THE campaigning mother who won a change in the law, believes more needs to be done to ensure older people are still fit to drive.

Jackie McCord lobbied tirelessly for Cassie’s Law, which allows police to fasttrack applications to the DVLA to revoke a driver’s licence where they consider them unfit to drive.

She launched the campaign, supported by the Gazette and its sister paper, the Essex County Standard, after her daughter Cassie, 16, of Drury Road, Colchester, was killed when pensioner Colin Horsfall drove his car on to the pavement in Head Street, Colchester, and hit her.

Mr Horsfall, who was 87, was in the process of having his licence revoked by the DVLA, having driven into the bushes at the Tesco petrol station in Highwoods, Colchester, three days before.

However, at that point in 2011, there were no powers to revoke the licence any more quickly.

Now, Mrs McCord has spoken out supporting calls for older drivers to be retested when they apply to renew their licence when they are aged 70.

She said: “When I was petitioning for Cassie’s Law I was called ageist by a lot of people.

“The simple fact of life is as we get older, our reflexes and reaction time slow.

“We need longer to be able to digest things and be able to react to them.

“If you don’t pass, you don’t get behind the wheel.

“If you don’t get behind the wheel you don’t potentially kill someone.

“I know it sounds dramatic, but I lost my daughter because of someone behind the wheel who shouldn’t have been.”

Ms McCord believes drivers should also have to prove they are still fit to drive when they renew their licence every ten years.

This could be through a complete retest or another check system.

She said: “I don’t know why anybody would object to it. I would want to be confident in being on the road.

“You wouldn’t expect to get on a bus and the driver not to have been retested. They have to be.”

Ms McCordwas asked about the issue during an interview with BBC about a new forum for older drivers.