Reporting a old age driver?
Discussion
Yeah, phone the police.
I had a chat with my 80 year old dad. He was getting frail and had a suzuki supercarry which he used to wring it's neck. The last time I went out with him, he screamed the tits out of it up the middle of an A road inbetween oncoming traffic, almost touching the car he was going 0.1mph faster than. Then a while later, he went down a steep hill, missed the brake (foldy up weird citroen pedals) and took out the church gates. He did stop.
RIP mate. When it's time to stop it's time.
I had a chat with my 80 year old dad. He was getting frail and had a suzuki supercarry which he used to wring it's neck. The last time I went out with him, he screamed the tits out of it up the middle of an A road inbetween oncoming traffic, almost touching the car he was going 0.1mph faster than. Then a while later, he went down a steep hill, missed the brake (foldy up weird citroen pedals) and took out the church gates. He did stop.
RIP mate. When it's time to stop it's time.
I was following a Defender along a B road this evening after bobbing to the pub for dinner with a mate. The only way I could describe what I witnessed was that it was the driving equivalent of listening to someone speaking, but not in their first language. They were just about managing but you had to be very patient with them! Of course, there was the usual prerequisite twit with a whole lot less patience trying to rub the paint off my back bumper until we went in different directions! 
The truth of the matter is that if we stopped everyone from driving at age 80, it would make very little difference to the number of KSI accidents annually. But if you stopped everyone under 25 driving, it would make a huge difference.
We can talk about resits, eye tests and medicals all we like, but if you want to actually make a dent in the numbers killed or seriously injured, it's the other end of the spectrum we need to tackle. If we're going to have retests at all, then it has to be of younger drivers after a certain period of driving.
We can talk about resits, eye tests and medicals all we like, but if you want to actually make a dent in the numbers killed or seriously injured, it's the other end of the spectrum we need to tackle. If we're going to have retests at all, then it has to be of younger drivers after a certain period of driving.
Johnnytheboy said:
I work out of a garden centre, we've had some crackers.
1. there is currently a big gabion (basket full of stones) next to a parking space covered in safety tape after an oldie rammed it, the car next to it and put their own car at a 45 degree angle as a result.
2. There are big boulders in the flower beds (to stop lorry drivers driving over them I guess). Once watched an old man reverse his car on to one and then rev furiously to try and reverse further on to it.
3. The best ever was an old woman who actually rammed the car in to the wall of the building (having driven straight through some shrubs and sat there with her engine at max revs trying to finish the job. A colleague reached in and turned the engine off, walked round the back of the car... and she turned the engine on again and continued to rev the nuts off this poor Honda. This time he took the keys out of the ignition at which point - cool as a cucumber - she got out of the car and went into the garden centre cafe.
4. Sadly also an old man drove out of the entrance and proceeded to absolutely nail his Jaguar into a tree across the road... and killed his wife in the process.
I live near a big garden centre which has its exits onto a country A road. How there isn’t a fatal collision there weekly I’ll never know given what I regularly see. If we’re driving home my wife and I actually play a game of guessing which cars in the line of traffic will be going to the garden centre. It’s not a particularly difficult game. A Honda Jazz is a nailed on certainty.1. there is currently a big gabion (basket full of stones) next to a parking space covered in safety tape after an oldie rammed it, the car next to it and put their own car at a 45 degree angle as a result.
2. There are big boulders in the flower beds (to stop lorry drivers driving over them I guess). Once watched an old man reverse his car on to one and then rev furiously to try and reverse further on to it.
3. The best ever was an old woman who actually rammed the car in to the wall of the building (having driven straight through some shrubs and sat there with her engine at max revs trying to finish the job. A colleague reached in and turned the engine off, walked round the back of the car... and she turned the engine on again and continued to rev the nuts off this poor Honda. This time he took the keys out of the ignition at which point - cool as a cucumber - she got out of the car and went into the garden centre cafe.
4. Sadly also an old man drove out of the entrance and proceeded to absolutely nail his Jaguar into a tree across the road... and killed his wife in the process.
My grandfather had owned a haulage business so had professionally driven for most of his working life. When he was in his early 80s he had an auto mini Mayfair and used to just potter about locally in it. One of his tasks was to go and pick my cousins up from school. To get from his place to the school meant going down a properly steep hill a fair way. One day he got to the bottom by the school, got out, locked the car and never drove again (my uncle went to get it later on) as he’d felt he just didn’t have the strength to brake properly anymore.
I’d say the OP is doing the right thing to have a word with someone official.
This is a big issue. It's too easy for them to get their license renwed when they really don't have the motor skills or reactions to cope with it anymore.
A doctor in an office is not sufficient to decide if someone is fit to drive.
There are too many deaths and accidents caused by old drivers.
You only have to look at their insurance premiums even with full no claims on a small car to see there is a big issue.
A doctor in an office is not sufficient to decide if someone is fit to drive.
There are too many deaths and accidents caused by old drivers.
You only have to look at their insurance premiums even with full no claims on a small car to see there is a big issue.
Fresh Air Ian said:
This is a big issue. It's too easy for them to get their license renwed when they really don't have the motor skills or reactions to cope with it anymore.
A doctor in an office is not sufficient to decide if someone is fit to drive.
There are too many deaths and accidents caused by old drivers.
You only have to look at their insurance premiums even with full no claims on a small car to see there is a big issue.
Don't agree.A doctor in an office is not sufficient to decide if someone is fit to drive.
There are too many deaths and accidents caused by old drivers.
You only have to look at their insurance premiums even with full no claims on a small car to see there is a big issue.
The issue being discussed isn't old drivers, it's people who are s
t drivers because they are old.Das gone now (rip dad) but years ago bent the house gates and took the bumper clean off his beloved Nissan Sunny. The drive entrance is circa 15ft wide but he still missed the hole. We often tried to speak to him re his driving but was very obstinate. He had several minor ones but the last one involved leaving the local post office, driving down the lane and running straight into the back of a parked car. This one involved injuries to the two passengers sitting in the car and to my dad with steering wheel impact.. yes he hit it hard.
He finally gave up driving. Two weeks later he'd gone..
He finally gave up driving. Two weeks later he'd gone..
Benmac said:
I live near a big garden centre which has its exits onto a country A road. How there isn’t a fatal collision there weekly I’ll never know given what I regularly see. If we’re driving home my wife and I actually play a game of guessing which cars in the line of traffic will be going to the garden centre. It’s not a particularly difficult game. A Honda Jazz is a nailed on certainty.
We play that game when driving back, guess if the car is driving badly enough to be one of the garden centre's customers.Fresh Air Ian said:
This is a big issue. It's too easy for them to get their license renwed when they really don't have the motor skills or reactions to cope with it anymore.
A doctor in an office is not sufficient to decide if someone is fit to drive.
There are too many deaths and accidents caused by old drivers.
You only have to look at their insurance premiums even with full no claims on a small car to see there is a big issue.
Some statistics to consider:A doctor in an office is not sufficient to decide if someone is fit to drive.
There are too many deaths and accidents caused by old drivers.
You only have to look at their insurance premiums even with full no claims on a small car to see there is a big issue.
15.4 million people are aged over 60 in the UK. There were 22,483 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
6.4 million people aged 16-24 in the UK. There were 28,708 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
Source DfT - Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2018 annual report.
Riley Blue said:
Some statistics to consider:
15.4 million people are aged over 60 in the UK. There were 22,483 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
6.4 million people aged 16-24 in the UK. There were 28,708 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
Source DfT - Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2018 annual report.
Blimey, someone using actual stats in an argument. Basically virtually everybody is a crap driver in some way. 15.4 million people are aged over 60 in the UK. There were 22,483 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
6.4 million people aged 16-24 in the UK. There were 28,708 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
Source DfT - Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2018 annual report.
I reported an old chap once but felt I had no choice.
I first encountered him coming at me head on, wrong way round a roundabout in town.
Then, presumably due to vision problems, he drive with wheels straddling the centre markings of the road for 200 yards, only moving left when confronted with a rapidly approaching traffic island.
When I spoke to the police about it they said someone would have a word but that ideally they would have been better able to deal with a phonecall at the time so they could send a car to observe.
But that WAS clearly a dangerous example.
I first encountered him coming at me head on, wrong way round a roundabout in town.
Then, presumably due to vision problems, he drive with wheels straddling the centre markings of the road for 200 yards, only moving left when confronted with a rapidly approaching traffic island.
When I spoke to the police about it they said someone would have a word but that ideally they would have been better able to deal with a phonecall at the time so they could send a car to observe.
But that WAS clearly a dangerous example.
Bobtherallyfan said:
Riley Blue said:
Some statistics to consider:
15.4 million people are aged over 60 in the UK. There were 22,483 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
6.4 million people aged 16-24 in the UK. There were 28,708 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
Source DfT - Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2018 annual report.
Blimey, someone using actual stats in an argument. Basically virtually everybody is a crap driver in some way. 15.4 million people are aged over 60 in the UK. There were 22,483 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
6.4 million people aged 16-24 in the UK. There were 28,708 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
Source DfT - Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2018 annual report.
When young drivers are involved it's merely 'driving like a t
t'.Riley Blue said:
Some statistics to consider:
15.4 million people are aged over 60 in the UK. There were 22,483 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
6.4 million people aged 16-24 in the UK. There were 28,708 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
Source DfT - Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2018 annual report.
Meaningless stats without some context. What percentage of these age groups have a licence? How many miles are they driving? Also bear in mind that young people are more likely to drive with multiple passengers in the car so an accident will result in more casualties.15.4 million people are aged over 60 in the UK. There were 22,483 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
6.4 million people aged 16-24 in the UK. There were 28,708 road casualties in this age group in 2018.
Source DfT - Reported road casualties in Great Britain: 2018 annual report.
I'm not jumping on the anti-old person-driver bandwagon, there's crap drivers in every age segment. The problem is that depending on what direction you're coming from confirmation bias will play a big part in your view. So young drivers will view "old dodderers" as a menace as they've seen a few revving the tits off their Jazz in the car park, and likewise older drivers will see a "boy-racer" and tarnish all youngsters with the same brush.
Johnnytheboy nails it really, a simple 10 minute competency test for everyone:
Johnnytheboy said:
Or you could just test everyone every ten years.
And maybe more frequent tests for under 25's / over 80's...You start your life unable to safely drive, and if you are lucky enough to live long enough, you end it that way too. We're better - though far from perfect - at controlling the early life part. The later life part seems largely to come down to the driver choosing to do the right thing.
I don’t think the under 25s are a issue in regards to they would fail a test. They just like to go fast which a test wouldn’t do anything for as even your most idiotic driver can go slow on a test. When I was 18 I got 6 points for speeding, passed my resit test first time 2 weeks later - it meant nothing.
Everyone has to remember that young drivers are new to it. You expect more accidents when someone is new to something. You wouldn’t expect to become a expert at something in only a few years.
And again this isn’t a anti old people thread, this was me feeling someone was dangerous. I had a relative driving at 95, only gave his licence in after he couldn’t walk. Had a Mercedes S class and a Granada cosworth till 90ish when rust beat that one. Still one of the best drivers I have been in a car with.
Everyone has to remember that young drivers are new to it. You expect more accidents when someone is new to something. You wouldn’t expect to become a expert at something in only a few years.
And again this isn’t a anti old people thread, this was me feeling someone was dangerous. I had a relative driving at 95, only gave his licence in after he couldn’t walk. Had a Mercedes S class and a Granada cosworth till 90ish when rust beat that one. Still one of the best drivers I have been in a car with.
Johnnytheboy said:
I work out of a garden centre, we've had some crackers.
1. there is currently a big gabion (basket full of stones) next to a parking space covered in safety tape after an oldie rammed it, the car next to it and put their own car at a 45 degree angle as a result.
2. There are big boulders in the flower beds (to stop lorry drivers driving over them I guess). Once watched an old man reverse his car on to one and then rev furiously to try and reverse further on to it.
3. The best ever was an old woman who actually rammed the car in to the wall of the building (having driven straight through some shrubs and sat there with her engine at max revs trying to finish the job. A colleague reached in and turned the engine off, walked round the back of the car... and she turned the engine on again and continued to rev the nuts off this poor Honda. This time he took the keys out of the ignition at which point - cool as a cucumber - she got out of the car and went into the garden centre cafe.
4. Sadly also an old man drove out of the entrance and proceeded to absolutely nail his Jaguar into a tree across the road... and killed his wife in the process.
Christ these "garden centre" places sound dangerous, hope they shut them down soon. 1. there is currently a big gabion (basket full of stones) next to a parking space covered in safety tape after an oldie rammed it, the car next to it and put their own car at a 45 degree angle as a result.
2. There are big boulders in the flower beds (to stop lorry drivers driving over them I guess). Once watched an old man reverse his car on to one and then rev furiously to try and reverse further on to it.
3. The best ever was an old woman who actually rammed the car in to the wall of the building (having driven straight through some shrubs and sat there with her engine at max revs trying to finish the job. A colleague reached in and turned the engine off, walked round the back of the car... and she turned the engine on again and continued to rev the nuts off this poor Honda. This time he took the keys out of the ignition at which point - cool as a cucumber - she got out of the car and went into the garden centre cafe.
4. Sadly also an old man drove out of the entrance and proceeded to absolutely nail his Jaguar into a tree across the road... and killed his wife in the process.
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