Ageing parents are two and a half times more likely to rely on their children to drive them to hospital appointments, on shopping trips and other important journeys than five years previously, research by the AA motoring group has uncovered.
On the flipside, the so-called mates’ taxi is becoming less popular among teenage drivers, offering the hope of fewer multiple-fatality crashes involving cars overloaded with young passengers.
A report published by the Department for Transport shows that 30% of over-60s who have chosen not to learn to drive did so because they preferred to rely on family and friends (compared with 12% five years previously). while the figures for 17- to 20-year-olds giving the same reason fell to 23% from 30%. The proportion of young people blaming the high cost of learning to drive was 44% – down from 55% five years earlier.
Separate DfT figures show that, for the first time in recent years, the proportion of over-70s with a driving licence has dropped, from 64% to 62%. The decline relates almost exclusively to older men, down from 81% to 78%, while older women maintain the previous year’s 50%.
However, it does not mean fewer pensioners driving on the road. Half a million more full driving licence holders are aged 70-plus compared with five years ago.
The statistics offered hope that the teenage driver death and injury toll would decline more quickly, the AA said. Official road casualty figures show that 29% of killed or seriously injured passengers are aged between 17 and 24.
“It looks like the mates’ taxi will have to pull over and make way for ‘gran and grandads’ taxi – payback for all the times parents drove their kids to school, sports activities and parties,” said the AA president, Edmund King.
“However, there is a worrying side. In 2010, after high pump prices led to an exodus of hospital appointment and other volunteer drivers, AA campaigning helped to convince the coalition to raise the tax threshold on claiming private car mileage expenses from 40p to 45p a mile for the first 10,000 miles. That reversed the drop in numbers and the increasing burden on NHS resources to fill the gap.”
King said lower dependence on the mates’ taxi was a hopeful sign. “Among 15- to 18-year-olds, 58% of accidental deaths happen on the road. Among young males in this age group, it is 55% and a staggering 63% among young women. The likelihood of dying in a crash is even higher when it is a car full of teenagers. It is such a tragic waste.”
The road safety group Brake said peer pressure could encourage bad driving and led to younger drivers “showing off” to their passengers and taking more risks.
Sixteen- to 17-year-old drivers are up to four times more likely to die in a crash when carrying young passengers than when driving alone, but 62% less likely when carrying older adult passengers, suggesting it is peer pressure rather than simply the presence of passengers that raises the risk.
