Elderly drivers - llwyds solution (VERY off topic)

[llwyd]

Touchy subject I know.....but to be fair, I quite honestly do not care. I've just been on a driving lesson and witness a pretty bad accident caused, in all entirety, by an elderly driver. I then proceeded to drive on, a little shaken up.... 2 minutes later I have to emergency stop for a little old lady (who could BARELY see over the wheel) who pulled out infront of me without looking either way, on an open corner.

So, slightly miffed, I proceeded to think up a solution. Something less harsh than removing their licenses. And here it is:

Yes, that's right, O plates. O for OLD. If you're elderly and too proud to stop driving, you can now at least give other drivers some warning that you are a wrinkly killing machine.

I'll be taking orders if anyone wants to buy some for their grandparents or something

:stickpoke

 

[JN]

Simple....but effective. Thankfully there are no wrinkly's in my family with licenses to kill.

 

[Ham]

Good idea tbh. I for one am fed up of them, and ive only been driving on a full license a year.

My granddad had the good decency too sell his car recently.

 

[glocktodahead]

I agree fully llwyd. I am so glad I got my license because my grandma is a very scary driver. I refuse to go in the car with her unless it's me driving

 

[Dav0s]

i saw a pretty bad accident today whilst on the bus, didnt actually see it happen but it must have happened about 1 minute earlier. a mini roundabout 2 cars lay pretty smashed, one women was quite seriously hurt (was in the recovery position) and the other looked very shaken up.

without wanting to sound sexist, they were both women!

totally agreed on bad drivers, but it isnt just old people! on my driving test someone went when they didnt have priority, i just said, well u gave him a license, give me one!

 

[ionicle]

my gran is a good driver, she's like 76, and everytime i'm in the car with her, she keeps up a decent speed, and stops ontime, and hasnt caused a crash in like 30 years, well, never caused a crash, just got crashed into by a boy racer, 30 years ago, ....so you shouldnt steriotype everyone, just most

 

[FarFarAway]

tbh This is true

People blame young people but I think the "rude boys" are in the minority and old people do have a negative effect on the roads

Don't get me started on bad things on the road...Dave knows what I mean

 

[Toxcity]

LMAO!

This thread is fooking hilarious!

 

[nathan]

hmmm i was behind one today, he was doing 25 through a dual carrage way. then got to a village and did 40. AHHHHHHHHHH.

My answer to solve this would involve a big gun.

 

[deathwish]

yea my granddad is actually a really good driver and he is 70 and still dose more exercise than me all old people are different you get the road raging granny and the good driver as well as those 10mph ones, you just cant stereotype them all tbh

they should have to take a booster test to make sure that they are still good drivers

 

[Toxcity]

yea my granddad is actually a really good driver and he is 70 and still dose more exercise than me all old people are different you get the road raging granny and the good driver as well as those 10mph ones, you just cant stereotype them all tbh

they should have to take a booster test to make sure that they are still good drivers

You are correct here matey!

My GD is awesome, sit her talking to me about overclocking and so on.

He is an awesome driver too and has a pretty nice merc!

Booster test sounds like a good idea!

 

[weihk]

blah......dont get me started......every week i get aleast once someone thats about 60 odd years old trying to crash into me....

its about time DVLA make everyone retake their test every 2 years once past 60

llwyd - if you think its bad now, then you've no idea how bad it really is once you drive everyday.....you'll be crapping yourself everyday.....trust me, it really is bad, and take extra care once you've passed, you might be a good driver (and many of us), but its the bad driver you have to watch out for....

 

[Nagaru]

In my experience the older drivers in general are more off an annoyance than unsafe. I have nearly been hit by many a drunk driver or crazy young person. I think everyone should be put through a more rigorous test.

 

[llwyd]

Well the figures dont show them as that unsafe because most times they cause the little accidents rather than, like i witnessed, driving square into the side of another car.

I was looking for an interesting news topic in college the other day and found an article on CNN about a 70 year old man who had mowed down something like 14 kids with his 4x4, some of which are seriously injured.

I know we shouldn't stereotype people but if it's ok for an insurance company to charge new drivers £1500 - £2500 because of boy racers then I think we're owed it. I know a lot of older drivers are good drivers, but so are a lot of my friends. 90% of the girls I know who are driving have dented / scratched / written off their cars within the first few months, along with some boys who drive like total idiots, under the impression that their car can handle a country road that they dont know that well at 80mph......and that's a fraction of young drivers. With elderly drivers they ALL suffer from poor reaction time and poor eyesight / hearing. My grandmother is barely strong enough to push the brake pedal down in her Civic :whack:

 

[PV5150]

If you're elderly and too proud to stop driving, you can now at least give other drivers some warning that you are a wrinkly killing machine.

Bit low brow tbh! I can understand what you're trying to say as a new driver Llwyd. But, just try and put yourself in someone who's elderly shoes and has been independent for so many years. The thought of them giving up their drivers license would mean losing some of their independence. Now, this is not saying that they shouldn't be tested more stringently at regular periods to assess eyesight and motor skills degradation, but to try and illustrate an elderly persons perspective. Here in Australia once you reach the age of 65 you have to be regularly tested (general health, eyesight and driving test) every two years before your license will be renewed (once you reach 75 it's yearly). The elderly people seem to get along with this stipulation quite well, and it keeps drivers who aren't fit to hold a license off the road. Tbh, young people need to be assessed harder too...too often you see 16/17 and 18 yo drivers getting about in turbo-charged/V8 powered cars that they quite simply can't handle. And to see the end results have a look at the National statistics. Hence the reason why insurance for younger people is so much more than for a rating 1 adult...statistically they are more likely to have accidents.

In my experience the older drivers in general are more off an annoyance than unsafe. I have nearly been hit by many a drunk driver or crazy young person. I think everyone should be put through a more rigorous test.

Agreed totally, I despise drink drivers! Anyone getting into a car tanked to the eyeballs and killing someone deserves a premeditated murder charge (life imprisonment)...instead of culpable driving or manslaughter which gets around 2 - 5 years in the slammer here.

So many young people each year here in Australia lose their life to speed or tomfoolery on the road. Queensland is about to change the rules for young people regarding what power output and class of car they can drive, which is a step in the right direction imho. A considerable number of my students turn up to Uni in all assortments of Japanese made vehicles and high-powered V8's, and tbh it worries me immensely. I had 2 students die in an high-speed accident around the middle of last year....a senseless waste of life.

 

[llwyd]

Bit low brow tbh!.

I knooow, I'm only kidding

A big problem that would arise if licenses were taken from the elderly (be it due to bi-yearly examinations or whatever) is a lot of older people would end up stuck in the middle of nowhere. Around here a lot of the out of the way houses are inhabited by people who have retired and got themselves a nice house away from everyone else, which would put waaaaay to much pressure on our already overstretched home help services. I don't really think there is a clear cut solution although mandatory examinations and additional lessons would be a step in the right direction. With any luck in a few years we will all be driving cars that can avoid accidents themselves

And I 100% agree on the drink drivers. You get a lot of them around here because they assume that as the roads are fairly quiet and just because they driver under the speed limit that they will be ok..... I mean how much effort is it to call a taxi. £8 is better than a written off car or a lot lot worse.

I also think that engine power restrictions are a good idea but our insurance companies basically do that for you here. As a new driver I would have to pay through the nose for insurance on a 1.6L V4, anything more than that and they just laugh. Unfortunately though, everyone has their price, meaning you get spoilt kids with rich parents driving Civic Type-Rs like total idiots on country lanes (the same kid has recently got his girlfriend pregnant, told his parents, who then gave him a cheque for a flat in cardiff for the two of them.....)

 

[PV5150]

I knooow, I'm only kidding

LOL I figured you may have been. I get frustrated with older people too, but a good driver tries to anticipate what the other is doing to some degree. I used to rant to myself about older/Volvo drivers, now I just accept them and give them additional reaction time if I can.

And I 100% agree on the drink drivers. You get a lot of them around here because they assume that as the roads are fairly quiet and just because they driver under the speed limit that they will be ok..... I mean how much effort is it to call a taxi. £8 is better than a written off car or a lot lot worse.

Yeah that kind of behaviour happens quite a bit out in the country here too. But yeah £8 is certainly cheaper and easier to handle than killing someone else.

 

[llwyd]

Yea as a learner I'm experiencing the whole patience thing a lot. Well, I say 'I'm', I mean the people in the queue behind me while i'm driving at the speed limit

 

[Dav0s]

tbh the UK have sort of shot themselves in the foot with the driving test. it would be impossible to make elderly drivers retake a driving test when they reach XX years of age, because all the the habits they have picked up over the 50 years of driving, would mean they fail their test!

since thr is such a large different between being able to drive and being able to pass a test, i bet you that 90% of elderly drivers would fail.

i mean, i bet most of them cross their hands on a steering wheel, and when they learnt to drive, block changing down gears was the norm. These days you would get a minor fault every time you did that, and 4 of those = fail.

There are loads more aswell, i mean do you think they all check their blindspots every time they move away, or check the rear-view mirror when they slow down? no, they wont because they havent been taught that way.

I know we shouldn't stereotype people but if it's ok for an insurance company to charge new drivers £1500 - £2500 because of boy racers then I think we're owed it.

QFT

 

[Rastalovich]

... well younger male drivers do cause the majority of the insurance claims

I was thinking u were looking for old drivers for Vista or summit.