Older driver debate not quite black and white

Wide support for lowering insurance premiums for older drivers but issue is complex

Members of the House human rights committee came out with guns blazing this week, proposing changes in insurance law to end “discrimination” against elderly drivers.

Independent MP Alexandra Attalidou led the charge, noting that drivers over 70 (the cut-off after which a driving licence must be renewed every three years, with a health certificate) face increased premiums based on age – unrelated to their actual driving history – while those in their 80s are often denied insurance altogether.

86-year-old Panayiotis (surname withheld) is one example of the latter category, having recently been issued a six-month grace period by his insurance company to find another insurer, after which they plan to terminate his policy.

The reasons are purely age-related. Panayiotis has a valid licence and health certificate, and has incurred no major claims during his 50-plus years with the company. His most recent claim was in 2016.

Insurance companies “should be obliged to insure you”, Attalidou told the Cyprus Mail. “Taking all the risks into account, of course – but not only your age.” Premiums should reflect a driver’s track record, not date of birth.

The argument is that elderly people inevitably have slower reflexes, making them dangerous drivers by definition. Attalidou, however, disagrees with a blanket approach.

After all, some senior citizens “are very active. They work, they drive, they exercise… They don’t drink, they don’t take medicine, they don’t take drugs. So who is the most dangerous?”

Older drivers typically don’t speed, “they don’t drive in the evening, usually. They don’t drive in bad weather… So, if you want to increase the insurance policy for older people, this should be based on their claims, and it should be based on statistics.

“Otherwise this is ageism. It’s discrimination, and it’s prohibited.”

Attalidou presents police data – the only publicly available data in Cyprus – which seems to bear out her claims.

In 2022, for instance, the entire cohort of over-70s (from 70-year-olds all the way up to those over 95) made up only 7.2 per cent of the 798 drivers who’d been involved in road accidents. By contrast, a single five-year tranche – drivers aged 35-39 – made up 13 per cent. 

The problem is that these are absolute numbers, not per capita, limited by the obvious fact that there are fewer elderly drivers on the roads than younger ones – partly because higher insurance premiums act as a disincentive. 

More reliable data from the Association of British Insurers paints a slightly different picture. A chart showing ‘Drivers killed or seriously injured per 1000 licence holders’ is unmistakably U-shaped, the y-axis veering sharply upwards in the ‘70 or over’ category – albeit not as high as for those under 30.

As so often in Cyprus, the problem is exacerbated by weaknesses in other sectors.

Thus, for instance, transport policy. If public transport were fast and efficient, the needs of elderly drivers – who typically travel to only a handful of places, to buy food or visit their children – would largely be met. As it is, however, the lack of public transport means that even very old and infirm people are compelled to drive.

Emilios Pyrishis, managing director of Atlantic Insurance, told the Cyprus Mail of cases he’s witnessed (these are cases when the company typically terminates the policy) where a customer “might have trouble walking, or his hands are shaking – yet he’s continuing to drive as before.

“Or there are times when his children might tell us, ‘Cancel the insurance, he’s dangerous’. Because old people don’t realise. They don’t realise they’re a risk. After all, it’s human nature that you don’t want to give up. Someone will say ‘I’m OK, I’m OK’ – but they’re really not.”

A related systemic weakness has to do with the health certificate – which the road transport department accepts without question in renewing a driver’s licence.

The certificate is signed by a doctor, usually a GP. In almost every case, however, the doctor won’t have examined the driver before issuing the certificate – unlike, say, in the UK, where (as Nicosia doctor V.N. Atamyan told the Cyprus Mail) a doctor will always check eyes, reflexes and neurological health.

There are no firm guidelines in Cyprus, the theory being that a personal doctor will be familiar with their patient’s general state of health.

But health can deteriorate quickly at advanced ages – and Gesy won’t cover a referral just to get one’s eyes checked, for instance (without an actual eye condition), so a GP can’t arrange that even if they wanted to. Hopefully, a conscientious driver will pay for their own check-up before getting back behind the wheel.

The result is that many senior citizens who’d probably fail a medical nonetheless stay on the roads – though, as Andreas Constantinides, sales executive at Prodromou & Makriyiannis Insurance (P&M), puts it, the risk is limited by their driving style:

“Not that they don’t have claims. They have claims, we see it all the time. But they’re not like a young guy who’s going to turn the car into a total loss, or crash into two other cars.

“An old person will usually just graze the other car, or pull a door out… Just as long as they don’t run over a pedestrian.” The danger with older drivers isn’t recklessness, just reduced alertness; they might hit someone on a bike “and not even realise it. That’s where the claim can go up to half a million, say”.

P&M fill a very particular niche, catering to people like Panayiotis who’ve been cut off by their insurance company despite a stellar driving record.

Not all companies discriminate directly in that way (Pyrishis confirms that Atlantic usually try to keep their octogenarian customers, unless they seem like a danger to others) – and there’s always the Cyprus Hire and Rejected Risks Pool for those who’ve been rejected by at least three insurance companies.

But the Pool charges high premiums, since it’s dealing with ‘uninsurables’, whereas P&M market themselves as senior-citizen-friendly – as long as they have a reasonable driving record, of course.

“Our highest premium for a two-litre engine car, for an 85-year-old driver, is €425. If it’s 1.6-litre, it’s €385… Just yesterday we signed with a customer who’s 89 years old. A new customer, just arrived at our company.”

It’s not quite what Attalidou and the rest of the human rights committee have in mind; premiums are higher, so it’s still arguably ageism. Asking for completely equal treatment makes no sense, says Constantinides. Still, he agrees that older drivers are unreasonably discriminated against.

“Every day I get phone calls from people saying they’ve had a clean record for 60 years, then their insurance company says ‘Go away, because you’re 85 now’. Well, so what?… You were happy to take my money for 60 years, now I have to leave?”

One solution may be to improve the screening process by making the health certificate harder to obtain, then companies would feel more confident about holding on to ageing customers.

The fact, however – even beyond human rights and discrimination – is that people are living longer, and the problem of elderly people needing a way to get around is only going to become more acute.