Rant Old drivers

[Access Denied]

So I had to attend a one day course just outside Birmingham and I took the oportunity to spend a couple of days with my friend in Nuneaton. Coming home yesterday I'm on a round about and I'm in the outside lane for the 2nd exit. At the last second a stupid old fucking cnut starts pulling out as I'm gong past. I managed to avoid him (Mostly, still have a nice dent in the passenger side of my car) and by the time I stopped he had driven off.

Old people, and I will brook no fucking argument on this, should have to sit a retest every 5 years to prove that they're still safe for the fucking roads. Old fucker is very lucky I didn't have my missus and 4 week old daughter in the car with me or I'd have gone off my fucking nut.

 

[Lamp]

What age is "old"? 60? Some 60 year old drivers are better than people 2/3rd of their age.

70 onwards?

should it incorporate a medical as well?

don't they already do something like that if you're over a certain age? Certainly, some professional drivers have mandatory tests after 65

 

[pikeh]

Aye professional drivers prolly take more tests.
But not some random 87 year old granny who knocked me down in sainsburys car park, totally oblivious to the fact she had just run me over.

Compulsory tests imo, after the age of 70.

 

[Lamp]

Just be grateful she didn't give you the kiss of life

*she takes her teeth out and gives Pikeh a mouth full of gum slop*

 

[kirennia]

Compulsory and also free after the age of 50 I think (peoples attention varies hugely in older age... while most would be alright until they're 60 or 70, some simply aren't; better to be safe then sorry).

At home, we live in a cul-de-sac and an old couple live at the end of it. One day, the old guy got in his car, tried to reverse out of his house and end up getting his foot stuck on the accelerator (seriously...how?) and instead of reacting quickly enough, he went full speed, missed all of the cars in the cul-de-sac, across a busy main road during school out time and ploughed into the front of someones house at full reverse speed. Luckily they were all in the garden at the time but they so easily could have been sitting in the front room which was completely destroyed. This was the third I'd heard of this type of incident in 2 years, all by older people who didn't react quickly enough.

Old people on the road are those I see as one of the biggest threats; the reason they don't crash as often is because most of them have the sense to stop when the time comes and those around them act very cautiously. And then of course in the event of a crash, blame gets easily laid on someonelse (Note this guy didn't have to pay a penny in damages and had no consequences for his actions).

My dad has a nice way of keeping his distance if he notices an older driver...

If they're keeping at a lower speed, you back off a bit.
If they have a pipe, keep further away.
If they're wearing a hat, back off completely.
If they're wearing a hat and smoking a pipe, drive in a different direction...

Why o why this hasn't already been put in place I don't know.

 

[Fuggz]

How very dare you! I will soon be in this bracket. Come to think of it I am a pretty crap driver now though. Oops.

I thought this post was about old motherboard drivers or summit! Doh!

 

[Lamp]

Kirennia's only 9 years old, so anyone over 16 looks 50 to him

Anyone smoking a pipe is fucking cool

Face it. If you have two builders who do you trust to do your building work? The calm thoughtful mild mannered gentle experienced man, dressed in a dusty brown suit nonchalantly puffing on a pipe as he tilts his hat back, or some fat balding tattood gorilla thug cowboy covered in West Ham tattoos, dripping in chav jewellry sucking on a cigarette?

 

[Zenith.UK]

I drive "professionally", doing about 40k miles a year and there are three things that I watch out for.

• Continental badged articulated lorries.
• Overly aggressive drivers.
• Old drivers going along at 1/2 to 2/3 of the speed limit.

The first because about 25% are breaking working time laws and are practically falling asleep at the wheel.
The second because they drive so close behind you that they don't have a prayer of stopping if you have to hit the brakes.
The third because they are THE most erratic drivers on the road and their slow speed causes frustration in other drivers.

I wholeheartedly agree that older drivers should retake their test every 5 years. I personally think that EVERYONE (yes, including myself) should be retested every 5 years.

 

[- English -]

Never had any problems with old drivers, or I dont think I mind them.. However, two types of drivers I hate and im sure people will agree with me.

Taxi drivers
White van drivers

 

[kirennia]

How very dare you! I will soon be in this bracket. Come to think of it I am a pretty crap driver now though. Oops.

I thought this post was about old motherboard drivers or summit! Doh!

Which is why I said it varies in some people Lets face it, some 90 year olds have better attention then some 50 year olds; all I'm saying by that is that this covers the majority of cases whereby age has a detrimental effect on driving abilities.

Kirennia's only 9 years old, so anyone over 16 looks 50 to him

Anyone smoking a pipe is fucking cool

Face it. If you have two builders who do you trust to do your building work? The calm thoughtful mild mannered gentle experienced man, dressed in a dusty brown suit nonchalantly puffing on a pipe as he tilts his hat back, or some fat balding tattood gorilla thug cowboy covered in West Ham tattoos, dripping in chav jewellry sucking on a cigarette?

Read it again in context. I'm talking about while driving, not in everyday life... I just didn't expect to have to be so explicit in a thread about driving.

 

[Laddey]

Was goin round the roundabout with my old man in his wagon, this old fart was going the completle wrong way around it, fucking stupid i tell you. You see two really old biddies driving at like 20 mph on a 40, its a joke.