100 Year Old Drivers

So what would be the effect on the economy of denying 2 to 3 out of every 4 drivers the right to drive ?

 

bit right wing init. don't think banning every one was suggested. a wee test or two would do

 

So what would you do if they 'failed' a test ?

 

Last week actually....


But I can't remember what I read......

 

Me too, three times.......Hell's Bell's, I'm good........or everyone else is crap.

 

So congratulations... you've managed to recognise a few signs and remember a few basic rules about how to stay safe on the roads - good for you... The clue here is in the title - Free learner's practice theory test - you know, the one you have to pass before they let you actually drive ?

 

That's what I meant.........

 

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools. Douglas Bader.

 

Wasn't he the guy that lost both his legs and nearly died when he did something that was against the rules ?

 

Yep, that's him.......but in fairness, it's a bit hard to see road signs when doing aerobatics......

 

Coming back to the original theme, there was a nice little article in the September/October edition of "The Road" (the Motorcycle Action Group magazine):

"Riding across the USA at 89

This summer, to celebrate her 89th birthday, Gloria Tramontin Struck of Clifton New Jersey will ride her Harley-Davidson 1,700 miles from her home to Sturgis South Dakota for the world's biggest motorcycle rally. When it's over she will ride the bike home. "We do not trailer bikes", she said. "We ride."

Her current bike is a 2004 Heritage Soft Tail Classic with over 49,000 miles on the clock. It has a scuff on the windshield inflicted last summer by an errant truck tyre that came bouncing down a highway and nearly knocked Gloria's head off.

Gloria stands just five feet tall and weighs 125 pounds while her bike weighs 700.

Gloria often rides with her daughter but is irritated by her slow pace and often pulls alongside to give the younger woman's bike a good kick.

She can't envisage a day when, like other older riders, she switches to an easier-to-control three-wheel Harley.

"My goal is to keep riding on two wheels until I'm 100", she said."

 

i sopose it depends on how bad you fail.

 

There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but very few old bold pilots.

If we just follow rules laid down by other people life would be very dull.

I regularly break speed limits, but I obey 30's and 40's and don't cross double whites, yet I don't consider myself 'unsafe'.

Prior to my bike test I was positioning within my lane to the left on right hand bends and to the right on left hand bends to obtain a better view. Till I received a blocking in my ear from my instructor to stop 'weaving' because if I did that on my test I would fail.

I just think there is more to life than overly simplistic rules.

 

I agree entirely John, yes there are... But until you understand the basics, you can't make an informed decision on how far you can bend the rules.
You may be a very safe rider, and you may well have something you judge your own ability against. It sounds, from your comments above, that you ride in a similar way to me. I know I'm not a perfect rider, but I too do not consider myself to be unsafe - the eight years I spent as an instructor gave me a fair standard to judge myself against.
The problem is most people do not consider themselves to be unsafe, right up to (and in some cases beyond) the point at which they have an accident.

 

Just to "put the cat amongst the pigeons" I think there should be an age related retest. The law (i.e. Police Forces not the actual legal instruments) doesn't treat older drivers the same as the rest of the population. For example, a few years ago my wife was driven off the road by a pensioner (two lane roundabout and he left her no room to turn right as he went straight on - a bit more literally than was road marked), who left the scene then refused to pull over when chased and flashed. We called the Police who told us they sent 4 cars to catch this hit and run driver. When they caught him he said he hadn't had an accident and couldn't answer how he came by the dents and silver paint marks on his dark blue car. The Police did nothing - a total let down as I think hit and run should always be prosecuted, otherwise what's the point of all the other motoring laws. He didn't tell his insurance company and therefore they refused to process the claim. Luckily (for our claim and other road users, not in other ways) he died about a year later as court proceedings were being threatened. So we were out of pocket for 12 months.

I have heard of worse where a rider was hit side on by an "old dear" who literally drove over him. She mistook his twin headlights for a car in the distance when turning right which gives an idea to her eyesight. He was in hospital for months, off work for nearly a year and will always limp. Because the Police didn't prosecute, as the "old dear" surrendered her licence, her insurance company refused stage payments and the poor chap nearly lost his house in addition to everything else.

Let's face it we must all know examples like these. In my opinion if the Police Forces want to send the message to older drivers that it's OK to drive until they hurt someone, and then they won't be prosecuted if they surrender their licence or pretend nothing happened, then they should accept a retest for this privilege. Of course I'd rather they were just treated like everyone else, but they're not.

 

My old man was still trying to drive at the age of 78.

Now that may not seem to bad, but he was stone deaf; burned out a Ford Ka clutch in 14 miles; crunched the side of his Rover in because he couldn't hear it scraping against an alleyway wall; drove regularly to see me with a blown exhaust; could hardly see over the steering wheel and wouldn't listen (ha-ha) to what anyone tried to tell him even when it was written down.

His wife had Alzheimer's and didn't know left from right, yet he kept making her drive when he was tired.

My brother is a Plod, but he reckoned there was nothing that could be done unless there was an accident or it became obvious the old man couldn't see.

We hid the keys regularly, but the old bugger had managed to have several spares cut.

When we finally got him to stop driving, he bought the fastest buggy he could find.........Went out one day at 2.20pm for a packet of fags from a local village shop (about 440 yards).

My brother got a phone call at 9.30pm from Plod telling him that the old man was 10 miles from home in the middle of a country road without lights........He got lost.

 

do the right thing with social responsibility then................oh hang on its the police forces fault.....

 

wot he said...