THE AGE OF THE CAR DRIVER

On the 17th of January, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, came into the news when he was involved in a collision with another car whilst driving his LandRover Freelander after leaving Sandringham on to the A149 in Norfolk. 

This has whipped up a lot of controversy about the issue of pensioners driving. 

The current regulations state that as long as you renew your driving licence every three years and you pass an eye test from age 70 onwards, you are perfectly okay to drive without having to take another driving test.

I believe this needs revising. As you get older, your eyesight and your hearing and awareness begin to decline and therefore driving without adequate testing is not a good idea.

I believe you should be able to drive until you no longer can. It's an independence that I cannot have because I do not have the confidence to do so. I always have and always will use public transport. I would have given anything to be able to drive. So I support people who do, because I know what this kind of independence means to people.  If you can drive into old age without being a danger to those around you, then go for it. But when you renew your licence, you should be retested as well.

That's the good side. Now for the bad side. 

Did the Prince apologise for hurting these people? No, he didn't. However, this was a good thing. If you say sorry, it is an admission of guilt and will invalidate your car insurance. Apparently the police aren't going to press charges against him. They had what my dad would call a "quiet word in his ear", but that was it. And that wasn't until two days later (more on that in a minute). 

The media went on about Prince Philip being injured even though he was only slightly injured, but seemed not to worry about the two women and the nine month old in the other car. The only exception was Chris Ship. Good for him. Prince Philip allegedly sent a message of good wishes to the driver, but she claimed it was incomprehensible. 

Should Philip have been driving, yes. Should he be charged with a crime? That depends on the evidence from witnesses, as does any incident. Should he get a medical check-up (including an eye test)? Definitely, without question. His eyesight, hearing and reactions may not be as they used to be.

Above all, the police should investigate this incident as well as they can and if necessary charge the Prince. Just because he is a Royal, does not mean he should be above the law. And the media should give a bit more coverage to the poor people in the other car. They were victims too and deserve to be heard.

The worse thing is, that two days later the Duke was spotted in a brand new Land Rover, driving on the roads of the estate, which cross public roads and he was not wearing a seatbelt. Which says something. It says he doesn't care and that no-one is going to stop him driving no matter what. And knowing about how rude he can be, if a member of of his family did try to stop him, he'd probably tell them to sod off.  At the moment with all eyes on him, he really needs to be seen as squeaky clean or this is going to turn into a PR disaster. 

My thoughts go out to the women and the baby in the crash. Everyone else may not care. Thank God that I do.