Elderly motorists in Australia are in revolt over plans to restrict them to driving within only six miles of their homes.
The proposals have been drawn up after a girl suffered terrible injuries in two accidents involving pensioner drivers. Sophie Delezio, now six, was severely burned and lost both feet, several fingers and her right ear after a car driven by a 68-year-old man ploughed into her nursery in northern Sydney in 2003.
The driver, Don McNeall, was later cleared of negligent driving after experts agreed he had suffered an epileptic seizure. Last year, Sophie was struck again, this time by an 80-year-old driver as she was being pushed in her pram over a pedestrian crossing in northern Sydney. She suffered numerous fractures and spent a month in hospital.
Her plight led to a clamour for tougher tests for elderly drivers. The New South Wales government responded by setting up a task force to review existing regulations.
The task force has now received a set of proposals from the state's roads and traffic authority, including a scheme to limit drivers over 85 to a 6.25-mile radius of their homes - or in rural areas, to the nearest town and back. Annual medical tests would also be compulsory from 75.
But the idea has caused an outcry among elderly Australians. The Council on the Ageing described the proposal as "ludicrous", while the National Seniors Association said no other issue had caused such a stir.
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