Why senior citizens should not drive.

[jesternl]

To prevent accidents like in Santa Monica, where an 86 year old guy confuses the accelerator with the brakes and kills 9 people.
But what will prevent this? Mandatory testing? At what age...75... 50? Every other year from the moment you have your licence?



[This message has been edited by jesternl (edited 07-17-2003 10:00 AM).]

[Dragon Phoenix]

You may want to revise the title....

[Dragon Phoenix]

You'll never catch all the potential problem cases in time, but I would think that a yearly medical after 70 would be reasonable.

[Fried Egg]

In the UK, driving licenses expire after a fixed amount of time and you have to retake the test to renew it.

[extropalopakettle]

Maybe we should compare the statistical likelihood of an elderly person causing a death while driving versus that of a teenager.

[Quailman]

In the US each state sets their own rules. Texas' licenses are good for six years. Last time I renewed I had to take an eye test. You can take it with glasses, but they'll indicate on your llicense that you need to wear them. Every so often (after a wreck like this one), there's a debate about giving seniors a driving test, but it usually gets shot down. I don't know what the current rule is.

[jesternl]

As long as you can renew your drivers licence by mail you'll have problems. I think people should have to retake there drivers exam every fixed period, regardless of age, I am sure I picked up a number of bad driving habits along the way. Teenagers are just as likely to cause an accident, from lack of experience.
Which is not all that strange, considering the fact that getting your drivers licence in America is a joke. It is ridiculously easy, (or at least in NY it is, I have no knowledge of the other states)

I also heard the AARP is one of the most powerful lobbies in the US, so they will shoot down plans like this all the time.

[Death Mage]

This is an outrage. We must act now and ban cars. How can you let these distructive machines continue to be in use? IIRC< more people die in incidents related to vehicles than any other cause, yet anyone is allowed ot have them almost unchecked. Licensing alone isn't enough, we must ban them completely! I mean, it works for guns, right?

[The Ktulu]

Let's get rid of air while we're at it too. Those darn air-borne diseases.

[Agamemnon]

Firstly,I agree with what Extro said.

Secondly, I'm not a boff on this, and am only going on whats reported, but most car accidents I hear of seem to either involve teenagers or middle aged folk.
This tragedy that happened with the above story has a smidgen of media sensationalisation attached to it. Here in Blighty we have at least one major multiple death related accident every month, but it's only the one's that are blown out of proportion by the media that gets front page news.

It only takes one doddery pensioner to tar the rest with the same brush.

[Samadhi]

More people die in incidents related to vehicles than any other cause, yet anyone is allowed to have them almost unchecked. Licensing alone isn't enough, we must ban them completely! I mean, it works for drugs, right?

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A One that isn't cold, is scarcely a One at all.

[MacadamiamaN]

Ahhh... those good 'ol Buicks. Can't break em!

[Lepton]

The difference between guns and cars is that there's a fair amount of work required to fire a gun from it's normal resting place, while a slip of the hand can drive a car off the road. Gun = willful damage; car = accidental damage

When I first got my license, I couldn't drive worth jack. Make it harder for punk kids to get their licenses.

The idea behind regular testing isn't to put people out of their way, it is to find those few people that really shouldn't be on the road - young, old, and in between. It's not infringing on anyone's rights, unless there's an amendment that I don't know about.

Driving a car isn't like carrying a firearm. It's like holding a semi-automatic rifle straight out in front of you, safety off, with the trigger half squeezed.

[Quailman]

[Ghost Post]

there should just be moving sidewalks going everywhere, like in airports. (credit: seinfeld)

[Quailman]

Actually, that would be a ripoff from a Robert Heinlein Future Histories story, The Roads Must Roll, written in 1940.

[Ghost Post]

well I got it from Seinfeld

[HyToFry]

seinfield is a commedic theif?

[HyToFry]

Wait a second. I've heard cases of people of all ages confusing the pedels. Just because it happens to ONE senior citizen, all senior citizens should be punished?

In that case, no women should be driving.

[Lepton]

bah! They wouldn't be punished any more than junior citizens or sophmore citizens or alien citizens. Universally - if you can't drive, you shouldn't! (I'm imposing my views on this subject because someone started a thread, not because of this incident)

And women shouldn't drive, even if they doesn't have to flirt their way past the driving assessor (which is rare).

^{[edited for Hy]}



[This message has been edited by Lepton (edited 07-17-2003 05:12 PM).]

[HyToFry]

Not A womAn, all women.

[Ghost Post]

the question is, should they be allowed on the moving sidewalks?

[HyToFry]

The question is: Why are they out of the damn kitchen to begin with?

[Neo]

The problem with teaching teens to drive in America, is that we're not taught how to handle an out of control car. Oh sure, we're told the theory of it, but most of the time, that the first moment on a slick road, or in a situation where the driver must brake hard AND turn the wheel, all that theory leaves the mind and leads to an accident. After I got my IP (basically a learner's permit, I could only drive w/ a parent in the front seat with me) my dad took me out once a week to a parking lot or field where he taught me how to handle vehicles. He showed me how easy I could lose control, then he showed me how to fix it. Icy roads, sand roads, hard braking, you name it.

Around here, most of the teen accidents are drunk driving incidents. Those that aren't feature really stupid people who try to do stupid things in their cars and lose control and can't fix it. To date I've never had an accident, and those lessons with dad have come in handy already.

[Lucresia]

I just heard of this story on the news this morning. They said they heard he has ran into his garage already 2 times just recently...if he can't even park in a garage how can he drive on the road? Freaky. Frightening...I think that the should do more tests and frequent tests for eyesight. After 70 maybe they should have to re-take the driving test each year to keep their license. I don't know how the rules on it go now..but maybe they should also check reflexes....

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"Where'd you learn to be so complacent?"
-Powerman 5000 "Action"

[Lepton]

Neo: The problem with teaching teenagers to drive is the concept that you can teach a teenager at all.

[Death Mage]

Teenagers can be taught. Just ask damn near any teenager about pop culture or cars and you'll see they can learn a hell of a lot if they want to.

Ask them about anything involving something "taught" at school and they're clueless, but I'm gonna place more blame on the education system than the teenagers for that one.

[Neo]

Ask me about pop culture and I'm clueless Cars, only mostly so

[HyToFry]

What if we asked out about things pertaining to the military that are not taught in school? Still clueless?

[Lepton]

Teenagers learn what they want to learn. How to drive properly isn't at the top of many lists.

[Neo]

Well, lets just say I'm smarter than the average kid in that category

[Beartalon]

In Ontario, Canada, we have a system for getting a license that requires new drivers to "graduate" from level to level. First, you have to pass the vision test and the nowledge test. Then you get your first level permit. At the start, you're required to be with a designated licensed driver, only on certain roads having a certain maximum speed limit, and only in daylight hours. After a year, you take a road test. Pass it, and the next level gives more freedom, etc. Pass the next road test and you get your full license.

Get caught with alcohol level above 0.5 or accumulate 6 demerit points (fully licensed drivers have 15), and you start over again at the very beginning.

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/driver/gradu/index.html

For seniors:

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/pubs/senior.htm

"Under the new system since 1996, senior drivers must pay the applicable licensing fee, complete a vision test and a knowledge test and take part in a group education session every two years. A small number of drivers may be asked to take a road test to have their in-car skills assessed.

While it is true that senior drivers are involved in fewer collisions compared to younger drivers, it is also true that they are involved in a larger number of collisions compared to the number of kilometres they drive. Some senior drivers have said that the annual road test was very stressful for them. Research and a pilot study conducted in Ontario have shown that a well-developed education session may improve senior drivers' awareness of potential traffic hazards and help them drive more defensively."