Fit to drive?

Strider590

McKneff wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, what age do you class as old.

I've been driving approx. 40 years, my driving ability hasnt been reduced because of my age. More experience, to me, means a better driver and certainly not stressing over other drivers. You are so full of angst, Im not sure I would actually like to be in the passenger seat of your car.

Like today in our works carpark, an 80+ year old in a newish BMW 3 series, car was too big, he had to peer between the wheel and the dash panel, he did a 20 point turn, hit a 5ft bollard and nearly drove through the window next to my desk. Or last week a another doddery old fool in a 2003 Lexus RX, nearly reversed into one of our visitors cars (they to reverse out of his way), despite having parking sensors AND a reversing camera fitted as standard!!

I'm not being ageist, i'm being realistic....... Why is it that the Americans have recognised the problems they cause, yet we insist the opposite?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-02-older-drivers-usat1a_N.htm

Then go look at the video's leading from this link

wullien4900

rdwarr wrote: »

SOME old drivers are poor just as some women can't reverse and some men drive too quickly.

I was surprised when I first joined the IAM to find so many active members over 60 who were far better drivers than 95% of their younger counterparts. Let's not drag this forum down to a platform for airing outdated ageist stereotypes.

Not the purpose of the post, it was to ask if i can challenge his ability to drive and if the insurance company should be interested in this.

If i buy a product it should be fit for purpose, if not i can take it back. Should his insurance be "fit for purpose" i.e. should his insurance company be questioning his ablility to drive properly now he has been in an alleged accident and didn't know it.

espresso

wullien4900 wrote: »

He is denying liability saying he never hit me. My point is that he is very old and probably shouldn't be driving since he didn't even know he had bumped me! Can i ask his insurance company to assess his ability to drive?

Thanks in advance

Will

You could try reporting this driver to the Police, telling them that you believe that his vision is impaired and that he probably should not now be driving, although as there was no injury I'm not sure if they would do anything. There must be lots of drivers on the road who would not pass the legal eye sight requirements and most of them don't even know it.

colino

Unfortunately, I don't think there is any mechanism available to require his insurance to do anything. Not to get into blanket young/old/women are bad drivers thing, having had personal experience of something similar, I wish now I had written to his insurance company. At least then with corporate liability being about the only threat you can wave at them, perhaps someone might have reappraised their willingness to cover the semi-blind character who I came across.

Hintza

I always park by ear, makes those tight spots a lot easier and a lot quicker to get in and out of.

krlyr

Strider590 wrote: »

Old driver's are a f**king menace.... And it's not because of their reduced driving skill, this you can almost excuse!! It's because they think being old will excuse them of all wrong doings!!!

AND guess what? with age comes arrogance, so they're older and they always know better than you :mad: <snip>
It costs £5 to take a Taxi across town, it costs upwards of £50 a week to keep a car sat on the drive (which only gets used once or twice a week). They don't need cars....

Strider590 wrote: »

I'm not being ageist, i'm being realistic.......

You are being ageist, being realistic you would realise that people of any age can (and do) all of the above things listed. As for whether they need cars, how many people of any age really *need* their cars? I could carshare to work, but I prefer to drive because it allows me to leave home and work at a time that suits me, to have my car available incase of an emergency, and to not have to worry about how I'd get to work if the other member of staff was on holiday/ill/quit the job. My neighbour has a car simply to drop her kid off to school, a little runaround, she probably doesn't need it (coped for a few years before she passed her test) but it's probably going to prove handy now she's expecting again.

I would certainly rather be a passenger in my 70 year old nan's car than my 26 year old brother's car, because my nan has a lot more road sense than him!

DCFC79

rdwarr wrote: »

SOME old drivers are poor just as some women can't reverse and some men drive too quickly.

I was surprised when I first joined the IAM to find so many active members over 60 who were far better drivers than 95% of their younger counterparts. Let's not drag this forum down to a platform for airing outdated ageist stereotypes.

Theres drivers of various age ranges(both male and female) who either imo just dont use common sense when driving and who shouldnt even be allowed to drive but those drivers are driving so i let them get on with it and hope they find out how crap they are.

Strider590

rdwarr wrote: »

SOME old drivers are poor just as some women can't reverse and some men drive too quickly.

I was surprised when I first joined the IAM to find so many active members over 60 who were far better drivers than 95% of their younger counterparts. Let's not drag this forum down to a platform for airing outdated ageist stereotypes.

It was the former transport minister who stated that the elderly are as likely to be involved in an accident as a 17yr old......
But the scary part of that, is that the elderly drive less than a 17yr old. SO what would the stats say if every elderly driver did 15000 miles a year?

laughingboy

wullien4900 wrote: »

Yes I am fit to drive, I work for the local authority as a professional driver, have held advanced driver licence for 21 years, never had an accident or points.

I could have posted my smugness like you but thought it wasn't relevant as i was PARKED at the time. Please read the post if full and only respond if you can provide a valuable contribution to the post, not use it as a vehicle for your ego!

well said :T

oldhand

SailorSam wrote: »

If you'd called the police you'd still be waiting now.
If there are no injuries a small bump will be way down their priorities.

unless you told them while on the phone,"im probably wrong officer but it looks like (the other motorist) has some sort of gun on his back seat.:whistle::whistle: