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Why the over 70's should be banned from the roads (RANT)

Beardy_John - 30/1/09 at 08:44 PM

This is a bit of a rant I am afraid, but after this afternoon I feel I am allowed to....

Left work at 4pm today (after putting a new head light bulb in!!) and was happily minding my own business listening to 5live, when round the second corner of an S bend came a Focus. Nothing unusual in that, except the thing was sideways and doing about 60. You can guess what happened next.......

My poor volvo v50 afterwards

He hit me down the whole side and pushed me into the hedge, damaging the other side as well, and ripping the rear bumper off. He then continued to spin on and end up facing the wrong way round in his lane. What made it worse was he is local, so should know the roads fairly well.

Once I had managed to kick my door open and remove myself from the smoking interior he seemed quiet apologetic. My reply is not repeatable before the watershed.

Once the police had dealt with the blockage (mine still drove) he was charged with driving without due care and attention. What gets me is the car in front of me (and stopped to call the police) was two sisters who were both pregnant with two children in the back. In some ways I am glad it was me.

I know that a lot of golden oldies drive very carefully (some one here ), perhaps too carefully on occasion, but this just really p***es me off that youngsters get the blame for driving badly when there are clearly people on the roads who shouldn't be.

Rant over.......Finish beer.....Pills for back ache.

smart51 - 30/1/09 at 08:51 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Beardy_John
Why the over 70's should be banned from the roads

Would that include Sterling Moss?

Seriously, bad luck. I'm glad you're OK. The good news is that you're not hurt, your car can be repaired and it is fairly certain the other guys insurance will pay.

I firmly think that the driving test should be repeated every 10 years. As for the over 70s, you're more at risk from boy racers. Usually.

drhunter - 30/1/09 at 08:52 PM

I hope that since he was charged, the insurance shouldn't be too much of a problem to sort out.
In the grand scheme of things it could have turned out a lot worse.
(And lucky you were in the volvo, bit safer than a seven)

[Edited on 30/1/09 by drhunter]

[Edited on 30/1/09 by drhunter]

P ? - 30/1/09 at 08:52 PM

sit back and relax m8..... just think it could have been alot worst, be thankful your not seriously hurt ! plus remember to act really badly hurt and get yourself to the hospital, looks good for the personal injury claim

mr_pr - 30/1/09 at 08:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by P ?
sit back and relax m8..... just think it could have been alot worst, be thankful your not seriously hurt ! plus remember to act really badly hurt and get yourself to the hospital, looks good for the personal injury claim

Without going too much off topic or starting a debate. He could be honest about his injuries and not add to more of this stupid sue for all I can get culture.

Hellfire - 30/1/09 at 09:13 PM

Bit of T cut and some elbow grease and you couldn't tell........

Seriously though, glad you're OK. Cars can be fixed.......... maybe not your Volvo though.

Phil

blakep82 - 30/1/09 at 09:13 PM

i tend to agree... had a smashing drive home, one car which kept putting the brakes on when coming up to parked cars, when no one was coming the other way, as soon as that one finally got out my way another one pulled out in front of me and proceeded to do 20 miles an hour, again braking every time a car came the opposite direction

dhutch - 30/1/09 at 09:28 PM

I dont think people should be band from driving over 70.
- My grandad (mums dad) is 80 next saturday and very competent indeed. He's always been a great driver, and its fit as a fiddle. Happy to leap from a moving narrowboat at 3ft onto a bank and run onto the next lock. Or do quick quadratic equation.

However do agree that there are elderlys on the road who should be. Including my dads dad, who recently turning left out of our drive on a road wide enough for vans to pass hit the far verge and drove a foot over it before stoping.

A test at 70 is all fine and good but people who pass that then seam to be able to drive indefinatly in many cases.

Daniel

omega 24 v6 - 30/1/09 at 09:35 PM

Feel for you mate. It'll be a write off by the looks.
Know how you feel spent 30 mins tailing a chav in a corsa (big exhaust and a no plate saying XE baby). He could not drive a soapy stick up a dogs ar*e on the single town roads. Stalled 3 times no signals at round abouts speed up and down etc etc very erratic.
Then we get to the dual carraige way and i pull out to overtake. He decides it's time to prove it's an XE. Twat. but he didn't need to impress me at all cos i was gone

Hope your back's not to bad tommorrow.

Beardy_John - 30/1/09 at 09:39 PM

I think the beer is working and I am begining to relax a bit. However, my back is getting stiffer (not faking for the compo!!).

My point was not about ALL octogenarians being banned, really a regular re-test would be enough. My parents used to own a shop around Bournemouth (retirement central) and the amount of people who parked outside who then got out and could barely walk/see/hear astounded me.

It does make me think about my Seven build tho. I was planning in just a roll bar, if that really. But after today I think I might go for a full cage! I know my driving is OK, its all the others out there!!

turboben - 30/1/09 at 09:44 PM

I think you should be able to nominate someone you think is not able to manage behind the wheel. When they get 20 or so nominations they get tested. It would be open to abuse is the only trouble. Kit cars would be exempt!
Ben

Peteff - 30/1/09 at 11:11 PM

quote:
Originally posted by turboben
I think you should be able to nominate someone you think is not able to manage behind the wheel. When they get 20 or so nominations they get tested. It would be open to abuse is the only trouble. Kit cars would be exempt!
Ben

I'd have 3 for the list straight away. I was walking the dog this afternoon and pressed the button on the lights to cross the road, a couple of cars were waiting to turn right and the lights changed to red so they went right and I was crossing on the green man when the next 3 cars which were all behind the line proceeded to come across straight at me. The dog panicked and I just stopped in my tracks and held them up, I was gobsmacked. There's never a police car there when you want one is all I could think.
P.S. not one of them looked over 70 or under 30.

[Edited on 30/1/09 by Peteff]

balidey - 30/1/09 at 11:26 PM

Glad you're OK.
With every situation, you have to look for the positives..........

One less Volvo on the road now

RK - 31/1/09 at 12:31 AM

Make sure you tell your insurance that you are going to see an MD regarding possible injuries.

This is where you want the oldies in Smart Cars; they would just bounce off you with no damage.

Richard Quinn - 31/1/09 at 09:42 AM

quote:
Originally posted by mr_pr

quote:
Originally posted by P ?
sit back and relax m8..... just think it could have been alot worst, be thankful your not seriously hurt ! plus remember to act really badly hurt and get yourself to the hospital, looks good for the personal injury claim

Without going too much off topic or starting a debate. He could be honest about his injuries and not add to more of this stupid sue for all I can get culture.

No debate here! I wholeheartedly agree. I have no problem with justifiable and warranted claims but this whole culture thing we've developed is just stupid. My son was a typical 17 year old driver and managed to reverse into an old Mondeo in a car park whilst the woman was in it. It was a car park, he was reversing and he was in a Ford Ka. It didn't even crack the rear lights on the Ka but the insurance ended up paying out Ł3k for whiplash, loss of earnings etc. Where do they think that this money comes from??? Rant over

BenB - 31/1/09 at 11:35 AM

Don't forget that for every Ł3k we all pay in increased insurance premiums for Compensitis, we probably also pay about Ł10k for unecessary time wasting Drs time, physio time, MRI scans etc etc all done to "maximise" a claim the claiment knows is bogus.

The OP has a right to be pissed and of course if there is a medical consequence it should be looked into. But the whole fabrication of illness just to get money is (IMHO) immoral and basically just stealing money (obtaining money through deception).

ie no different to this gimp. who should be strung up by the nuts in the town centre and left to swing....

Ninehigh - 1/2/09 at 02:08 AM

I pretty much wholeheartedly agree with Clarkson on this one:

You get until you're 25 to pass your test (although I say 5 years from applying for your provisional, some kids are skint) because if you've not done it by then you don't have any interest in cars and driving.

You also get 3 attempts to pass, anyone who hasn't passed by the third time isn't going to be good enough in the same way I'm never going to get a degree in quantum mechanics (ok you can apply for a few more if you've failed on daft little things)

I'm also for the 5 year retest, my security licence runs out after 3 years so why not my driving licence? Just make sure everyone looks at the road and can keep to their side etc.

focijohn - 1/2/09 at 07:49 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Beardy_John
I know that a lot of golden oldies drive very carefully (some one here ), perhaps too carefully on occasion, but this just really p***es me off that youngsters get the blame for driving badly when there are clearly people on the roads who shouldn't be.

Rant over.......Finish beer.....Pills for back ache.

Glad your OK.

Thankyou for saying that, we (people under 21) seem to be branded as bad drivers. At least i stick to the speed limit slow down and stop at roundabouts, look both ways at junctions etc. From what ive seen this is more that can be said for many people on the road.

I agree with taking the test every 10 years. I'm pritty sure that most people would not be able to pass again, well judging on the tw*ts that are occupiying the roads these days.

David Jenkins - 1/2/09 at 09:20 PM

My 80-year-old mother-in-law is a competent driver and I'd happily travel as a passenger with her... on the other hand, my father-in-law is a terrible driver, and has been for 20 years!

Ninehigh - 1/2/09 at 09:28 PM

This is the problem we need to sort out the competent from the idiots and the hard of thinking. People say it's to do with age but I've dealt with w@nkers of all ages

02GF74 - 2/2/09 at 01:45 PM

Well I think we all can agree that old people and crack do not mix!

BTW did the side airbags go off at all in the volvo?

Anyways, I wolud not object to taking a retest at say 5 year intervals apart from having to pay for it. It could even be a vluntary thing that if you pass, you would get reduced insurance, such as the IAM.

BUT will that realy sort out t he bad drivers?

I probably do the odd daft thing like the rest of ya but if I had someone sitting next to me. then I'd make pretty sure I'd stick to the highway code as much as possible.

In theory it seems a good idea but in practise it still is flawed just like an MOT - which means that the car was deemed roadworthy by the tester for the items tested at the time of the test.

Ninehigh - 2/2/09 at 07:04 PM

Ok then how's about this way:

The photo licence has an expiry on it so the picture is (reasonably) up to date, so why not pay a nominal fee (I think it's Ł18 for a replacement so how about Ł25?) Then when you do the "re-test" instead of having someone sat beside you they install a few cameras for a couple of weeks and take a random sample. That way you'll never know when they're watching.

Also combine this with the Swiss system, I heard that numberplates are attatched to the person rather than the car and thus if you don't have a licence you're driving round without plates

jacko - 2/2/09 at 07:25 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh
Ok then how's about this way:

The photo licence has an expiry on it so the picture is (reasonably) up to date, so why not pay a nominal fee (I think it's Ł18 for a replacement so how about Ł25?) Then when you do the "re-test" instead of having someone sat beside you they install a few cameras for a couple of weeks and take a random sample. That way you'll never know when they're watching.

Also combine this with the Swiss system, I heard that numberplates are attatched to the person rather than the car and thus if you don't have a licence you're driving round without plates

Nothing like BIG brother watching you

Ninehigh - 2/2/09 at 07:44 PM

Well I don't mean a permanent thing but I know I slow down when there's passengers...

Mind you I don't think it really matters the people who need taking off the roads won't be any different just because there's some guy sat next to them...

oldtimer - 4/2/09 at 10:00 AM

I think we all agree that there are poor drivers in all age groups.

Retesting periodically may help many drivers to think again about there driving habits.

But retesting does not stop someone driving like an idiot again the moment the test is over. And it's the banned/drunk who don't have/care about a licence who really worry me.