BarryRiley Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I find it strange that young people in England (late teenagers and early 20s) get stigmatised so much for their driving. I drive quite a lot, with a fair commute to work every day and the large majority of dangerous driving I see is from pensioners. The most common things are: - Being unable to overtake cyclists so sitting behind them for the entire stretch of road - Stopping in the middle of junctions because the lights behind them have just changed to red - Driving at half the speed limit on any given road - Having no idea what lane they should be in on a roundabout - Sitting in the right hand of lane of a carriageway doing 15mph because they will be turning right in two miles - Merging randomly with no check of anything around them. The list could go on and on. We've all heard stories of older people being found going the wrong way down the motorway, etc. It's scientific fact that your motor and mental functions start deteriorating at about the age of 45 so why on earth would we assume that a person at the age of 80 is safe to be on the road? I have no problem with pensioners who can drive perfectly well, but a huge number of them I encounter on the road seem to have no clue what they are doing and are putting other road users at risk. So, should you have to retake your test at a certain age or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shane39 Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Not going to pick on OAPs here, but i think an eye test and basic med at the doctors should be compulsory at a certain age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Oh we've not had one of these for a bit.... the items in the first post can be seen to be done by people of all ages.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daven Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Not going to pick on OAPs here, but i think an eye test and basic med at the doctors should be compulsory at a certain age. I think that an eye test and general health test should be compulsory on a regular basis for ALL drivers whatever age and whatever type of vehicle they drive or ride (this includes pushbikers too) ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daven Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I find it strange that young people in England (late teenagers and early 20s) get stigmatised so much for their driving. I drive quite a lot, with a fair commute to work every day and the large majority of dangerous driving I see is from pensioners. The most common things are: - Being unable to overtake cyclists so sitting behind them for the entire stretch of road - Stopping in the middle of junctions because the lights behind them have just changed to red - Driving at half the speed limit on any given road - Having no idea what lane they should be in on a roundabout - Sitting in the right hand of lane of a carriageway doing 15mph because they will be turning right in two miles - Merging randomly with no check of anything around them. The list could go on and on. We've all heard stories of older people being found going the wrong way down the motorway, etc. It's scientific fact that your motor and mental functions start deteriorating at about the age of 45 so why on earth would we assume that a person at the age of 80 is safe to be on the road? I have no problem with pensioners who can drive perfectly well, but a huge number of them I encounter on the road seem to have no clue what they are doing and are putting other road users at risk. So, should you have to retake your test at a certain age or not? Why on earth would we assume that ANYONE whatever their age is safe to be on the road ? How many younger people have regular eye or health tests I wonder ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Why not re-test everybody every 5 years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryRiley Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Why on earth would we assume that ANYONE whatever their age is safe to be on the road ? How many younger people have regular eye or health tests I wonder ? We can generally assume that if someone has taken their test, and if in the same health situation exists than did when they were taking their test, then they should be safe to drive. Of course, this isn't fool proof but it's what we can assume without making everyone take daily health tests to ensure they're still fit to drive. However, we can also assume that someone who is 70 years old is not going to have the same motor functions that they did 10 years ago, let along 50 years ago when they passed their driving tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryRiley Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Oh we've not had one of these for a bit.... the items in the first post can be seen to be done by people of all ages.. Yes I agree they can. However, by the age of 70 your motor functions and reflexes have sufficiently reduced to the point where you could be a real danger to others on the road. I personally see far more dangerous driving done by pensioners than any other group of people but I'm happy for you to disagree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem1st Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I'd imagine the free bus passes have saved a lot of lives... They should extend free bus passes to ALL. Perhaps it could help reduce road deaths further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossdog Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 What age group causes most accidents? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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