When the subject of discount car insurance for senior drivers comes up, a heated discussion may be inevitable. Many seniors feel the issue should be defined in terms of road safety, not the age of the driver.  There’s little evidence to suggest that senior drivers should be required to take a road test, but annual medical and eye tests are good ideas and may help with discount car insurance rates. Anytime there’s a suggestion to put the brakes on senior drivers through mandatory retesting or stringent new license renewal requirements, a touch of road rage is perhaps inevitable.

Drivers 65 and older are among the safest

Older drivers don’t hesitate to point to the fact that young drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 have the highest collision rates , not seniors. They can also cite  “driver inattention, inexperience/confusion, distraction, drinking and impairment were the most frequently identified human conditions” contributing to casualty collisions in recent car insurance studies. Those factors can occur at any age. But, statistical evidence from around the world shows that drivers 65 and older are among the safest and have some of the lowest accident rates. This may contribute to discount car insurance rates  for senior drivers.

Self Policing Among Seniors

That doesn’t mean there isn’t an issue here. Reflexes, vision, hearing and flexibility all decline with age and can seriously impact driving ability. Many seniors are good at “self policing” themselves and either stop driving altogether or closely restrict where they go.  It’s human nature to deny our declining powers and some seniors who closely identify their independence with continued driving, might ignore or downplay health issues for fear of being told they must quit driving, for safety’s sake or their collision car insurance may be canceled.

Fair legislation may be enacted.

In the US, each state is free to determine their own standards for renewing licenses of senior drivers. Addressing this issue requires treating senior drivers with dignity, while keeping road safety paramount and cheap car insurance available. If you have strong feelings about this subject, contact your state and federal legislators. The more dialogue that is established on this, the better chance that fair legislation may be enacted. Discount car insurance rates are important to everyone, not just senior drivers.