Body & Soul3 mins ago
96 - Too Old To Drive?
//A 96-year-old has been given a suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to causing the death of a woman by dangerous driving.//
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The elderly lady who snarled up the motorway I was driving on recently by cautiously driving her pristine Fiesta at 35mph in the middle lane was undoubtedly experienced. She was driving very carefully but was completely unaware of the chaos around her and was studiously ignoring absolutely everyone.
That said, I do understand that some elderly folk are far more capable than others. My grandfather was extremely capable but gave up driving when he felt safety might become an issue. My grandmother on the other hand could not work the TV but would not have it that she was unsafe on her own.
If one drives, one needs to be able to drive in any circumstances and on any road. My 90 year old aunt horrifies me because she will only drive to about 6 places and I keep saying "well what if there is a diversion or a delay?". She won't do dual carriageways or motorways (which are actually a lot easier than rural town driving), yet still managed to write off her car turning into her sister's drive.
A blanket ban after a certain age feels wrong to me and I do not know what the answer is. One of the issues clearly is trying to balance the need of people to deal with every day life v the safety of other road users.
As regards Motorway driving, I was becoming increasingly worried about one particular aspect - joining from a slip road. The first motorways had very long slip roads but more recent ones have seen them become considerably shorter. My last motor was a small car with only moderate acceleration and I found that approaching a motorway from below, uphill on a short slip road was becoming too challenging and I avoided such junctions - the situation is made worse by nose-to-tail streams on the motorway itself with little space for edging in between.
One of my regular bus journeys now involves part motorway, and I love sitting on the top deck watching the bus joining the traffic (3 lanes, all fairly busy). Most car drivers (as over all roads) don't give a *** about buses, but the bus drivers are very patient and just "let it wash over them" as one driver explained when I expressed my admiration.
A driving test would seem to be the answer but with the average wait for the first driving test in the UK is 5 - 6 months, and adding another test for the over 70's they would need to double, at least, the number of examiners. I understand each examiner tests up to seven per day, there are approx 1600, some part time; thats 112,00 tests a day and there's still a long wait for a test without adding to it.
Difficult to answer but I am assuming that anyone of that age (in their 90's) has not re -taken their driving test since they first learnt to drive, which could be as long as 70 years ago. So absolutely everything on the roads these days from signs. To speed limits has altered drastically. I genuinely feel that everyone should retake their test after driving for a certain amount of time, say 20 years for example,irrelevant of age.
People refer to the changes in the roads, changes in cars over the decades since older people took their test. True, there has been huge changes and driving today is s very different since I first started.
That is only relevant if they never drove after the test and decided to get behind the wheel decades later. Older people have been adapting to these gradual changes, have experienced it all.
Cars are easier to drive today with power steering, easier gear change (no de-clutching/double clutch), much shorter braking distances.
Cars are much safer. In 1966 nearly 8000 people were killed on UK roads; in 2022 it was 1711 despite many more cars on the road.
Doctors and opticians can alert the DVLA if their patient continues to drive after being advised not to. It should be mandatory.
Sorry, my mistake, it was 2022.
See https:/
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Perhaps a "quick once-over " by a doctor at some stage.
Reactions are definitely not the same for elderly folk.
Some think they are safe by driving slowly, but this can also be a hazard to other drivers...
I hope I will know when it isn't safe to drive any more
Surely what is saved on car maintenance/tax/insurance etc will easily cover taxi fees when required.
Groceries can be delivered. Most kind neighbours will help out in emergencies...
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papas32,
But then you have your nut case drivers who tail gate you even though your doing 30 in a 30 zone.
I have even had drivers overtake me very dangerously when I was doing 30 in a 30 zone narrowly missing an on coming car.
Old folk wouldn't take these kind of risks.
I think on balance there is far greater danger on our roads from arrogant and impatient motorists, that makes me wonder how they passed their test, compared to the elderly.
I think we all need to look at a much bigger picture, and what really is going on out there.
Cyclists are my biggest pet hate, they are quite difficult to over take at times, but they give themselves a bad name by jumping red lights by riding on the pavement, which is a very dangerous act of ignorance as you could collide with a pedestrian for a start.
////I was stuck behind someone doing under 30 mph on a 60 mph bendy road for five miles.////
At 30mph 5 miles takes 10 minutes. At 60 mph it takes 5 minutes. So your journey took a whole 5 minutes longer - wow, how intensely annoying. I wonder how you would have used that extra 5 minutes out of your day ?
You should try public transport, 5 minutes delays in total journey time are common.
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