I sympathise most deeply with your feelings of loss, Bruce, and I understand your anger and frustration.

You undoubtedly feel that these two drivers should not have been on the road in charge of a vehicle, and in this you are most probably right. I would even agree that some kind of driver assessment, including a medical and an ability check for drivers over, say, 70 might be a good idea.

My reasons, however, are not the same as yours.

The two instances you give show two drivers who, through inattention to the task in hand, caused the deaths of other road users. This may however simply show that they were very bad drivers, and age may not have been a factor in this.

Statistically, the most dangerous group on the road are aged 18 - 25 years, while the safest are 50 - 70 years.

A check into the past history of these two might well show similar incidents over the course of their driving careers.

There are many very good octogenarian drivers out there, who have never been involved in an accident. Indeed, to take your example, some years ago there was a London cabbie, who was still qualifying annually at the age of 83.

Establishing stereotypes, by generalising from too little evidence, is a dangerous procedure, as it can lead to people being put into categories in which they do not belong, and many older drivers rely on their cars for mobility, especially those in areas where public transport is poor, or non-existent.

You lost your partner in an incident that was truly against the odds, due to the actions of a very bad driver, but I would suggest that, if the driver had been 21 years old (a much more likely event) you would not be suggesting a retest for all drivers of that age.

Now, I said above that I think a check for very elderly drivers might be a good idea. My reasons for that are as follows.

1. It would point up the physical ability of the driver, allowing those who no longer have the strength to handle steering, or braking effectively to be removed from the road.

2. It would give information on bad driving habits, deficiencies in attention or attitude, and other factors, which could be remedied before allowing further driving to continue.

The thing is though, that similar testing would probably be just as useful for drivers aged 25, or 35, or.........

Once again, please accept my deepest sympathy

Don T.