The 92-year-old Mosgiel woman is one of 261 female drivers of her age in New Zealand, where there are an increasing number of older drivers.
Statistics released to the Otago Daily Times by the New Zealand Transport Agency show nearly 4000 of the country's 3.2 million licensed drivers are aged more than 90, with seven aged 100 or more. The country's oldest driver is 104-year-old Ellen Noy, of Kaiapoi.
Mrs Burr said it was becoming increasingly harder to hold her licence, because ‘‘it is more up to the doctors now than me''.
Once a driver turns 75, their new licence is valid for between two and five years and they are required to present a medical certificate each time.
Mrs Burr said her licence gave her independence, and ‘‘it is one of the things that keeps me going''.
‘‘I can't walk that well, but I can still drive.''
And drive she can.
Since passing her test in Fairlie in 1946, Mrs Burr has sat and passed driving tests in several countries. Her late husband, Ian, was a geologist for a major oil company, and she successfully sat her licence in England, Pakistan, Canada, Singapore and the United States, among others.
The toughest driver's test she sat was in Canada, where she was asked to parallel park in a heavy snowfall.
‘‘I couldn't even see the kerb.''
In British Borneo, she once had to drive her car into a wall after discovering the brakes had failed.
Despite the greater number of cars on the roads, North American drivers were the best, a far cry from modern-day New Zealand, she said.
‘‘We need to be more courteous here.''
Mrs Burr said she planned to continue driving for as long as possible and keep her accidentfree record intact, with the scrapes on her 2003 Hyundai Accent the fault of others.
‘‘They were certainly not from me.''
