Special sticker proposed for drivers over 70

Authorities in Salamanca have proposed a distinctive M sticker for drivers over the age of 70. The Salamanca Prosecutor’s Office, through the attorney general Juan José Pereña have proposed the scheme to “avoid accidents” and “protect the elderly” and so that other drivers “have patience” on the road with older drivers.
The proposal would see drivers over 70 having to display a mandatory, M sticker, similar to the L sticker used by learner drivers.
The scheme was outlined this week by Pereña, in an interview with the Onda Cero tv programme ‘Más de Uno Salamanca’, in which he said that the main objective of the proposal is to “protect the elderly” who he claims drive habitually “slower than other drivers”.
Pereña was keen to clarify that his proposal does not seek to stigmatize drivers over 70 years of age, suggesting a number of options such as “making it voluntary instead of mandatory” or “increasing the age” for drivers displaying the M sticker.
Pereña said that he raised the proposal with the State Attorney General’s Office due to his own “experience as a driver” but also that his ideas are supported by “statistics such as those of the General Traffic Directorate”, which points out that “the second group with the most deaths from traffic accidents in 2019 is that of people over 65 years of age.”
Pereña said, “as the years go by, people lose reflexes and another series of capacities.” Something that “does not prevent driving” but that does make it necessary “to adapt the driving mode to the age that one has”, so he hopes that the proposal invites “calm debate” on the matter.
In addition to the proposal of the ‘M’ sticker for drivers over 70, Pereña also proposes another initiative in which he suggests that older drivers should have to renew their driving licences after a shorter time than the current five year schedule, citing “Several serious cases of elderly people who have gotten on the opposite side of the highway or who did not know where they were.”
“If we let five years pass these things can happen and it would be better to avoid them,” concluded Pereña.