The Malaysian government does not plan to impose mandatory health checks solely based on age for private motorists renewing their driving licences from the age of 70, reported New Straits Times.
The transport ministry does not require additional medical examinations for the renewal of private driving licences, including for motorists aged 70 years and above, said deputy transport minister Datuk Hasbi Habibollah.
“Findings from studies and international analyses show there is no conclusive evidence that introducing mandatory age-based medical examinations can significantly reduce the accident rate,” Hasbi said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Police statistics showed that those aged 70 and above accounted for 3.5% of all persons involved in road accidents between the years 2020 and 2025, compared with 69.4% of all persons involving those aged between 16 and 40 years, Hasbi said.
However, these figures included every individual involved in accidents. including drivers, motorcyclists, passengers and victims, and did not establish that age was the main contributing factor, and restrictions imposed solely on hte basis of age could affect the mobility and wellbeing of senior citizens, particularly their ability to access healthcare, manage their daily affairs and take part in community activities, he added.
“Advancing age does not necessarily mean a person has lost the ability to drive, as each individual’s health and capabilities differ. Many are still able to drive safely and responsibly,” the deputy transport minister said.
Currently, medical examinations are mandatory only for new applications and renewals of vocational licences for goods and public service vehicles, regardless of the applicant’s age, and existing medical requirements for commercial and public transport drivers are already strict and enforcement should be further strengthened, said the deputy transport minister.
Suggest empowering doctor to notify RTD and stop the patient from driving vehicle or riding motorcycle once confirmed diagnosed health issues.
You got problem with old folks ?
you got problem reading? he mentioned “health issues” so regardless of age if someone diagnosed with something they will be banned from drivng/riding.
dont discriminate against elderly . mahathir set a sepang track lap time record at age 99 driving a porsche.
This idea of restriction came from the Greenie politician.Shameful shallow politician.
Why doesnt he ask his state govt to restrict people from crossing over to Thailand?
The 2 east coast states have the highest dadah and HIV rates in Bolehland.
Anthony Loke’s punya deputy talked with facts.
What is more crucial is constant,regular unannounced enforcement at hot spots,to nab dadah or drunk drivers.
Those reddie politician afraid to carry out health check on old folks because they afraid to be thrown out. Old folks that drive in opposite direction that causes most of the accidents, are likely reddie politician supporters. Similar to those drunk drivers, antoni joke does not dare to penalize them more.
Rakyat is asking gomen to enforce health check for old folks, not barring them from drivings. Those who are unfit to drive, would be keep put from our roads and it would be much safer for every road users. Sadly, Malaysian lives are so cheap to be traded with votes.
Allow senior to drive manual car only. They forget how to put in gear, car cannot move. Cannot plunge down from car park or enter ppl house. Cannot drive against traffic. Cannot hurt themselves or knock others, because car cannot move. Till their children fetch them home. And barred them from driving. Rtd no need do anything. Their leg pain, they don’t want to drive.
Allow senior to drive manual car only. They forget how to put in gear, car cannot move. Cannot plunge down from car park, cannot go against traffic. Cannot hurt others and themselves. Because car cannot move. Till their children fetch them home. And barred them from driving. Rtd no need do anything. Their leg pain, they don’t want to drive.
The statistics cited by the deputy is utterly nonsensical. It involves every person involved in every accident and doesn’t distinguish between the driver or the passenger. If a car sits 7 people, 6 of them are totally irrelevant to the cause and the cause simply gets diluted from the passenger. It doesn’t prove or disprove that those above 70 contributes to higher accident rates. It’s just a number thrown out there to muddle the discussion. It seems more like political pressure to not impose anything to a powerful voting bloc and not a substantial argument for road safety.
Honestly, there are plenty of factors contributing to high accident rates, and one of them is simply reckless driving, which is an attitude problem rather than an age problem. Another is simply just lousy road design and poor city planning. This portion, I think it’s not only JPJ’s problem but the city councils are to be blamed as well. Confusing roads, close merging points and exit points, poorly marked roads, obscured road signs, blind intersections, the many roundabouts that most Malaysians have no idea how to navigate, etc etc…
And I think screening for cognitive impairment shouldn’t be age based but applied broadly. It can happen to anyone any age. Fitness to drive should be an ongoing assessment done perhaps every 5 to 10 years, and not just for cognition but also for remembering and updating on traffic rules. Talking about age alone is a distraction from the wider problem that we collectively have a lot more attitude issues than simply cognitive problems.
And I completely do not understand how the existing rules are considered “strict”. I don’t think they conduct cognitive test or health test for candidates. Passing the paper test and the driving test doesn’t solve the underlying problem of people blatantly breaking all the rules despite “knowing” them. Given how blatantly people go against traffic flows, drive slowly on fast lanes, drives quickly on slow lanes, accelerate on yellow lights, turn on lanes that has no turn markings, double park, triple park, and all kinds of shenanigans, it’s hard to argue that the ” strict requirements” are doing anything useful. This nonsense about licensing is also another distraction for the far bigger problem or near zero enforcement. You solve accident rates by heavily penalizing bad behavior and negligence, and that requires strict enforcement, not strict certification.
not dare to do it because certain 101 years old retard is still out there driving.