Taking the elderly off the road

[big_pete]

Thought this might be an interesting topic.

In the last 2 days I have witnessed some utterly horrific driving by elderly people.

3 incidents today alone.

The first, 60mph stretch of country road, although plenty of bends and usually busy so overtaking is extremely difficult. I followed them for about 4 miles and the highest speed they reached was 28mph. When oncoming traffic or corners came up they braked down to the teens. When I finally did get space to overtake they beeped and flashed their lights at me. Utterly infuriating and potentially dangerous.

The second incident on the M2 at the 4 lane wide section, I was in the second lane passing traffic, they were in the third lane heading m5 bound. I was doing about 65 and I would hazard they were doing about 45. With zero indication they pulled directly into my lane as the nose of my car was about level with their rear quarter. If I hadn’t taken evasive action they would have completely wiped me out. They were totally oblivious to it also and more or less pulled the same manoeuvre again forcing another car to brake hard again.

The final incident, row of spaces, I happened to be in an end space, elderly man pulls in beside me, at an angle, which would have been diabolical parking in its own right, what made it worse though was he was parked over the exit of this one way parking system.

I informed him of such and he couldn’t have cared less, it backed up the entire car park for about 10mins as he went about his business. When he came back he somehow thought he was stuck and couldn’t reverse back. I had to again point out to him that he just needed to drive forward as he was at the exit. He gave me a right mouthful rather than listening lol.

At what point do we need to start testing people for their competence for driving? There are plenty of ropey drivers on the road that aren’t elderly but the elderly seem to be consistently bad.

Should there be a basic test you have to pass to show you are capable of maintaining road speed, spacial awareness and can be observant of the traffic around you? Not quite the level of a driving test but enough to show basic safety standards are there.

I would be in favour of everyone having to do a test of sorts every time their licence expires before it can be renewed and then maybe increasing the frequency of that as you reach retirement age? Thoughts?

 

[Eager]

Annoying as they are it’s unlikely to change any time soon

Slightly related though, As more and more of insurers offer black box recorders I believe they should highlight consistent slow driving or lack of confidence at junctions etc.
not just mail you for speeding, slow drivers cause chaos and force hazardous overtaking etc.

 

[carmad.]

At what point do we need to start testing people for their competence for driving?


mate the stuff i see every day would shock you

but we have to remember most people see the roads as a thing they use to get their boring expensive metal box to the shops

 

[Eddies]

I'm nearly certain there is a fit to drive test for the elderly or get it assessed?
But when you turn 70 if you don't renew the license you lose it automatically.

 

[Nicky]

Tested at 65, full test as per a new driver, with another at 70 and then every couple of years…

 

[Coog]

Everyone should be tested every 5 years no matter their age. Can't pass the test - off the road you go.

 

[pizza85]

The problem with this as ever is availability of testers unfortunately. Isn't it still difficult to get a test as a new driver?

 

[Dub_cub 89]

There definitely should be an assessment of eye sight, reaction times, and their ability to drive comfortably at a speed which doesn't hold up other road users. Iirc I was told to get within 5mph of the speed limit if traffic allowed as doing less for no reason would be marked as a fault.

 

[RolyaT]

Everyone should be tested every 5 years no matter their age. Can't pass the test - off the road you go.

Came in to post exactly this. The standard of driving is getting worse, some younger ones are as bad as the elderly.

 

[AlpineF30]

Reminds me of my Granda.

He was wild used to drive everywhere at 15 mph and would swerve into the middle of the road when a car tried to overtake.

No matter what he did he always used the excuse ‘there’s plenty of road to overtake’. Not really plenty of road when you keep ****ing pulling into the middle to stop people from passing you.

Used to abandon the car 10% into the parking space and car was covered in dings where he clipped other cars parking.

Got to the point my Da and uncle had to wrestle the keys off him and forced him to surrender his license. Wasn’t without a fight though.

How he never killed anybody is beyond me

 

[Eager]

Came in to post exactly this. The standard of driving is getting worse, some younger ones are as bad as the elderly.

That’s the issue, what’s the point re-testing when you see young ones with absolutely no idea. Possibly a society/culture thing now, how dare anyone question me/tell me what I’m doing wrong etc.

As I was told when learning by the instructor, I’ll teach you to pass your test, it’s up to you to learn to drive after you pass.

 

[anlygi]

Reminds me of my Granda.

He was wild used to drive everywhere at 15 mph and would swerve into the middle of the road when a car tried to overtake.

No matter what he did he always used the excuse ‘there’s plenty of road to overtake’. Not really plenty of road when you keep ****ing pulling into the middle to stop people from passing you.

Used to abandon the car 10% into the parking space and car was covered in dings where he clipped other cars parking.

Got to the point my Da and uncle had to wrestle the keys off him and forced him to surrender his license. Wasn’t without a fight though.

How he never killed anybody is beyond me

I was in the car with my granda not long before he stopped driving and his complete loss of spacial awareness was terrifying. He was driving at appropriate speed and could manoeuvre a Mk5 Golf alright, though I was crying inside for the clutch, but the amount of near misses we had on a run from Belfast to Lisburn and back was crazy. He never got into a bump either! How is beyond me.

Trouble with this place is our public transport is shocking, if you can even access it given how non-existent it is in rural areas, so if many of them had their car taken away they'd be stuck in the house all day. Not saying that warrants allowing them on the road, but I can see why many fight that being taken away.

That must be two decades ago now as he got the Mk5 new when it first came out. I put the lack of accidents down to others' evasive action, so that kind of lack of awareness combined with the amount of people glued to their phones could lead to some nasty accidents.

Trouble is we can't tar all the elderly as cognitive ability varys greatly. There are no doubt some in their 90s more fit to drive than loads decades younger.

Maybe something like an R plate for drivers over the age of 70 to make other drivers aware?

 

[Dave..]

I will be 65 in 4 years and don’t feel my driving is poor and I need to do a test again. I rode motorcycles for 20 years, also drove lorries and think my experience now means I am a better driver now than when I was 30.
I wonder will you young lads feel the same when you are my age?

 

[big_pete]

I will be 65 in 4 years and don’t feel my driving is poor and I need to do a test again. I rode motorcycles for 20 years, also drove lorries and think my experience now means I am a better driver now than when I was 30.
I wonder will you young lads feel the same when you are my age?

There are definitely people that still retain the ability as they get older, my dad is in his 60’s now and can still hussle a car on rightly lol he was traffic cop all the same lol

But those in their 70’s and 80’s that ability is definitely in the minority rather than the majority. I personally would be happy to take a test every few years, I’m a competent driver and make an effort to stay that way.

I’d be more in favour of everyone having to do a test than just the elderly but it was the proper shocking driving be the elderly in the last few days that put it in my mind to begin with lol

 

[Dave..]

There are definitely people that still retain the ability as they get older, my dad is in his 60’s now and can still hussle a car on rightly lol he was traffic cop all the same lol

But those in their 70’s and 80’s that ability is definitely in the minority rather than the majority. I personally would be happy to take a test every few years, I’m a competent driver and make an effort to stay that way.

I’d be more in favour of everyone having to do a test than just the elderly but it was the proper shocking driving be the elderly in the last few days that put it in my mind to begin with lol

Sorry Pete I disagree as I know lots of people in their 70’s who are good drivers. Most people in my age group worry about young drivers when they are out and about.

 

[Apis]

My wife as a pedestrian got hit by an old girl in her 80s trying to park an automatic car. It was carnage. Car was totalled and 3 others damaged. Wife got her legs trapped and crushed and took a few years and a vein operation to recover. Doing fine now thankfully.

Anyway, the old girl got off without any charge. It "was not in the public interest" to charge her. She did somekind of DOE assessment test on her driving and passed. I spoke to her son, urging him to get her off the road, but of course it was more convienient for him to let her keep driving.

When you see the damage that can be done, (especially in an automatic car, in my opinion) it needs to be taken more seriously.
I have a feeling that PRND and stick back to go forward, stick forward to reverse, does confuse old folk who maybe grew up driving a manual.

 

[it_carwasher]

There is a real problem I see, it's getting worse - east Belfast and Bangor where I have witnessed some dodgy driving. All ages - one common theme I have noticed is that a lot of the culprits (old and young) are driving i10, i20, etc - mostly Hyundai. Keen to see if anyone has linked the two.

There is a real problem I see, it's getting worse - east Belfast and Bangor where I have witnessed some dodgy driving. All ages - one common theme I have noticed is that a lot of the culprits (old and young) are driving i10, i20, etc - mostly Hyundai. Keen to see if anyone has linked the two.

Yes, totally agree on a regular driving test - every 5-10 years, car industry would suffer and Insurance companies would have less to do (job losses).

My mother-in-law should be off the road in a year or 2, she won't go auto as she used to drive really cars in Fermanagh!!!! Peugeot mostly all autos and she hates small cars.

 

[pizza85]

I will be 65 in 4 years and don’t feel my driving is poor and I need to do a test again. I rode motorcycles for 20 years, also drove lorries and think my experience now means I am a better driver now than when I was 30.
I wonder will you young lads feel the same when you are my age?

Cmon Dave time for your meds...

 

[Jbridges522]

Hard one, especially out in the sticks cause if you live outside of the town down here ur never getting public transport so what are they meant to do.

 

[Chris100]

I totally agree, it’s particularly bad on the rural roads out where I live.

But the best one was a few years back, we live in a small development of about 20 houses. Our house is right at the top of the development which is a cul-de-sac.

We get a phone call from one of our neighbours, the old boy down the street managed to drive through our driveway (which is no where near his house), through our fence and back garden and end up in the field behind our house.

We arrived home to police, fire brigades and ambulance.

The best thing was, one of the police on the scene told us the same bloke had driven through the front doors of Bangor health centre a couple of weeks earlier, and no one thought it was a good idea to take his license off him.

 

[big_pete]

Hard one, especially out in the sticks cause if you live outside of the town down here ur never getting public transport so what are they meant to do.

Playing devils advocate but would you lower the test standard to allow young people to pass in similar circumstances?

There should be an acceptable level of driving across the board for everyone, that standard should be maintained and you lose it when you can no longer keep to that level of competence.

 

[Jbridges522]

Playing devils advocate but would you lower the test standard to allow young people to pass in similar circumstances?

There should be an acceptable level of driving across the board for everyone, that standard should be maintained and you lose it when you can no longer keep to that level of competence.

They just drive huge tractors here

Uck I think its like people with dashcams posting bits online giving out, we all **** up when driving at some point and all break the rules so worth cutting people a bit of slack. But if someone is a proper danger yes they should lose the license regardless.

But how do you judge that like, plenty of people would say any one of us out for a blast in the car are a proper danger. And I think you do need to put it into context, mary from out the road would have a heart attack on a motorway but she can manage driving into the town in the morning for the paper never getting over 20mph.

No right answer.

 

[Antoin]

There are some awful drivers of all ages.
I'm not sure it's limited to the elderly.
You just have to keep your wits about you a bit more these days to avoid them all.

 

[Reno_LV]

Fully agree with you @big_pete
If you check psni statistics for NI road accidents old people cause the most single vehicle accidents and deaths than actually young drivers. Yet the target for road accident adverts, insurance punishments is only younger drivers. I think any age every few years should be tested during mot.

 

[Davytog]

What a stupid thread. It's more than just the elderly we need to worry about. If tested again I would hazard most of us would fail irrespective of age. On my daily run ,mostly on the M2 I will come across several drivers with no concept of why you leave a gap, any gap never mind 2seconds to the car in front. These clowns operate on the principle of simultaneous indicate and manoeuvre even if the gap they are aiming for is only 2 car lengths. There will be several vans ( mostly builders from south derry, driving like a*****les with no regard for anyone else.. EVERY roundabout will have a minimum of 2 loons who gave no concept of which lane to use or when to indicate and finally there will be any number of Young drivers being a danger to themselves and any poor sod within a beagles goal of them