Some suggest starting aptitude tests at age 75, others at age 60. Most are more in favor of age 70. However, this is not the main teaching of the consultation we have proposed.
Three quarters for
The surprise is that almost three quarters of those who answered are in favor of checking the ability to drive. And this, regardless of their age. In fact, if the respondents are on average 61 years old, they actually go from Sirine, 18 years old, to Hyères, to Anatole, 98 years old, to Cavalaire. Almost all of them have a driving license (99.6%), and 60% of them are men. The vast majority of them consider their knowledge of traffic laws to be good, even very good, and feel comfortable, even very comfortable, behind the wheel.
Age division
The division that shows itself with the greatest force is probably the one expected for him: the opposition between the young and the old. “I find that we are often more cautious than many young people“, says Jane, an eight-year-old from Golfe-Juan. She is thus against an aptitude test. Her view of her own driving, which she considers average both in her knowledge of the traffic laws and in her ease behind the wheel, would certainly make César jump . 23 years old from Nice, he is convinced that “the elderly pose a danger because of their lack of responsiveness“Incompatible.
Like Bernard, a 68-year-old resident of Le Val, believed that “seniors are not responsible for the majority of accidents“, and Mehdi, a thirty-year-old father from Sainte-Maxime, who says “no longer count the times when older people have been missing [les] to crush“him and his child in a pram.
“I was knocked over last month!”, testifies Nadège, 55 years old.(Photo doc. SL).
Unsuitable youth?
One of the arguments that comes with the most force on the side of the anti-test, but also “because but…”, is the youth of the drivers who are most often responsible for accidents. However, there is no question of incapacity. Rather speed, alcohol or mobile phone use, which according to Isabelle would be the prerogative of youth.
This 49-year-old Niçoise is far from the only one arguing in this direction. To all of them we will still oppose an argument: speeding, drunkenness or using the phone while driving, which are actually the most frequent causes of serious accidents, are determined and sanctioned. Why not find disqualification in this case to make it an offence, or even a misdemeanor, in the same way as driving without a licence?
clarity
This is how another Niçoise wonders: “The road laws have changed a lot, there was no motorway in my time, we don’t know all the signs and our vision is declining: do we have the same ability to react as back then? I’m not sure at all“, thinks Françoise, 71 years old.
Resident of Sospel, Marie-Christine, 72, has decided and decided not to drive on the motorway or at night. She also wouldn’t drink or make calls while driving. “I don’t want to cause an accident.“
“I’ve dealt with elderly people with red lights that they didn’t notice,” says Karine, 42.(Photo doc. FB).
To keep the license
But whoever says age does not necessarily say incapacity. A test that certifies the ability to drive could thus also prove useful in coping with family pressure to let go of the wheel.
So says Roger at 83. This Six-Fournais is, he says, “tanned by his children not to drive anymore“while he feels perfectly able. Furthermore, we shall see a message from his son to Marie-Danielle in his reply to our consultation on behalf of his mother. He makes her say: “JI am a real danger behind the wheel.“The septuagenarian from Hyères did not appreciate the joke or our call to have their hearts ready and hammered her ability behind the wheel.
Ginette, a 92-year-old resident of Cannes, ensures that she can no longer drive as no company will now agree to insure her due to her age. “But I’m a good driver, a test would prove it!“
Everyone agrees
Perhaps there is finally a consensus on the withdrawal of the concept of age in the establishment of a control. In fact, a large number of the answers, like Brigitte, a 70-year-old Fréjusienne, show the acceptability of a test, provided that it concerns all drivers. Erik, 64 years old from Tourrettes-sur-Loup, Frantz, 42 years old from Nice, Julia, 34 years old from Cannet, or Sophie, 78 years old from Hyères, all agree.
