OAP drivers

anotherbaldrick

darkpool wrote: »

would you be happy being flown in a plane with a couple of OAPs as pilots? why does the RAF retire pilots at a relatively young age?

Budget cuts , ask the redundant Harrier pilots

darkpool

i always thought the RAF retired pilots early because after a certain age it was felt they were no longer up to the job? something about reaction times not being up to scratch.

aheaton46

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

No , because as I mentioned they are a 25 year span group !! all other groups are much smaller, half or less, but accounted for many more accidents.

You don't understand what the table shows.

It doesn't take into account the number of drivers in each age group.
It doesn't take into account the mileage driven by each age group.

All other things being equal that 75+ group will be smaller because, like it or not, some people will die before they reach it.

Using the measures in that table, the 150+ age group is probably the safest as they had no accidents.

[Deleted User]

I agree with the folks who say that you get lunatic drivers of all ages, shapes and sizes. Round about where I live I am rarely troubled by older drivers, the complete idiots seem to be the middle aged office worker type.

What I would like to see is an overhaul of the procedure when someone gets Alzheimers/dementia. A friend of my in laws has quite bad dementia. It has made her more difficult and aggressive and so she was determined that she was still fine to drive. She was still driving months and months after noone in their right mind would let her behind the wheel. She refused to sell her car, and told her children stories of all the near misses she had to rub it in that they couldn't tell her what to do. At their wits end, they phoned the police, telling them that they were fairly positive she'd kill someone if she carried on. They said they couldn't do a thing, it needed to be the DVLA/her doctor. Both of those said they couldn't help either and there seemed to be no procedure in place for revoking a licence of a seriously mentally ill 80 year old woman. Eventually some weeks on her family got her in a relatively peaceful moment and she agreed to sell her car. Unfortunately for them she forgot this fact and they got constant abusive calls for weeks accusing them of stealing it. She still has a current driving licence and is still technically able to drive AFAIK.

I would love to believe that there is a clear procedure in place and somehow this family just got fobbed off/the wrong information, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if there wasn't.

anotherbaldrick

We had an old dear local to us who was well past it. She used to come down the centre of the road with her horn rim glasses jammed against the windscreen . A few months ago she collided with 3 cars parked in the road. The police attended and promptly took away her licence so there is no reason they cannot do it if they see fit.

libra10

Ageism rears its ugly head!

Don't tar all OAPs with the same brush!

There are good and bad drivers in all age groups.

My OH has been driving for more than 50 years and never caused an accident or claimed on his car insurance.

There are not many younger drivers which such a good motoring record!

fredsnail

In Australia you have to have a test every so often in order to get your licence renewed before you get insurance.

I think that everyone should be retested every so many years, maybe every 3 years.

Takes away the ageism element and makes sure everyone keeps upto speed with what they should be doing.

beckythemadcow

libra10 wrote: »

My OH has been driving for more than 50 years and never caused an accident or claimed on his car insurance.

There are not many younger drivers which such a good motoring record!

No unfortunately, as a 23 year old, I don't have 50 years of no claims...

I have never had an accident though!

libra10

I hope you will continue to have no accidents and achieve a driving record similar to my OH.

Good luck!

Oliver_Zarmy

darkpool wrote: »

I've been stuck behind an OAP driver once too often. They have to be amongst the worst drivers on the road.

In all honesty I think after a certain age people should have to re sit the driving test. I think it's a fact older people have slower reaction times. They are a danger to themselves and others.

How did you find out that they were receiving a pension? Did you stop them and ask?