80% of UK motorists ‘would support’ older driver annual checks after Prince Philip crash

The UK’s biggest online garage and car repair marketplace has revealed that more than four fifths (83 per cent) of British drivers believe there should be annual safety checks for older drivers in the UK, following Prince Philip’s car accident last month.

On top of this, the survey also found that more than a third (34.5 per cent) of respondents thought that this law should come in after drivers turned 70, while nearly 20 per cent supporting the law coming in for 60 or 65 year olds.

WhoCanFixMyCar.com recently surveyed both its users and garages, and found that more than four in ten (40.5 per cent) motorists believe there should be an ‘upper limit’ on age, at which point drivers would be forced to surrender their licence.

Following the survey, WhoCanFixMyCar.com is now asking members of the public to submit their opinions on the subject, after the news that Prince Philip has surrendered his driving licence. The site is asking members of the public whether the government should reconsider the laws surrounding older drivers.

This came after Prince Philip caused a traffic collision injuring three people in January, at the age of 97, and was then spotted driving without a seatbelt just a few days later.

WhoCanFixMyCar.com is an online car garage and repair marketplace connecting more than 12,000 garage and repair centres with drivers around the UK. The site has almost 1.5 million users and has recently processed more than 175,000 quotes through the site in one month.

Al Preston, co-founder of WhoCanFixMyCar.com, said: “Driving for older citizens has been a talking point for years for UK motorists, however since Prince Philip’s crash it’s been highly debated within the media and on social media, which is why we decided to ask our users what they thought. It was surprising to see how many people believed in an age cap for older drivers, especially for the people who supported it for over 50s!”