Sheriff calls for limit to driving self-certification in elderly following death of toddler

Three-year-old Alexander Paul Thomas Irvine (“Xander”) died on 30 June 2020 after he was struck by a 91-year-old motorist on Morningside Road, Edinburgh.

Edith Duncan lost control of her car as she attempted to perform a turning manoeuvre on a two-way street. She drove her vehicle onto the opposite carriageway and over the kerb, striking Xander and his mother.

Ms Duncan was suffering from significantly impaired cognitive ability as a result of frontotemporal dementia, and was unfit to drive or hold a driving licence.

Sheriff Principal Nigel Ross, sitting at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, said that the self-certification system as it stands must be changed “as a matter of priority” by “limiting self-certification of fitness to drive only to applications before the age of 80 years”.

He found that Xander’s death was preventable and that Ms Duncan’s driving licence should have been revoked.

He stated: “Application for renewal should continue to be required every three years, from the age of 70 onwards. Any application for renewal by a driver aged 80 or older should not be granted unless the applicant driver has successfully undertaken a short initial cognitive assessment. Failure to pass that assessment should result in both the application
for renewal, and any current licence, being suspended pending further assessment. 

“This recommendation would require changes to primary legislation, on a reserved matter under Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998, and is therefore a matter for the UK government.”