Let’s talk: Should there be a cut off age for driving?

A 96-year-old was caught on camera barreling into a parked vehicle in a Melbourne hospital car park on Thursday.

The terrifying moment was captured on a dashcam outside of Warringal Private Hospital in Heidelberg.

The footage shows a dark blue Ford Fairlane flying out of an underground car park and narrowly missing a tree before slamming into another car. 

The owner of the dashcum told The Daily Mail, “Visiting a mate in hospital tonight, thought I’d found a great car park right out front. Next thing I know my rego is being called over the PA. I go out to find police, fireys (sic) and ambulances everywhere.”

The 96-year-old driver was taken to a hospital after the incident – luckily no one was hurt.

The horrifying incident has caused a social media frenzy, with many questioning why the elderly man was driving in the first place.

“At some point the Department of Transport needs to step in. There’s a minimum age for driving, there should also be a maximum,” one person wrote online, reports The Daily Mail. 

This isn’t the first time incidents like this have caused mass condemnation.

Drivers ages 75 years or older have a higher risk of loosing their lives than any other age group. The increase of fatal crashes among the elderly is due to their increased vulnerability to injury, particularly chest injuries and medical complications rather than a tendency to get into a crash.

In Queensland in 2015, 27 drivers aged 75 years or older were in a fatal car crash, while 12 drivers aged 75 and over were killed in Victoria. However, fatal crashes involving drivers aged 25 to 59 were the most prevalent with in 165 fatal crashes in 2015.

Should there be a cut off for driving? What should it be? When do you think you’ll stop driving?