Motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson has slammed some meaningless road laws that are enforced on the streets of UK. And in doing so, the former Top Gear presenter calls for Prince Philip to lose his driving license.
The Duke of Edinburgh, 97, was involved in a road accident while making a turn near his house in Sandringham. A 28-year-old woman and her nine-month-old baby were in the car during the time of the accident.
Another woman, 45, was also with the Duke and suffered a broken arm and a knee injury. "We ignore the women and the baby in the people carrier and sit back in wide-eyed wonderment that a 97-year-old man can simply walk away after rolling his Land Rover," Clarkson wrote in an opinion piece for The Sun.
The crash has sparked a debate about the age by which people should give up on driving.
"What the bloody hell is a man of that age doing behind the wheel of a car?" Clarkson asks. He pointed out how figures from Sussex has shown that 12 per cent of the accidents that take place are by 70-year-old people. He also points out that the current law which requires motorists over 70 years to take a test every three years to continue driving "is a joke".
"I appreciate, of course, that testing all of the nation's elderly every year would cost the NHS a fortune but I do think that families could get involved," Clarkson says. He also recalls about one of trip to Guidford where her mother had to stop her BMW at every junction during the journey because the road signs were confusing. "I should have said something. I should have done something. But I didn't," he cites.
But whatever be the scene, the fact is Prince Philip's crash has invited a lot of criticism about the driving age limit in the UK.
"Mrs Queen, however, is a wise old bird. As far as I know she hasn't put a foot wrong in her entire life. Let's hope she keeps that up now, and sends her husband's licence back to Swansea," Clarkson concluded.
