What age will you stop driving?

motorguy

BOWFER said:

motorguy said:

I do still regularly just go "out for a drive" and i've a weekend car for that purpose, but even that has to be timed to avoid being stuck behind cyclists, lorries and caraners.

I've given up on that.
I live about 30 miles from the Cairngorms and used to love an early Sunday motorbike thrash up there. you'd literally have the road to yourself and could play Isle of Man TT.
Not any more.
It's the same with the NC500, the sheer volume of traffic on those once-deserted roads is becoming a huge problem.

I can imagine so - particularly over the summer months.

We live pretty much on one of the motorbike road racing routes here in NI so pick the right time and its still a nice blast in the right car.  Over and above that we can avoid main roads and take to the country ones a lot of the time which is nice.

But yes, very little pleasure now in driving and it most cases its an endurance.

Enjoying relative big engined petrol cars while i can but will happily hang up my keys for the last time when i can

lordmountararat

I am 75 and a much better driver than I was when I passed my test in 1963. My reaction times may be slower, but I am much more patient, drive more defensively and stick to speed limits. Most people know when they need to rein in their driving - I no longer drive at night on motorways, and will probably soon stop driving at night at all. Modern headlights can dazzle if they're not adjusted correctly.

BOWFER

lordmountararat said:

 Modern headlights can dazzle if they're not adjusted correctly.

Modern headlights self-level, so there's not much chance of them being incorrectly adjusted.
The adjustment is set at the factory to legal levels and they take care of themselves automatically after that.
This is assuming  by "modern" you mean HID or LED (very white light) and ruling out the owner making a manual botch of the adjustment (unlikely).

BOWFER

motorguy said:

Enjoying relative big engined petrol cars while i can but will happily hang up my keys for the last time when i can

Electric cars have re-kindled my driving enjoyment a fair bit, I'm done with the NVH of ICE cars.

easy

My mum (who had always been a very competent driver -  albeit a bit fast in her 30s & 40s when she drove a very sporty Audi)  carried on driving into her 80s.  She gave up motorways after accidentally ending up on the M6 Toll instead of the M42 on one of her journeys to visit us  - travelling from Gloucester to Nottingham the motorway splits,  and she didn't change lanes soon enough.  She continued to drive locally for some time after that,  mainly because she lived in a rural area,  so had to drive for basic shopping & so forth.  I used to get her to drive me now and then when I visited,  just to make sure she was still driving safely -  she always was.  
One day when she was about 86 I think, she had a VERY minor incident in her supermarket carpark,  where she slightly scraped another car in a tight parking space -  Lots of us have had similar incidents ...  The owner of the other car was utterly rude and offensive to her about it  (although mum had waited for the owner to return so she could give insurance details)  and made comments about  "old women like you"  driving ...  

She was so upset and lost her confidence completely,  stopped driving a few weeks later,  and I think that was when she started to become really old, because her independence went in the blink of an eye.

Of course it is important to ensure that every driver is safe on the road.  But that safety is dependent on a lot of factors,  and getting older isn't always the danger we may think.

Please don't be judgemental about older drivers without knowing their circumstances.

BOWFER

My mum (75) has decided that when her current car (2006 Micra) gets too expensive to keep on the road, she's done.
It's already becoming a bit of a money pit and I've offered to buy her a new car, but she's too intimidated by the complexity of modern cars with their 'screens and bells and whistles'
Bus travel for pensioners is free in Scotland, so she's quite happy to use them.
Amazing that she can travel Aberdeen to Glasgow on a mega bus for the booking fee of 50p only.

Herzlos

motorguy said:

The problem is for old people, by the time you get to that age, you are otherwise extremely limited in mobility, so having a car is likely the last freedom you have.

I'm not convinced that driving gives them any more mobility over taxis. At least with a taxi someone does the hard parts for you and most will carry shopping from the car to the house and so on.

I also suspect that taxis are likely cheaper than owning a car for a large majority of infrequent car users.

Personally, I'll ditch driving as soon as something as convenient and affordable comes along. I'd much rather be doing something else and without all of the hassle of car ownership. But I live in the middle of nowhere so it's not going to be any time soon.

sevenhills

BOWFER said:

I'm 54 and would happily pack in driving now if there was a viable alternative, I take no joy from driving any more at all.
Busy local roads, potholes everywhere, average speed cameras making long journeys a chore.

You can always buy an electric bike or scooter, or a mobility scooter if you want something bigger. Public transport, taxis and online shopping.

sevenhills

lordmountararat said:

I am 75 and a much better driver than I was when I passed my test in 1963. My reaction times may be slower, but I am much more patient, drive more defensively and stick to speed limits. Most people know when they need to rein in their driving - I no longer drive at night on motorways, and will probably soon stop driving at night at all.

That is not saying much, most people were terrible drivers when they passed their test. You have stopped driving at night on motorways, rather like some new drivers that don't like motorways.

BOWFER

sevenhills said:

BOWFER said:

I'm 54 and would happily pack in driving now if there was a viable alternative, I take no joy from driving any more at all.
Busy local roads, potholes everywhere, average speed cameras making long journeys a chore.

You can always buy an electric bike or scooter, or a mobility scooter if you want something bigger. Public transport, taxis and online shopping.

A mobility scooter?
Where the hell have I said I have mobility issues?
I would actually buy a segway if we were as enlightened as other countries and allowed the use of them on pavements.
Great fun way to get around, I always look for segway tours in any new city.
Unfortunately we're a very, very backward country.