Age and driving

CH27

Oh LIR you are in a tricky situation.

Would your mum's friends be willing to come to her? Or meet her somewhere in between where she could get a train to?
Is she doing day trips or staying for a few days?

securityguy

lostinrates wrote: »

In this particular geographic location and lifestyle its not going to be much help. A bit like offsetting the costs of giving up a goldfish against keeping small pet whale.

People tend to underestimate the costs of running a car. You don't free most of that cost up until you don't have it, rather than simply don't use it much. I would be surprised if many people are running cars for less than £500 year fixed costs (tax, insurance, hopefully an annual service, MoT) plus 20p/mile, and that would be assuming they have already done the "I won't be replacing it, and therefore depreciation can be assumed to be zero" calculation. Yeah, there will be people who have recently bought zero-tax low-emission cars that aren't due for MoT yet, but they probably aren't the main area of concern (and even then, if they had the capital to buy a new car, they clearly had the money to provide a decade's taxi journeys).

Pollycat

securityguy wrote: »

People tend to underestimate the costs of running a car. You don't free most of that cost up until you don't have it, rather than simply don't use it much. I would be surprised if many people are running cars for less than £500 year fixed costs (tax, insurance, hopefully an annual service, MoT) plus 20p/mile, and that would be assuming they have already done the "I won't be replacing it, and therefore depreciation can be assumed to be zero" calculation. Yeah, there will be people who have recently bought zero-tax low-emission cars that aren't due for MoT yet, but they probably aren't the main area of concern (and even then, if they had the capital to buy a new car, they clearly had the money to provide a decade's taxi journeys).

I think it's probably 'lifestyle' that's the key to wanting to keep the car in the OP's situation.

lostinrates wrote: »

My parent wants to tootle around her social circle...a round trip of about 130 miles or so. They accept London is no longer safe for them to drive in and leaves them panicking so drives to somewhere they can park and get a train in. Parent also travels a lot and wants to drive to the airports form their small town with no transport links.

I don't think £500 per year saving on car running costs would go very far in taxi charges for a 130 mile trip on a (probably) regular basis.

lostinrates

CH27 wrote: »

Oh LIR you are in a tricky situation.

Would your mum's friends be willing to come to her? Or meet her somewhere in between where she could get a train to?
Is she doing day trips or staying for a few days?

A mixture, no very local friends, nearest is a 45 min drive away and cannot drive, and like my parent, lives in a small town with no public transport network. Others are a longer drive and parents stays three, four, five days.

Sometimes friends do visit, and that's great. Problem is, then they go places:rotfl:


I think I may have discovered something else that might be a partial alleviation of the issue. Parent is now saying they have not been eating and that day had not eaten anything at all.

That must have been contributory to the situation and I have been very frank in saying that its not safe and I cannot stand by and watch it happen.

I suppose I have to see what happens now, and if this iSync greater part of the problem.


I do have to say, although I really think that the slow decision making is 'dangerous' I feel that the pushy ness and rudeness of other drivers around 'bad older drivers' is far from safe or helpful either.

lostinrates

Pollycat wrote: »

I think it's probably 'lifestyle' that's the key to wanting to keep the car in the OP's situation.



I don't think £500 per year saving on car running costs would go very far in taxi charges for a 130 mile trip on a (probably) regular basis.

Train would be doable for the longer trips. i've been trying to figure this apout a bit over night, And taxi to and from stations for airports and london and home counties and larger towns in the south of england is not the problem,

Tbh it's the shorter more rural small towns and villages and rural locations that would become harder if not pretty nearly impossible due to impracticality. The day to day trips rather than the monthly ones.

Rain_Shadow

lostinrates wrote: »

My parent wants to tootle around her social circle...a round trip of about 130 miles or so. They accept London is no longer safe for them to drive in and leaves them panicking so drives to somewhere they can park and get a train in. Parent also travels a lot and wants to drive to the airports form their small town with no transport links.

Why do you keep referring to parent when it would appear to be your mother. It gets confusing for me (although I am quite simple).

FWIW my mother is 78 and recently widowed ( although she had done all the driving for at least a year before my father's death)

She drove my wife and son somewhere recently and they weren't exactly overflowing with praise for her driving. However, they didn't think she was dangerous and I know she values the independence the car gives her very, very highly, particularly now that she is on her own.

securityguy

Pollycat wrote: »

I think it's probably 'lifestyle' that's the key to wanting to keep the car in the OP's situation.



I don't think £500 per year saving on car running costs would go very far in taxi charges for a 130 mile trip on a (probably) regular basis.

130 mile trip, each way, is fifty pounds of fuel. With a senior citizen rail card and no need to travel in the peak, how many 130 mile return train journeys cost more than 50 pounds? Birmingham/London, as an example, is about 32 pounds return, off peak, by the fastest service with a walk-on ticket. You can do it for fifteen pounds if you're willing to spend an extra half hour on the train. Yes, other routes are less competitive, but off-peak train travel is often cheaper than just the fuel costs of driving.

securityguy

lostinrates wrote: »

I do have to say, although I really think that the slow decision making is 'dangerous' I feel that the pushy ness and rudeness of other drivers around 'bad older drivers' is far from safe or helpful either.

Arguing that it's not you, it's everyone else, and if only everyone else altered their behaviour it would all be OK, doesn't help anyone.

lostinrates

securityguy wrote: »

130 mile trip, each way, is fifty pounds of fuel. With a senior citizen rail card and no need to travel in the peak, how many 130 mile return train journeys cost more than 50 pounds? Birmingham/London, as an example, is about 32 pounds return, off peak, by the fastest service with a walk-on ticket. You can do it for fifteen pounds if you're willing to spend an extra half hour on the train. Yes, other routes are less competitive, but off-peak train travel is often cheaper than just the fuel costs of driving.

Our train lines are very, very much less competitive! Sadly. But I still think that portion of lifestyle is the most easily replaced. It still makes sense in most cars to drive the distance to London as a single passenger. My husband is a weekly commuter and his rent in London is ATM about the same as his travel expenses. Other locals here commute daily by car and find they are spending about the same when it has been the discussion of (very boring) drinks party conversation. For us, train is a better choice than a second car for various reasons.

lostinrates

securityguy wrote: »

Arguing that it's not you, it's everyone else, and if only everyone else altered their behaviour it would all be OK, doesn't help anyone.

No, but neither do two wrongs make a right, and it this case I feel the one wrong would make a situation less bad (though still need dealing with). And I don't just mean in this situation.

It's something I have also encountered as a rider, and when driving in unfamiliar areas with no/poor road signage yet atypical lanes (for example, right hand lane for straight ahead, known to locals but not apparent to non locals til near the event!) and seeing people around learners etc.