaction time, loss of clarity in vision and hearing, not a strong and flexible and use of medication can make them unfit to drive. Vision deterioration is also a main cause of car crashes between old people this is because changing focus becomes difficult [4] colours become harder to detect and peripheral vision deteriorates. A report was completed and it showed us that senior citizens caused a shocking 18% of all pedestrian fatalities and 13% of all road fatalities [10], clearly showing us that senior citizens alone jeopardize our safety. If more people drive on our roads then they will be eroded quicker and the council will have to spend more money out of their funds to re tarmac it. Also drivers are sometimes marked ‘fit to drive’ but are clearly not. [6]

I believe most of my data is reliable, but sometimes outdated. For example source 10 was created in 1997 and it could be the case that the statistics have changed slightly. However, I used an armoury of different sources so we have an unbiased debate. For example source 4 was created in 2009. I do believe that some of my data could be unreliable as they have come from unofficial websites, but some data came from official websites such as source number 9 (UK police) and source number 5 (insurance information institute.) Some sources such as source 1 said that teenagers caused more fatalities but others such as source 4 said Older drivers caused more accidents. So its hard to judge which is the reliable data.

To conclude I would say old people should stop driving after 75, however you can retake your test and do a mandatory driving test. I believe that if your still driving and haven’t taken a mandatory driving test you are putting British citizens in grave danger, as ‘drivers aged 70 and older are three times as likely to be killed or seriously injured.’ [7]

To coursework.info, this is the same as my last essay submitted, however, this is in the .doc format that you can read!