Sir, - It was depressing to read the uncritical reception given to the National Car Test in you motoring supplement (November 21st). A very tiny proportion of car crashes are due to mechanical failure and even fewer occur among cars over four years old. There is no evidence that the tests of the type applied by the National Car Test are effective in reducing crashes. This approach has been rejected by North America and Australia as misdirected, inefficient and wasteful.
An even greater danger from the test is that it may hinder the mobility of our older people. Mobility is of great importance to older people, rated third after health and income at the White House Conference on Ageing. Driving cessation is associated with depression, less use of public transport and increased use of services. Research from our unit has shown that public transport, even when free, cannot meet the mobility needs of older people who no longer drive.
Older people, the safest group of drivers on the road, tend to have older cars. Not only have we allowed the real income of older people in Ireland to drop over the last five years but we are now placing a significant psychological and financial barrier in the way of their mobility. The high failure rate of the test at the first attempt (54 per cent) adds insult to injury. This may either deter older people from continued driving, deplete their attenuated resources or lead them to spend even more money on exploitative schemes to "prepare" their cars for the National Car Test.
The failure of motorists' organisations and advocacy groups for older people to combat this damaging initiative at a national and European level is probably a measure of the strength of the automotive lobby in Brussels. It would be helpful if national newspapers could take a more measured and critical view of a misguided, inefficient and probably ageist imposition on older drivers in particular. - Yours, etc.,
Desmond O'Neill, MD, FRCPI, Senior Lecturer in Medical Gerontology,Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Adelaide and Meath Hospital, Dublin 24