MPI counters online misinformation about ‘age-based testing’

Manitoba Public Insurance is reminding seniors that — contrary to misinformation circulating online — they do not need to retake a road test after any milestone birthday.

Service centres and partner brokerages have reported an influx of panicked customers with concerns about non-existent age-based driver testing in recent months, according to the provincial auto insurer.

Manitoba does not require residents do extra testing to renew a driver’s licence when they turn a specific age, unlike Ontario and other jurisdictions in Canada.

“There’s no age-based testing. We don’t say, ‘Because you’ve reached 70, you now need to be tested,’” MPI spokesperson Tara Seel told the Free Press.

The Crown corporation has other checks and balances in place, Seel said, adding physicians are required to make reports about patients involved in medical-related collisions.

Seel noted MPI checks in with these drivers, as well as other motorists who have licence restrictions, in order to ensure they remain fit to get behind the wheel.

MPI made multiple social media posts Wednesday using the hashtag #AgeIsJustANumber to get the record straight about Manitoba status-quo requirements.

Seel said customers appear to be consuming false information online and MPI suspects its connected to confusion about a Transport Canada webpage that was updated this fall.

Ontario residents must renew their driver’s licence every two years after they turn 80. In Saskatchewan, not unlike Manitoba, the government’s position is age is not a good predictor of driving ability. “What counts is road performance,” its mature driver handbook states.

— Free Press staff