Story by Luke Chillingsworth • MSN Sir Keir Starmer wants to make Britain's roads safer - and that can be no bad thing. But as he looks set to introduce new driving rules for motorists over the age of 70 in 2026 pensioners yet again are being painted as accidents waiting to happen whose car keys need hiding down the back of a sofa.

The Government is running a consultation on launching compulsory eyesight checks, which could see pensioners forced to check their vision every three years to stay on the roads.

Boosting road safety is crucial, and the decision has been well received by industry and safety campaigners. Eye tests for drivers over a certain age are sensible but introducing new rules at the same time as stricter drink-drive limits gives the dangerous impression that pensioners are the biggest cause of accidents when they are not.

Data conclusively shows that drivers between the age of 17 and 24 are the most dangerous. Not only are younger drivers less experienced and more at risk of accidents, they are also more likely to want to put their foot to the floor and show off to their friends. How many stories do you read on Doris, 83, rolling her Subaru whle doing 110mph down a B-road?

Yet seemingly every week a new tragedy emerges where a young driver has been showing off or simply showing no regard for their safety or anyone else's.

This month, two brothers appeared in court having hit speeds of up to 90mph racing around the millionaires' playground of Sandbanks in Dorset in a Mercedes A200 and BMW 135i.

When Harrison Taylor, 19, and his brother, Henry, 21, inevitably crashed it left a 17-year-old passenger with devastating injuries. The cars had been purchased by their parents to help the brothers get over the fact they'd broken up.