Do you have an elderly relative who still drives? I only ask because a judge recently advised people to think hard about whether or not their older family members should still be out on the roads.
The piece of advice came after the tragic incident when a 90 year old driver was involved in a crash which resulted in the death of another driver.
The elderly driver is a retired GP called Dr Turner Waddell who suffers from bad eyesight and who caused the accident by driving on the wrong side of the dual carriageway in his Volvo.
The other driver was Neil Colquhoun, and his grieving mother said that any driver over the age of 70 should have to sit their driving test again and that we should all persuade our relatives to give up their car once they can no longer drive it safely.
In Court with a Zimmer Frame
The retired doctor appeared in Winchester Crown Court with a zimmer frame and a hearing aid to hear charges against him for causing death by careless driving. He was eventually given a 9 month suspended jail sentence and had his driving licence taken off him for good.
The judge was Keith Cutler and he said that people who care for elderly drivers should think “very, very carefully” about whether they should still be out and about driving. He also described it as a “form of arrogance” to consider that you have a right to drive when you are no longer capable of doing so.
At the time of the tragic accident Waddell was in the car with his wife on the way to a concert. It seems that he took a wrong turn at some point and ended up in the eastbound carriageway but travelling west. Other drivers reportedly warned him with flashing lights and honking horns but it seems as though the elderly driver flashed his own lights at them and went through no entry signs. The end of the journey came when he met Mr Colquhoun’s car as it was legally overtaking another vehicle.