100 year old drivers

[Agi-Smash]

Is anyone else watched that program on itv called 100 year old drivers? Oh my god, that is some seriously scary sh#t man. No wonder insurance is so high.

These old boys have never been in an accident, caused thousands.

Best bit was the 91 year old on a honda 250 super dream, cringetastic

[chrisj]

I have a client that admitted that the other day she didn't have enough strength in her hand to turn the key in the ignition and had to reach across and use her left hand to turn her right hand. And she didn't see any problem with continuing on her journey!!! Apparently she was still perfectly safe and in control.

This is the same person that has scraped every corner of her tiny car because of misjudging distances, but says that if she thought she wasn't safe she'd stop driving. It didn't occur to her that each one of those scrapes could have been a child. She couldn't walk across the cemetry at a friends funeral because her depth perception is so bad that a dip or hollow of 2 inches was invisible to her. But still considers herself safe to drive.

The problem is only going to get worse with the aging population.

[Goaty]

I knew a man ( since passed away) that blacked out randomly. Yet the doctors never took licence off him.

Best one though was an old chap that caused a small accident. Police took licence off him there and then.

He got down not driving, so wrote to DVLA saying he'd lost his licence could they send a replacement.

They did! He carried in driving.

 

 

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[Billhook]

 

 

Yes they still have a few minor bumps and are a bit slow causing some frustration, but statistically it is the young 17-25 year old men who are the serious problem, ask any insurance company.

There is a lot of difference between having a 5 mph parking bump than the sort of accidents caused by a 130 mph chipped hot hatch driven by hothead.

 

I love this Jay Leno interview with a feisty 100 year old.

 

 

Inspirational!

[difflock]

Yep, I got to admit 100 years safer than 100miles(ph).

And quite a few 40/50/60 years olds drive like they are already 100.

With equally poor judgement or sense or spatial preception.

[Andrew Gale]

I filled up with fuel the other day and as I entered the shop to pay an old guy staggered towards me, using 2 walking sticks, and almost fell as he left the shop; I caught him and suggested he got assistance, at which point he grabbed my arm and said 'Tanks, I'm the blue car over there'.

 

So being a decent chap I walked him to his car, a distance of about 15m, which took about 2 minutes during which time he told me that his ankle doesn't work anymore hence the walking sticks; I suggested that maybe it was time to hang up the driving gloves and he said 'no young man, I'm in an automatic so that's fine'.

 

The fact that he could barely walk didn't even cross his mind. I put him in his car, walked to the shop, paid for my fuel, walked to my car, put my seat belt on and drove away before he'd even got his seat belt on.

 

Now I appreciate that young or old, we can all drive carelessly but surely common sense must prevail and one must get a medical when one reaches a certain age! I believe you need to re-apply for your license at 70yrs old so why not then?

[chrisj]

I knew a man ( since passed away) that blacked out randomly. Yet the doctors never took licence off him.

Best one though was an old chap that caused a small accident. Police took licence off him there and then.

He got down not driving, so wrote to DVLA saying he'd lost his licence could they send a replacement.

They did! He carried in driving.

 

 

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My wife's grandfather did that blacking out thing and he still drove too.......... All the way to Belgium!

[ArthurBottlesworth]

When assessing I saw loads of people with incredibly low mileage cars who had accidents

So statistically they are having loads more accidents than high mileage drivers

 

Typically they carry on driving until they have accident, then they stop.......

I reckon some of them use cars instead of zimmer frames .....

 

When gov't provided disabled with free car, free insurance and petrol money

There was no financial cost to them when they had accident

I had regulars , i used to see one driver every couple of weeks

Last time I saw him he was screwing piece of plywood over two passenger doors cos they wouldn't fasten , self tappers through ply into front and rear wings - this was to keep doors shut

 

Car was about four months old - it had handpainted wing by then too

 

Unbelieveable thing is that he wasn't disabled, his wife was .......

[Stubby]

All of the above I pretty much agree with . I consider my self a driver who can get places with the least amount of fuss but who would not necessarily pass a test today . The thing is we all get old . Its a bastard but time marches on . How many of you would surrender your license when a younger person says you should not be on the road mate ?

[ThrustSSC]

Surely the answer it not to filter out drivers by age, but by ability? If we made folks retake their test on every birthday ending in 5 or 0 up to, say 60, then every 3 years to 75, then every year [insert your own intervals and inflection points as you see fit] we have much safer - and less-congested - roads. The poor drivers would simply be de-licensed or required to re-train.

 

I don't have a problem with that. I see driving as a privilege, not a right. And if someone things they can still drive safely when they can't, or if someone is not keeping their skills up, then they shouldn't be on the road.