Driving at 85 years old - 2.

rhysduck said:
Even so reaction times on the whole are mostly inadequate I would say.
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That could equally apply to a lot of people aged 50 or 60, some people are old before their time in everything they do due to a fat lazy lifestyle
 
No. Every single person of that age I have seen driving, simply is not paying attention.

Around here, I have nearly driven into or been driving into people of a certain age group (judgement based on looks).

They then look like they are about to have a heart attack when you beep at them.
 
Depends on the person.
My dad is 80, still drives, last accident he had was more than 10 years ago and wasn't his fault.
On the other hand I know people on their 50s that shouldn't be driving.
 
I would wager that for every 80-something year-old who perhaps should hang up their keys, there is at least one 80-something year-old who is a better driver than a large number of 20-somethings.

My dad is almost 80 and he still drives for a living.
 
My Dad is 76 and he would still show a clean pair of heels to most drivers......until the daylight goes then he is Mr Magoo :(
 
Drangueos said:
Depends on the person.
My dad is 80, still drives, last accident he had was more than 10 years ago and wasn't his fault.
On the other hand I know people on their 50s that shouldn't be driving.
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Just because someone hasn't had an accident doesn't mean they are a good driver, its just luck.
 
My mother is a shockingly bad driver but it's nothing to do with age. She's in her late 70s and plays tennis every day and runs for miles. She's got excellent reaction but is just a really bad driver. She was when she was 30 and she has never learned any different.
 
When I lived with my parents we had an elderly lady as a neighbour.

Her friend used to visit sometimes, and she would literally be bouncing off the rev limiter whilst pulling away :O

Strangely, she appeared to have the clutch control to not crash the car which I really don't get.

Anyway, I would support a periodic medical / physical test that tested eyesight, reaction times etc. I think for all ages would be best, maybe more frequent after a certain age. The age part is probably something better decided by experts actually looking at data rather than me making it up though.

I'm not sure I would be overly keen on making people basically re-take their test. There is no way I would pass mine now, and I only did it 10 years ago! A basic theory test would be fine, though the older people would not like that I'm sure.

EDIT - Also, I was helping fit a shop a while back, and an elderly man put it in reverse by mistake whilst parked on the road outside, then mounted the curb, smashed through the corrugated steel "wall" and managed to move the racking back 4' :S That's the kind of thing that seams to only happen to elderly people (note not all elderly people, only those that should have hung up their keys years ago and they must know it)
 
new boy said:
Her friend used to visit sometimes, and she would literally be bouncing off the rev limiter whilst pulling away :O
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She remembered her first driving lesson, hear the engine, when you hear it revving faster, slowly release the clutch while you slowly accelerate..... the problem with this is that her hearing is not the same.
 
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