Old Drivers

[christoph clark]

I might get the backs up of some here as I don't know what age you all are.
Last sunday there was an accident not far from my house here in France. A car tunred to take the motorway but didn't see the motorbike coming up the road. The bike crashed into the car and the biker died instantly . It turns out the women who was driving was 78 and what makes it worse she was ENGLISH. What's your opinion ? What age are you too old to drive ?

This is the picture taken from the local papers internet site

Story in french

 

[MikeG.]

Christoph,

just a tad harsh to relate one incident to a general question about driving and age. If the person who caused the accident had been 35, the same argument would lead you to suggest that there was a case for saying 35 is too old, or too young, to drive.

If you can gather some statistics together on the accident rate per mile driven of a whole set of age ranges, and there is some discernable trend, then maybe your question would be more valid.

The major factor in this accident may not have been age so much as a momentary forgetting that they were in France.......so looked the wrong way. There can't be many who haven't done this.

Obviously, the general answer is that driving isn't an age-related skill.....but is related to faculties, reactions, judgement and experience. There are I sure plenty of young people with poor marks in these departments, and plenty of oldies who score reasonably highly.

Mike

Edit: I have just re-read this, and realised that I have so mangled the English as to make this sound like one of those bad translations you get from automatic computer translation programs........sorry!!

 

[Karl]

Personally, I think ALL drivers should be made to undertake a re-test every 5 years. And I would also think some kind of formal eye test should be done rather than "can you read that number plate over there for me".

Mike G has a point about momentary lapses of concentration. My dad only passed his test 3 years ago, but he is one of the best drivers I have ever been in a car with. But when we were on holiday this year he said that he is easily confused by the roundabout/turning layout of RHD roads (he wasn't driving at the time - we were on a local bus).

Cheers

Karl

 

[lugo35]

defo agree with everyone getting re tested every few years. the standard of driving is getting worse.

people are taught to pass the test not how to drive!!!!

 

[seanybaby]

defo agree with everyone getting re tested every few years

Great idea, but the governbent will want to charge you an extra fee, probably about £200 me thinks.....mmm i can't even afford a car at the moment, never mind about juice.

 

[RogerS]

Can I digress slightly and ask a question? There's a four way roundabout on my way to work. The road I enter will sometimes form two lanes although no lane markings are present. Most drivers in the left hand lane will turn left. Those in the right hand lane either go straight on or turn right. The exit straight on is one lane only. So what does the Highway Code say about this? Left hand lane and right hand lane for going straight on?

 

[Grinding One]

Well I have been in France and one thing I learned there is DUCK! The Bus driver put a 10 ton bus inbetween 2 small cars I thought jeez we killed them.Nope he hit the horn and gas at the same time and they dove for cover,maybe they knew of him??After I got out I looked at his bus,full of dents,yeppers he`s a crazy Frenchmen.
On a different note I went in for my truck driving lic. and a hispanic guy was taking a verbal test threw an interpratour ,What the heck !! Who`s to say the other guy was supplying the answers??The guy takeing the test did not speak English or read it,Probably why we now have international road signs.Pictures.....Hump .. push one for English 2 for Spanish or be French and kill them all.

 

[Lee Brubaker]

One of the major problems as I see it & causes a lot of accidents in the City where I live is very poor signage. There is no consistancy as to height or location placement & they are too small. I see people of all ages hesitating in intersections because they do not know where the h*** they are.

Lee

 

[lurker]

My son works for a major hire car company.

Evidently 80% of prangs with all cars hired out of Heathrow happen on the first two roundabouts as you leave the site :shock: :shock:
The hire companies have a "communal tow truck" specifically for the first 3 miles on 24 hour call. :lol:

 

[MikeG.]

Roger,

I happen to know the answer to this as my daughter has just passed her test.

The highway code has changed, such that if you are going straight across a roundabout you should be in the left hand lane. Only those turning right should enter the roundabout in the RH lane. (This obviously only applies to those roundabouts which don't give alternate directions with arrows etc). When I took my test there was that very clear diagram in the Highway Code showing that there were alternative ways of going straight across a roundabout.

That raises the interesting question of how I (and the millions of other drivers out there who passed their tests before the changed code) am supposed to know that there has been a change? Are we supposed to buy a new copy of the Highway Code every year?

Remember the Public Information broadcasts? Maybe they should do one of those if they change the system...........or maybe they should write to you with your car tax renewal?

Mike

 

[bugbear]

What age are you too old to drive ?

It's not age, it's skill and judgement.

There are petrol-head teenage idiots, over condfident middle aged people, and old people with degenerated faculties.

And in each age group there are also perfectly good drivers.

BugBear

 

[Toscageoff]

but didn't see the motorbike coming up the road. The bike crashed into the car .

This is one of the commonest accidents in the UK, not always resulting in the death of the biker, and has no bearing on the car driver's age.

SMIDSY - Sorry Mate, I didn't see you. - is a common repost amongst bikers when relating an accident to their friends.

 

[lurker]

Drivers not seeing Bikers is not always a one sided fault.
Some bikers seem to go out of their way to dress in "camoflage"

 

[big soft moose]

Drivers not seeing Bikers is not always a one sided fault.
Some bikers seem to go out of their way to dress in "camoflage"

on the last occasion that i was knocked off I was wearing a flourojacket over my leathers and had my headight on, and i was on a flipping harley - hardly the smallest of bikes , and i'm 6ft 4 and 14 stone.

pillock in a mondeo comes out of a side road - didnt look once let alone twice - bang , straight over the handle bars and superman impression over the bonnet - one cracked collar bone and an extemly mangled harley but it could have been far worse.

excuse - yep you guessed it SMIDSY. (to which it is tempting to reply STUD - stitch that u richardhead)

that was the fourth time i'd been knocked off by bimble brains in cars through no fault of my own so i took the karmic hint and gave up bikes and bought a car.

 

[OPJ]

Roger,

I happen to know the answer to this as my daughter has just passed her test.

The highway code has changed, such that if you are going straight across a roundabout you should be in the left hand lane. Only those turning right should enter the roundabout in the RH lane. (This obviously only applies to those roundabouts which don't give alternate directions with arrows etc).

Mike, to some extent, you are correct...

But, when the "straight on" second exit is offset slightly to the right (off-centre), you should then approach the roundabout in the right-hand lane.

I'm all for regular re-testing, even if it's every 10 years, simply because, as you say, the majority of road users aren't going to be fully aware of any such changes to the Highway Code.

 

[big soft moose]

and on dual carriageway roundabouts where it is generally permisible (unless roadmarkings say otherwise) to go straight on from either lane.

 

[Daven]

Not sure a standard test every X years would help - most accidents happen when the driver looses concentration or does something downright stupid. During a test you know you have to concentrate for however long it takes! Eye test - yes - fitness test yes! Maybe a refresher course every few years that is linked to the insurance would help.

We were lucky a few years ago driving down the A21 - just got off the M25 and there was a car coming towards us in the outside lane! :shock: He was an old fella who had got confused on a slip road. Police got him just before the M25 thankfully!

Next incident happened at a junction at the end of my road. I was on the main road turning left, he was on the side road pulling out to turn right into the main road - both off us had stopped to let traffic pass. I was right in front of him but he "didn't see me" :evil: He was a pensioner.

Dave

 

[TrimTheKing]

Next incident happened at a junction at the end of my road. I was on the main road turning left, he was on the side road pulling out to turn right into the main road - both off us had stopped to let traffic pass. I was right in front of him but he "didn't see me" :evil: He was a pensioner.Dave

Sorry Dave, not being funny but I'm a bit confused. Why did you stop when you were turning left off a main road?

I might be misreading what you have written, so no offence intended.

Cheers

Mark

 

[Oryxdesign]

Next incident happened at a junction at the end of my road. I was on the main road turning left, he was on the side road pulling out to turn right into the main road - both off us had stopped to let traffic pass. I was right in front of him but he "didn't see me" :evil: He was a pensioner.Dave

Sorry Dave, not being funny but I'm a bit confused. Why did you stop when you were turning left off a main road?

I might be misreading what you have written, so no offence intended.

Cheers

Mark

Perhaps he was turning into the road that the pensioner was turning out of and it was single track.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Perhaps he was turning into the road that the pensioner was turning out of and it was single track.

D'oh! Never thought of that :roll:

Mark