How to report an elderly driver that is clearly unable to drive properly

alastairq

polomints wrote: »

I wonder if we could apply that laser logic for anything else you need a license or pass a test for.

absolutely!

That is, if an assessment of competence in whatever skill is being assessed, is conducted correctly?

Of course, the other problem is, a lay-person's idea of what assessment [test] means, & involves will differ hugely from a professional's idea?


Just like quality control?

Strider590

arcon5 wrote: »

Of these incidents, which do you think posed the most harm to me and my family?

People moan about slow drivers and old drivers causing hazards and should be reassessed - but based on my experience older people certainly aren't the ones consistently nearly causing serious accidents. I drive 40k miles per year so certainly we alot

In how many of those were you the subject of someone's anger toward another driver that had just been driving too slow or deliberately p1ssing them off?
Which is the point I keep making to those who insist on driving too slowly and/or deliberately holding up other drivers. They often aren't the ones that feel the consequences.

Almost nobody gets into their car angry, it takes something to light the touch paper, this could be something minor or a series of annoying instances.
What tends to happen is they get stuck behind one slow driver, then frustrated they tailgate the next (who starts being obstructive) and then every time they overtake an obstructive driver their anger increases and other people react to this by p1ssing them off even more. The more aggressive you drive, the more people will try to p1ss you off.
It spirals out of control until a perfectly safe driver is so full of anger that they'll take risks that no sane man would take.

I don't think any of us could say we've never done something stupid across and innocent party, when anger has taken over because of another driver.

Bongles

Strider590 wrote: »

I don't think any of us could say we've never done something stupid across and innocent party, when anger has taken over because of another driver.

No, I couldn't say that, hand on heart. I think the question is, on occasions when I have reacted like that where did the fault lie? I can't see how it was with anyone other than me.

Other people's behaviour can be frustrating and inconsiderate. Since we all know before we even get in the car that that's one of the things we might encounter during our drive and the only appropriate response will be patience, there is really no excuse for any other response.

Strider590

Bongles wrote: »

there is really no excuse for any other response.

If your Vulcan maybe........ "Live long and prosper" eh?

Bongles

Strider590 wrote: »

If your Vulcan maybe........ "Live long and prosper" eh?

Dealing with those who induce the red mist is extremely easy if you make your choice before you get in the car about how you are going to deal with them.

If you wait until the mist has started to descend before you choose then you will probably find you have hampered your ability to choose responsibly.

Hadrian

To go back to original post - 'grassing up some old driver', Have you no knowledge of the situation in Germany from 1932 to 1945 when EVERYONE watched everyone else. Tittle tattle to the 'street Gestapo informers' was everyone's' duty. No-one knew who to trust, even close relatives. No I don't agree with informing on people to the police, it could and probably would develop into a national culture to inform on everyone. have a quiet word with this old chap.
To those of you, that includes me, who find themselves behind someone who they think aren't driving as fast as they'd want then my advice is to wait until it's clear to do so and from a reasonable distance behind (NOT up their chuffs!!) get into 3rd gear and floor it. Too many people accelerate to overtake from just behind the car they wish to get by, and in top gear! Too many drivers today think that the road they are on is their road, remember you share it with around 26 million other drivers so calm down, one of them is me.

aliasojo

Hadrian wrote: »

.........it could and probably would develop into a national culture to inform on everyone.....

Would this be of any use to you?

SnooksNJ

Strider590 wrote: »

This is a bit of a taboo subject in the UK, most people are against taking any action against older drivers. It's a different story in the US, where they woke up to the dangers decades ago.

Here we're force fed the idea that speeding and drink driving are the only danger, but the elderly pootle about at stupidly slow speeds, so how can we call them unsafe?

I mean look at it this way..... Drivers that do 42mph on every single road, when they cause an accident with some hot head overtaking them, what do the authorities do? They reduce the 60 speed limit to 40..... :mad:

They don't want to give the message that driving slowly can be just as dangerous as driving too fast. I think it'll be decades before they start to tackle dangerous elderly drivers.

I used to live in Florida and I could deal with the slow speed, my problem was when people went the wrong way on major highways like I-4 and 95. When the speed limit is 65 it's dangerous.
I think the only solution is the family stepping in and taking away the keys.

Strider590

SnooksNJ wrote: »

I used to live in Florida and I could deal with the slow speed, my problem was when people went the wrong way on major highways like I-4 and 95. When the speed limit is 65 it's dangerous.
I think the only solution is the family stepping in and taking away the keys.

Yeah, well I think the US have taken a much more robust approach to elderly drivers. We don't seem to be following that example, stuff like your example happens a lot in the UK too, but for political reasons it's just kept hidden.

I saw some videos of US Police dealing with dangerous elderly drivers and I was most impressed, the drivers do the helpless act thing, but the Police have seen it all before and don't give ANY sympathy.
Basically their attitude was such that age and fragility does not matter, if your a danger, your a danger.

almillar

arcon5:

Last week I was in lane 2 going straight on at a round about (as is permited - dual carraigeway both sides). I join the round about and then a motorbike nips up my left side with a right hand indicator on and cuts across the front of my bonnet.

On the information provided, you should have been in lane 1. Maybe that bike was stuck behind you in the overtaking lane?