A proposal calling for the immediate abolition of medical screening of older drivers was carried at the IMO annual general meeting in Killarney.
Prof Desmond O'Neill, consultant in geriatric medicine at Tallaght Hospital and a professor at Trinity College Dublin, told the IMO agm that the Republic's current practice of granting driving licences to older people on the basis of a medical examination is having the opposite effect to that intended.
"Driver screening as we do it in the Republic is harmful to older people and has no beneficial impact for the general public" he said.
"The state of Victoria in Australia does not screen and has the lowest death rate among older drivers in the world".
Prof O'Neill explained that the elevated number of deaths was the result of older people turning to cycling and walking rather than "lose face" by undergoing medical examination and risking not getting a driving licence.
"More than 50 per cent of pedestrian deaths are in the over-65s, even though they form just 11 per cent of our population," he said.
Prof O'Neill was backed by other doctors at the meeting, who approved a proposal calling for the immediate abolition of medical screening of older drivers in the State.
The meeting also endorsed a proposal that the Department of Transport set up a medical advisory panel to develop guidelines on medical fitness to drive.
A 2001 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on ageing and transport safety issues called for increased support for older people to help them continue to drive safely.
It underlined the need for safer roads and transport infrastructure and called for a system of medical assessment that targeted only those drivers considered to be at higher risk of driving-related death.