Call for over 70s to take their driving tests again

a FatHeR whose wife was killed when a speeding pensioner ran her down is campaigning for drivers over 70 to face compulsory testing.

Ben Brooks-Dutton was walking with his son Jackson and wife Desreen Brooks, 33, when 83-year-old Geoffrey Lederman mistook the accelerator for the brake and careered towards them in 2012.

Harriet Harman, the family’s MP, has now backed his campaign for drivers over 70 to be re- tested and promised to address the issue during a meeting of the all Party Parliamentary Group on transport Safety.

It came in the wake of an online petition created by Mr BrooksDutton, now 37, from South London, which has now gained more than 246,000 signatures.

Once drivers turn 70 they must fill in a form every three years to renew their licence but no tests are conducted to check if their

‘Need to prove they can react’

skills are up to scratch. Mr Brooks-Dutton, a director at public relations firm Freuds, said his son, now six, still asks about his mother every day.

He said: ‘It is easy for people to look at me and say, “there’s a fairly young guy there being ageist,” but actually that’s not the case at all.

‘What I’m trying to say, having sat through this, is that these people aren’t supported, they don’t necessarily know when to stop or when to consider checking they are still safe. no one wants to kill someone from behind the wheel. I think people need to prove that then can react in a moment of stress.’

Lederman was jailed for 12 months and disqualified from driving for life.

the Department for transport said that ‘age on its own is not a barrier to safe driving’ and there were no plans to introduce retesting for older motorists.