In a society where the car is king, Stephen Lewis finds it can be difficult to accept you may no longer be fit enough to drive.

HARRY Gold has been driving for almost 60 years. In all that time, the retired painter and decorator says proudly, he's kept a clean driving licence. The only blemishes on his record are two parking tickets: and who hasn't had a hatful of those?

His car is a lifeline. Without it, he says, he and his wife Joan would be virtually stranded in their north York home - forced to live the life of hermits.

They live just off the Malton Road. Harry says there are no buses after 7pm, - and no buses at all on a Sunday. "My wife and I belong to an art group at Burnholme community centre," he says. "To get there by bus we'd have to catch a bus into town, then another bus to Burnholme. It's the same everywhere you go. It takes two bus journeys to get into York, for example. And we do most of our shopping at Asda, which is two miles up the road. We couldn't do that without the car."

So the prospect of one day having to give up driving isn't one Harry looks forward to. Nevertheless, when he turned 70 four years ago it wasn't reapplying for his driving licence - and paying a £6 fee - that annoyed him, so much as the fact that no proper checks were made on his ability to drive safely.

Harry says all he had to do to get his licence extended was fill in a form confirming he believed himself fit to drive.

There was no attempt to question that, no requirement for him to have a medical exam or attend for a re-test.

"If it had said you should go to your doctor and he will tell you if it is safe for you to drive or not, I would have understood it," he says. "But there was no medical exam required."

As the law stands, everyone who turns 70 and wants to continue driving must re-apply for their licence. But, as Harry found, it is in many cases little more than a formality. Only if a 70-year-old driver indicated on their application form they had a problem with their health would they be required to take a medical exam.

There is a growing acceptance that that may need to change. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), which is calling for a review of the driver licensing system, says the existing arrangements are 'totally inadequate'.

Even groups representing the elderly recognise there is a problem.

"If we're going to be asking whether or not people are fit to drive, then we should be doing it thoroughly," says Sally Hutchinson, chief officer of Age Concern in York.

Harry, now 74, is still twice as fit and alert as many forty-something couch potatoes. Even so, he says, he would welcome being asked to go for a medical test every three to five years now he has turned 70. At least that way he would know it was safe for him to continue driving.

The problem is that, as things stand, it is often not until someone has had an accident that a potential problem with his or her driving is picked up.

Recent cases reported in the Evening Press have included that of a 78-year-old pensioner who drove for miles the wrong way along the A64. In another case, an 89-year-old driver with poor eyesight was banned from driving for three months and required to re-take his driving test if he wanted to drive again after going into the back of a parked car he failed to see in York's Tadcaster Road.

There are plenty of younger drivers who, whether through recklessness, drunkenness or stupidity, are every bit as much of a hazard to themselves and other road users as either of the above cases. Many older drivers, says RoSPA, are actually far better than younger drivers in their twenties and thirties.

The AA, which is against a change in the law to require regular assessment of older drivers, says that statistically older people are on average no more likely to have an accident than younger drivers in their mid-twenties - although it accepts drivers in their middle age years are generally the safest.

The AA points out there is no requirement for younger drivers to have their driving regularly reassessed: and says it can see no need for older drivers to be regularly reassessed either. Being able to drive is vital to the quality of life of older people, says the AA. And it points out that older drivers are very good at adapting their driving strategies - avoiding driving at night if they are worried about their night vision, avoiding city centres, rush hours and long journeys.

Harry Gold says that, provided they are physically OK and have good eyesight, older drivers are probably safer than younger ones. They are more cautious, more experienced and tend to drive defensively rather than speeding, he points out.

RoSPA accepts that it is health more than age which is the important factor. That is why it wants the entire driver licensing system reviewed - with regular driving assessment at all ages, not just 70.

Nevertheless, RoSPA says, accident rates do increase rapidly for those over 70. "With older people it is inevitable that health, fitness, eyesight and reaction times will deteriorate," RoSPA says spokeswoman Jane Eason. "We would recommend that all elderly drivers have regular health checks."

If you are worried about your fitness to continue driving, RoSPA's North Yorkshire advanced driving association can arrange to carry out assessments which could identify immediately if there is a problem - or put your mind at rest.

Even if it is advisable for you to give up driving, says Traffic Constable Martin Hemenway of York Police, it is not the end of the world. He points out that many older people who only used their car a couple of times a week could probably save money by selling it and using the money to pay for taxis, instead. "How many times can you take a taxi in a year before you run out of the £5,000 you'd get for your car?" he asks.

That idea, though, is unlikely to appeal to many pensioners to whom a taxi has always seemed an unaffordable luxury.

The fact remains that unless and until public transport is improved, thousands of older people - especially those living in rural areas and parts of cities like York poorly served by buses - are going to feel forced to continue driving even when they may not really want to: simply because without their cars they will be stranded.

To arrange to have your driving assessed, contact Michael Borrows of the North Yorkshire advanced drivers association on 01653 695093.

PICTURE:Harry Gold in the car that prevents him from being 'stranded'at home