Is it time to have an age limit for driving on the road?
Discussion
0000 said:
Thanks for telling me to think to think of my family, I'd totally forgotten about them and if they were killed on the motorway the thing I'd be most concerned about would definitely be how many birthday parties someone else had had.
But you WOULD be concerned with how many lagers they'd drunk i assume? How much gear they had snorted?Let's get this right then. You ARE happy with people being banned and locked up for killing whilst driving drunk or drugged up, but not for killing because your body and mind was simply past it? (An old guy drove out of Tibshelf services the wrong way last month but luckily was forced to stop on the slip road by a van coming in and flashing his lights. The old bloke could barely get out of the car, let alone drive the thing safely. He must have been 90, the Tesco van driver (who delivers to us) told me and said that he should never be on the road).
So temporary 'brain damage', lack of awareness, quality of eyesight and hearing and physical ability through drinking too much or snorting too much, then driving is much more dangerous than permanent 'brain damage', lack of awareness, quality of eyesight and hearing and physical ability through being extremely old and having seen your body and mind deteriorate badly, leaving you with the reactions and awareness of a January hedgehog?
90 year olds don't perform operations in hospitals, they don't drive ambulances, they don't head police forces, they don't ride cop bikes, they don't go down mines, they don't supervise swimming pools. The sad fact is that old age affects us physically and mentally.
Footnote. My father in law has put his Fiesta on the market, after his wife, myself and my wife asked him to yesterday. He reluctantly accepted that he is now a liability on the road and will use taxis instead, the 2 or 3 times a week he goes out. Good move and well done him. He also admitted getting lost last week, just 3 miles from the home he has lived in for 46 years.
LeighW said:
I think regular eye tests should be compulsory for drivers, and at least a driving or health test every five years once you reach 70.
My dad's 76 now, and his driving has noticeably deteriorated in the last few years, although he would argue until blue in the face that he can drive just as well as he always has. One example - he picked us up from the airport last year. It was dark, but dry and clear, and he was pootling along on a straight A road in a 60 zone, doing 40 at most. He started moaning about a car tailgating him (I looked, and it wasn't close at all), then when the car overtook us he started flashing his headlights until I knocked his hand away from the stalk and told him to stop it. He never would have done that a few years ago, and he certainly wouldn't have been driving so slowly in the first place.
How many times have you followed a driver in the dark who dabs their brakes for no good reason every time a car comes the other way. I see that regularly on my evening commute during the winter months, and it's always an older driver that does it. Whether it's an age/confidence thing or poor eyesight, who knows?
Brilliant point. My dad in law still reckons at 89 he could drive the 30 tons wagon and drag lorries he did at 30 and he ACTUALLY believes it!!! This from a bloke who can't get into or out of a bath any more, needs a zimmer frame to walk and cannot manage stairs at all. Oh he takes about a minute to sit up out of a chair! And he takes the wheel of a lethal killing machine!My dad's 76 now, and his driving has noticeably deteriorated in the last few years, although he would argue until blue in the face that he can drive just as well as he always has. One example - he picked us up from the airport last year. It was dark, but dry and clear, and he was pootling along on a straight A road in a 60 zone, doing 40 at most. He started moaning about a car tailgating him (I looked, and it wasn't close at all), then when the car overtook us he started flashing his headlights until I knocked his hand away from the stalk and told him to stop it. He never would have done that a few years ago, and he certainly wouldn't have been driving so slowly in the first place.
How many times have you followed a driver in the dark who dabs their brakes for no good reason every time a car comes the other way. I see that regularly on my evening commute during the winter months, and it's always an older driver that does it. Whether it's an age/confidence thing or poor eyesight, who knows?
0000 said:
CorvetteConvert said:
0000 said:
So we need to add age limits until there are no accidents left at all?
We already do, you can't drive if you are too young. Too old is just as relevant.I was at the theatre last night. Glass is not allowed in the balcony as it may drop onto those below, you have to have plastic. At worst they'll get wet that way.
19-90 would be a good range to allow people to drive, with tests after 75 and a power limit for first time passers for 3 years.
A guy in Hampstead i know via the Corvette club was bought a Corvette for Christmas by his dad back in 2012. 640 bhp 2 weeks after he passed his test in a Micra. That end of it needs looking at too, or would you disagree with that too? Just curious.
Edited by CorvetteConvert on Tuesday 13th October 07:56
TOOMANY2CVS.
He has agreed to quit driving!
PS I love 2CVs. I always have at least one and i drove from Derby to Monaco and back in a week last year and the year before for charity. It is doing Buxton to Grenoble next May. Again, with a week as the time limit. It's a blackcurrant 1988 Charleston i have now. The last 2 trips were done in my 1987 Bamboo.
He has agreed to quit driving!
PS I love 2CVs. I always have at least one and i drove from Derby to Monaco and back in a week last year and the year before for charity. It is doing Buxton to Grenoble next May. Again, with a week as the time limit. It's a blackcurrant 1988 Charleston i have now. The last 2 trips were done in my 1987 Bamboo.
bobbsie said:
CorvetteConvert said:
PS I love 2CVs. I always have at least one and i drove from Derby to Monaco and back in a week last year and the year before for charity. It is doing Buxton to Grenoble next May. Again, with a week as the time limit. It's a blackcurrant 1988 Charleston i have now. The last 2 trips were done in my 1987 Bamboo.
sounds great fun. i remember many fun trips in my 2CV which sat alongside a BMW in the drive, so it wasn't my only or first car.as you know, it's actually very relaxing great suspension and very little engine noise it just wafted along at 63mph all day. Big smiles, lots of waves, i miss that.
I have bought as 1957 2CV4 for restoration. One owner Aix-en-Provence car with just 51,000 kms from new.
Sorry, off topic again!
Edited by CorvetteConvert on Tuesday 13th October 11:34
R6VED said:
I have been on the receiving end of a "wrong wayer" and it was pretty scary - all I saw as the car flashed past at what must have been 60mph was grey hair - I had just pulled back into lane 1 after an overtake and if it had been a few seconds later it could have been a different story.
We phoned the police to advise and checked the internet afterwards, but there were no stories, which hopefully equals no accidents.
PHEW!We phoned the police to advise and checked the internet afterwards, but there were no stories, which hopefully equals no accidents.
0000 said:
Wait, you mean, no one concluded that once a glass was dropped by an old person and it wasn't only 90 year olds that had to have plastic glasses? That sounds like it's probably effective in eliminating all glass accidents and not just discriminatory, perhaps you should look to their example!
Missing the point entirely once again.0000. Age isn't the issue? What a ridiculous statement.
So the fact my father in law cannot see very well now he's 89, but was fine until about 75-80, plus the same for his poor hearing now and his hesitancy when he drives and the fact he can barely walk now and his decision making in an emergency being poor compared to what it was, etc etc etc is NOTHING to do with the ageing process? Get real.
Well my doctor disagrees with you, his consultants both disagree with you and so do i.
He like most of his Bridge pals all have medical problems and they are all told it is down to old age essentially. It's not ageist to admit the truth FGS!
I miss my mum every single day bless her, but i am the first to admit her driving was awful when she was in her 80s. Terrible.
Let's hope a 90 year old doesn't perform heart surgery on any of your family any time soon, eg.
So the fact my father in law cannot see very well now he's 89, but was fine until about 75-80, plus the same for his poor hearing now and his hesitancy when he drives and the fact he can barely walk now and his decision making in an emergency being poor compared to what it was, etc etc etc is NOTHING to do with the ageing process? Get real.
Well my doctor disagrees with you, his consultants both disagree with you and so do i.
He like most of his Bridge pals all have medical problems and they are all told it is down to old age essentially. It's not ageist to admit the truth FGS!
I miss my mum every single day bless her, but i am the first to admit her driving was awful when she was in her 80s. Terrible.
Let's hope a 90 year old doesn't perform heart surgery on any of your family any time soon, eg.
Ali_T said:
An age limit would be pointless and arbitrary. Ask Stirling Moss, he's the same age as the man in the OP's post. But it's time to stop allowing people to self certify their own health.
Then let's get the testing started, thousands of very old drivers are a liability amongst us. 90 imo should be the end of anyone's driving.The other thing people are doing i see is saying Stirling Moss or other ex-Formula 1 drivers would be faster than say, me, or safer, or whatever.
The ageing process is not kinder to race drivers than it is to fire fighters or chocolate testers. There is nothing to say an ex-racer will make a great street driver at 80 or 90.
And yes, actually, i will happily sit in an identical car round Donington with any 85 year old and i will put my money on the table winner takes all quite happily and even more so on a motorcycle like mine. In fact i would put my house on the outcome of a bike race tomorrow on a circuit with an 85 year old ex bike racer. That would be fun.
If the above was true why are their age limits for safety-related jobs, i.e. maximum ages for people applying for them? Hmmm?
I will tell you and as an ex-employer i did the same myself. It's because their abilities in many areas deteriorate as one gets older. It's simple medical fact, as agreed by my father in law's doctor and both his consultants. The age limits are there because things like eyesight and awareness DO deteriorate with age.
His rheumatologist in June this year said ''that he was in fine shape generally for 89 but sadly he has age-related problems, it happens to all of his some time''.
My point exactly.
I will tell you and as an ex-employer i did the same myself. It's because their abilities in many areas deteriorate as one gets older. It's simple medical fact, as agreed by my father in law's doctor and both his consultants. The age limits are there because things like eyesight and awareness DO deteriorate with age.
His rheumatologist in June this year said ''that he was in fine shape generally for 89 but sadly he has age-related problems, it happens to all of his some time''.
My point exactly.
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