Given that more than one in five drivers in Slovenia is over 60 years old, there are many people facing the multiple challenges that come with driving in later years. Refresher training is essential if you wish to maintain your driving fitness. This year, Zavarovalnica Triglav and Slovenia’s national automobile association AMZS joined forces in the Driving Refresher campaign, offering drivers aged 60 and over the opportunity to take part in a free refresher driving course, which helped 150 participants get their confidence back behind the wheel. As the campaign attracted considerable interest, Slovenia’s largest insurance company will continue to provide refresher driving courses during the winter, with a further 500 drivers being able to brush up on their driving knowledge over the next three months.
“In our years of working with long-time drivers, we established that people can change their driving habits most effectively through experience-based learning. We therefore wanted to offer seniors individual driving lessons, where the driving instructor can focus on their particular challenges and issues and where they can practise certain more difficult situations together several times. We also wanted to measure as precisely as possible the participants’ progress and the effect of their newly gained skills on how they feel and how confident they are behind the wheel. Before the first driving lesson, their level of stress was very high, or at least that’s how they rated it themselves. As they drove and learned certain lessons on issues that used to cause them anxiety, however, their stress was reduced significantly. All these findings will help us to better understand senior drivers and develop programmes that will enable them to stay confident and safe on the road for longer,” said head of road safety projects at Zavarovalnica Triglav Ana Cergolj Kebler about the Driving Refresher campaign.
How can a refresher driving course help?
Traffic regulations and road infrastructure are changing rapidly, cars are increasingly technologically advanced, and traffic is ever more dynamic. All these changes present drivers, especially older ones, with many challenges. According to Zavarovalnica Triglav figures, people over the age of 70 are riskier drivers, while those aged between 84 and 90 are up to twice as risky – in other words, the claim frequency is twice as high among these drivers than it is among those aged 49 to 53.
“We cannot expect road users to stay on top of all the new developments we’re witnessing in traffic all by themselves. What’s more, in working with drivers, AMZS finds that even though a driver might be able to keep up with all the developments, theoretical knowledge does not necessarily mean they have the necessary practical skills. This was confirmed by the Driving Refresher project implemented in collaboration with Zavarovalnica Triglav. The most important finding, however, was that small actions can make a big difference in traffic safety. A simple example is indicating in roundabouts – knowing when to use the indicator and why it’s important,” explained Manuel Pungertnik, head of AMZS Driving School and one of AMZS’ four safe driving instructors participating in the project.
From theory to practice
Slovenia’s largest insurance company selected 150 drivers from among the many applicants to take part in a two-stage refresher driving course. The first stage involved a driving refresher in Ljubljana, Kranj and Celje. In the second stage, which took place in the autumn, each driver was able to take part in a safe driving session at the AMZS Safe Driving Centre in Vransko. The drivers were accompanied by a team of experienced AMZS safe driving instructors – in addition to Pungertnik, the team consisted of Marko Bračič, Darko Daljević and Mitja Jeseničnik.
“I got my driving licence nearly 50 years ago. Lately, I’ve been listening rather than talking in the car, because you need to concentrate a bit harder on the driving when you get older. That’s why campaigns such as this one are very welcome indeed,” pensioner Anton Žličar summed up his impressions after the campaign.
Danica Bogataj, who attended the Driving Refresher after more than 40 years of driving, agrees: “Each practical driving lesson, combined with theoretical knowledge, provides something new. Campaigns of this type should be held more often.”
In the next three months, a new group of participants in the Driving Refresher campaign will sit behind the wheel. Today, senior drivers began their driving lessons in the Celje area, and by the end of January 2023, 500 senior drivers will build on their driving skills in Kranj and Ljubljana as well.
