donaldkilroy

Pedestrians Hit By Car Off Highway 99

91 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the hell was this freakin old woman even doing behind the wheel of a car!!!!!

NINETY-ONE YEARS OLD!!!

Some people say young people behind the wheel are a hazard, I say maybe but I find older people to be a far greater concerned.

In my lifetime I have either seen or been a victim of an older person behind the wheel of a car one time too many. More so than a younger person.

With younger people it's the "it can never happen to me" syndrome and they merely act stupid. With older people they are simply are in denial about the fact that they are just too old, too damn slow (e.g., driving slow, reaction time, etc.), and entirely too obnoxious (e.g., making lane changes without looking, without using a signal, coming to complete stops when making turns, running red lights, hitting people walking alongside the road, falling asleep at the wheel and veering across the center line and hitting another car head-on, etc.).

When are we going to wake up and start making it tougher for people to keep their license the older they get!?!?!?! :banghead:

I say increase the number of times they need to take a written and/or driving exam each year and anytime an accident such as in this article happens their license needs to be suspended indefinately!

donaldkilroy

Corwin

If a driver can pass the tests, (driving proficiency, vision, etc) there's no reason, legal or ethical, to suspend their license just because of age.

Also bear in mind that King City is a retirement community. There are a lot of people that age in that neighborhood.

Jimmy Higgins

My grandfather got into an accident when he was 89. He, in his Colt, drove out into the intersection from the bank and got branded by a truck who clearly had the right of way. My grandfather got to spend his 90th birthday in the hospital in a coma. I got to go to Boston MGH every Sunday for about 5 to 6 months, then his funeral. On a side note, he was who I was praying for when I had my first thought of atheism that has led me here.

My grandmother got into an accident, rear ended a caravan that had stopped moving and was looking to turn left. My grandmother who was not injured in the accident said she saw the car stopped but just didn't react. After that incident, I led an effort to get her the hell off the road before she killed someone or got killed herself. She's still alive and doing very well. It was bad for her that she couldn't drive, but there is no way in hell I was going to say I'm Sorry to some young couple, who's baby was killed when my grandmother wasn't able to react again. Families need to take responsiblity for their elders. I had to drive my grandmother places when she couldn't drive anymore. It was a pain sometimes, but I knew it was better than the alternatives!

How old is too old? That isn't the question! The question is "How unable to drive is too unable?"

Rhaedas

I agree it's not age, but ability that's the factor.

Testing frequency should be increased, as well as what is tested. I don't think a simple vision and written test is enough, a driving test should be required as well. Maybe not every year, as the vision should be, but an elderly person could understand the rules and have adequete vision, and yet not have the coordination to drive safely.

The families and the drivers themselves should make those decision way before any testing determines them a threat, but simply handing someone a license without knowing if they are capable of the necessary reaction times is dangerous.

Are driving simulators used at all these days for driving tests? That would take the load off of personnel and the time needed for actual driving tests, while pinpointing who may need further testing.

ImGod

The baby boomers are getting up there in age so the problem will only get worse. The AARP's numbers and political clout will only increase so I don't think politicians will be keen on restricting them in many ways. Nobody thinks they are getting older. Hell, my 55 year old parents are already loosing the edge and have a hard time driving in relatively small citites.

The older people in this state have been talking about raising the driving age, yearly retesting, and liscence revoking for teens, but not for seniors. I think they got a midnight driving curfew imposed on 16 and 17 year olds (because nothing good happens after midnight). They are looking into making it so the same group must have someone over 18 in the car or be alone. That eliminates groups of teens in cars causing trouble.

I think the only way to get senior driving restrictions through is to make everyone retest more often and trick them into thinking its for young people safety issuses (young people in their 70s that is).

The current standards are rather low. I haven't had any sort of driver's test in 15 years. They only checked my vision, and took a photo when I moved to a different state and had to get a new liscense. But, then again I'm young and I'm a good driver. I just can't see that well without my glasses anymore.

donaldkilroy

People...the "ability" "inability" "etc" is/was implied by the age reference (an innuendo further supported by everything else I said regarding the elderly). As we all know full well that the older you get the slower (and less capable/able/etc.) you get.

DarkBronzePlant

Perhaps the question should be "at what age should frequent tests be administered to ensure a person has retained proper driving skills?"

I'm nowhere near such an age at this point, but I can imagine it would be a tough thing for a person. Already you're dealing with approaching, well, the end. And now someone wants to take away a huge chunk of your freedom. But though I sympathize, risking the lives of everyone else on the road (not to mention the life of the driver him/herself) is not worth it to make someone feel better.

Sakpo

A great aunt of mine, aged 89, got behind the wheel of her car, and ended up t boning a car with a family of four in it, killing one of them, several years ago. This happened in southern California. The woman was in no shape to be driving. Her vision was mostly gone, she had slow reflexes, etc. She hadn't had any meaningful tests, not even vision tests, apparently, in many years. She'd just been able to renew her liscense. There's no way she should have been allowed on the road.

My grandfather, in his late 70s, has always been a critic of people who refuse to stop driving as they get too old. He's a doctor, so I figure he understands better than I do how age would make people drive less well. Well, I spoke with him on the phone the other day, and the subject came up. He knows he'll have to stop driving... "some time in the next 30 years." :banghead: To make matters worse, he was never a very good driver in the first place.

Funnily enough, my other grandpa, in his 80s now, gave up driving quite a few years ago, and I'd wager it was a lot more important to him. He was a professional driver of some sort most of his life. He drove a truck and also drove around British VIPs in North Africa in WW2 (he's English), drove a milk truck for most of his post war life, until he retired at which point he volunteered to drive a van to help disabled children get to a school that suited their needs. Driving was, and is, a very important part of his personal identity. It was his trade. He was good at it, and enjoyed it. But once he really did start to get too old, know what he did? He stopped, voluntarily. He didn't need to have his liscense revoked, for someone to refuse to renew it, he didn't need to have an accident or a close call. He had a valid liscense, he had a car, but he stopped driving. I respect that.

In a lot of places, young drivers are subject to a lot of extra scrutiny. That's fine, there's good reason for it. But old people should be subjected to extra scrutiny too, in terms of being medically examined to determine if they're fit to drive, having a mandatory written exam at a certain age, having another road test at a certain age, etc. It'll never happen though. Old people vote, their numbers are increasing, and everyone thinks that driving an automobile is their God Given Right.

donaldkilroy

Therein lies the crutch of this issue. Driving is not a right, it's a privilege - PERIOD!

You have the "right" to apply for a driver's license.
You have the "right" to purchase and own a vehicle.

But it's a "privilege" to actually drive. If you abuse (e.g., DUI, DWI, reckless driving, etc.) that "privilege," it can and will be taken away from you. If you show or that it can be shown that you are no longer capable (i.e., lacking driving skills, etc.) to drive safely, then the "privilege" to drive can and will be taken away from you.

Again, driving is a "privilege" not a "right."

donaldkilroy

My thanks to Jimmy Higgins and Sakpo for illustrating the point with their accounts about their granparents.