There SHOULD be an age where you are not allowed to drive anymore

originally posted by: mamabeth
a reply to: JourneymanWelder

I am a baby boomer,I am 63 years old and
just try and take my driver's license from me

Baby Boomers. Your test was likely a photo and a signature? What a world to live in. All the more reason for a refresher.

a reply to: SlowNail

They have also had a lifetime of driving experience and know well that it's drivers in their teens to late 20's that are the big danger one the road.

Driving should only be allowed after the age of 30.
That would make the roads much much safer.

a reply to: Blaine91555

Can you give the source for your evidence? (Not calling you a liar, just curious)

My great uncle drove until he was about 87 when he got pulled over for malfunctioning tail lights on his hooptie. The police officer gave him a ticket that immediately suspended his license and required him to go to court to get it back. Then he had to take both the written test and over-the-road test all over again.

Because I knew that driving was so important to his sense of self-worth, I tutored him through the written test and took him on the road to refresh his driving skills. Unbelievably at his age he eventually aced the written test and was able to pass the driving test to get his license back.

Several months later, he was driving during the worst rain storm of the year. This storm was so bad that someone half his age would have had difficulty navigating the roadways. A state trooper pulled him over because he was driving on the wrong side of the road at about 5 miles an hour.

He was given another of those tickets and his license was suspended again. He went to court again. Then, without studying, he took the written test again and aced it. But when he took the driving test again, I noticed it took him much longer this time.

When he and the examiner got back to the DMV, the examiner looked like she had aged several years in the 20 or 30 minutes they had been gone. She looked at me and shook her head. She appreciated the fact that I was not upset that he didn't pass the test. Apparently some people do get angry when their elderly relatives are failed. But, I was relieved and understood.

My mother drove until she was about 85 when she was diagnosed with Alzheimers and we hid her keys. She had already stopped driving at night several years before that because she had become confused driving at night and wound up on the wrong side of the road.

On the other hand, I have a cousin who is 80 and he can still drive in reverse better than I can drive forward. So, the age at which cognitive decline becomes an issue is somewhat fluid.

Perhaps some additional testing should be required when the driver reaches their mid 70's or around 80. People are living much longer these days, and the corresponding cognitive decline is also happening later in life.

-dex

a reply to: JourneymanWelder

I think these things should be competency based, not age based.

There are older drivers who are exemplary in their conduct and capabilities on the road, and there are younger drivers who are also very capable. There are older drivers who couldn't find a gap in traffic with the aid of a torch and a prescription windshield, and younger drivers who could not park a supermini or compact car, in an empty lot, with a half hour time limit and three assistants, waving them in.

Age is bugger all to do with anything if you ask me. Its about competency, attitude, and placidity.

a reply to: UKTruth

Think you'll find the teens are safer now. They've been rinsed the last few years. A lot of them are forced to pay several thousands in insurance. Many can't get on the road, because of their elders' "lifetime experience".

Most youngsters are hitting the roads with black boxes. They're all tracked and monitored, which is another topic completely.

It's older drivers making the mistakes. It's older drivers getting pulled for drink driving. And they justify it by getting all misty-eyed about a time gone by, when you could buy a house for 4 figures and being pissed was a legit excuse for murder.

I'd wager most OAP's wouldn't be capable of passing today's test.

But, let's bitch and moan about the nippers, despite the mess the older generations have left for them.

originally posted by: JourneymanWelder
If nobody here has the cojones to say it then I will! A 60 year olds mind is not as responsive as a 30 year olds so why should they be allowed to drive a 2 ton battering ram? Or tow something that weighs even more?

90% of the time when someone cuts me off it's an elderly person, completely oblivious that they almost sideswiped me and rammed me into the ditch.

If you need a cane and a dog and another person holding your hand to get around, then please do everyone a favor and call a cab or a friend instead of endangering everyone on the road.

Just because you're about to die does not mean that I want to die too.

60 really? LOL ok...Um I live in Florida, home of the elderly.

I also work in insurance and guess what i can tell you as a fact that I see MORE accidents from people in the age range of 18-30! I have many elderly customers who are in their 80's, still driving, and they have a spotless driving record.

I get cut off more by young people on their damn phones than i do by elderly. I was ran off the road 3 times in a week by the SAME PERSON! Yup when I see "TINA" and her red Miata I make sure I stay out of her way. She has her name as her license plate and she is always on her damn phone!

a reply to: SlowNail

It's easier to ban anyone under 30 from driving.

originally posted by: mamabeth
a reply to: JourneymanWelder

First off...I have to fight this urge to purge my tummy.
Second,I am a baby boomer,I am 63 years old and
just try and take my driver's license from me and see
what happens!

I would do it just for the kicks. What will you do? Throw your dentures at me? Dont hurt yourself old lady.

This is more evidence that the older generation should be taking more frequent road tests. Crazy old granny behind the wheel and she is furiously slow. The slow and the slower starring you coming out next year. Only available on vhs tape.

a reply to: UKTruth

Says it all really.

Won't hesitate to throw the kids under the bus for an easy life.

originally posted by: JourneymanWelder

I would do it just for the kicks. What will you do? Throw your dentures at me? Dont hurt yourself old lady.

Patronising much?

I'm from the generation that brought up that generation and could not

throw my dentures at you as I still have all my own teeth.

This is more evidence that the older generation should be taking more frequent road tests.

I guess that must be why insurance companies give them much lower premiums?

Crazy old granny behind the wheel and she is furiously slow.

Guess you've never been behind me then.


Sign seen in India before hitting the motorway ......

** Better to be Mr Late .... than to be the late Mr ** subtle but true!!

a reply to: SlowNail

You see, you say that, but its common on my road to see a twenty something, absolutely hammering it down our street (which has parking on one side, is a shopping/residential street, and has hazards all over the place more often than not) in some modified spaceship car, at several times the speed limit for our road, without a slightest concern for anyone. Pulling corners at silly speeds, making the tyres screech, pulling out of spaces at maximum possible velocity...

I do not know whether those individuals also have black boxes, but it is far from the case that the younger drivers are in any way under control, given the sheer number of complete lunatics that love to just floor it at all times down my way.

a reply to: eletheia

You did an excellent job of answering that very disrespectful and immature post.

It was a non-confrontational, factual, and succinct response. Thank you.


-dex

a reply to: TrueBrit

Of course. It's going to happen. That's a given. Never seen an adult doing the same things?

I'm no angel bud. I've just had to take a course through the AA, with Hampshire Constabulary for being clocked at a gateway.

They covered these stats. Until maybe a year ago, I'd have agreed with you, but the kids have pulled it back. They're not the biggest danger anymore. It's senior drivers.

You know what? At 32 years old, I was the youngest person there.

We can't keep blaming our children for everything. They've just got here.

Try taking a little cruise through Midhurst. It's tiny and there's few young drivers. Good luck getting out of there alive...

originally posted by: Somethingsamiss
a reply to: Blaine91555

Can you give the source for your evidence? (Not calling you a liar, just curious)

AAA Foundation

Taken from DOT statistics.

This Research Brief provides updated statistics on rates of crashes, injuries and death per mile driven in relation to driver age based on the most recent data available, from 2014-2015. Drivers ages 16-17 continue to have the highest rates of crash involvement, injuries to themselves and others and deaths of others in crashes in which they are involved. Drivers age 80 and older have the highest rates of driver deaths. Drivers ages 60-69 were the safest drivers by most measures examined.

Truth does not always match perception. Part of being young is having youthful prejudices based on false notions. I won't go into the reasons that youth resent older wiser people, that's for another topic.

a reply to: Blaine91555

Drivers age 80 and older have the highest rates of driver deaths.

Whats the possibility of that being caused by heart attacks or strokes rather than

bad driving?

a reply to: SlowNail

I have seen an adult do the same thing, but all I can say about that is, that its usually the youngsters around these parts. The OCCASIONAL old duffer in a Merc comes, red shifting by at a few times the speed of light, now and again. But some lunatic twenty something belting down the road is every half an hour, where as the mental case with the mid life crisis? Once an afternoon?

I am telling you, around here, its the youngsters who are nuts.

As a Boomer I agree to a certain extent. The body ages and the ability to safely drive a car diminishes. I remember riding with my Grandfather and it was damn scary. Now my eyes have gone, I sure won't drive. Took myself off the road. I don't agree with an age limit because people age differently. More frequent testing over a certain age wouldn't be a bad idea though.