Drinking may have been a factor in this one; it happened @ 1:30AM and the cops found beer cans at the scene. Toxicology tests are pending. Suicide has not been ruled out either. What's really odd is the 71 YO guys dog was virtually unharmed and was lying next to the wreckage of his owners mangled 04 Dodge when the cops arrived.

I've seen people 80 years old that drive just fine and dandy and I've seen people in their twenties that should have their license revoked today. Age in itself doesn't seem to be the only factor; some people just seem to have to go too slow while others can't handle going some reasonable semblance of the speed limit, instead preferring to tailgate and p***off the rest of society. I say give everyone a performance based test when they renew their license. By doing this, the AARP can't claim that seniors are being picked on and hopefully it would take care of some problem people, regardless of age.

 

As you are now so once was I
As I am now you soon will be
So prepare for age and follow me


We ALL will be there sometime
Therefore, what you think is an OK solution; ask yourself could you live with it.

 

Here in SW Idaho, there are some of the worst drivers in the country, perhaps world. I have driven in NY, Chicago, DC, Seattle, you name it. It seems when they get in a car, they place their heads in the rear orifice. I think there should be a skills test for ALL drivers, can't make it around the course in time without hitting any cones? No license! Problem is, that would never happen. My father was a scary driver, all over the road, and he rarely drank. My brother could scare a zombie to death with his antics. He just doesn't watch the road. I have seen the bluehairs do all of the above mentioned things. There needs to be more testing for everyone, but do we really need more government controll of our lives? And, the beauracracy that would go along with it? I mean, the government could screw up anything (and does screw up everything). Maybe we are better off staying with the system we have now? Besides, I'm half grey now, just look at my picture!

 

I want to die peacefulyy in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming like his passengers.

I still say young drivers usually improve. Old drivers just deteriorate over time, it is inevitable unless they die before that happens.

My wife's uncle, rest his soul, used to drive around at 90 yo. Once I was in the car with him in the shoulder/parking lane of a 4 lane boulevard. About a block ahead were some parked cars. As we got closer, I yelled out "Uncle Bill, there are cars parked in this lane". He did not see them until we were maybe 100 feet from them and had to swerve into the next lane, thankfully that lane wasn't occupied since he didn't look before he changed lanes. Every year, if it snowed, he put his car in the ditch sometimes a couple times during the year. How do you put a car in the ditch on a straight gravel road(Decent traction) where you should be going maybe 5-10 mph even in dry conditions? I drove that road every work day so I know it was not that slippery. My guess is he rode the shoulder too close to the ditch or misjudged where it was since everything was white.

I had a 90 yo guy pull out in front of me from a cross road on a highway while I was going 50. I T Boned his car since there was no time to stop. Later he claimed he did not see me until he heard my horn.

While a passenger in a friend's van, we were next to an elderly couple. The driver was at about the front of the van, i. e. I was looking down upon his head from the van passenger seat. I noticed that the driver did not look and had suddenly started to pull his car into our lane. I warned the van driver and he slammed on the brakes and swerved to avoid a sure accident. The old fart continued on as if nothing had happened. I am pretty sure he never saw a thing, not even with the hood of the van at his 9 to 10 o'clock postion right next to him.

My wife's 70 yo friend lives way out in the country on route 95 where the big rigs barrel thru all day at maybe 65mph in a 55mph zone. She routinely runs at 40 to maybe 50 mph, and they back up behind her many times since it is just a 1 lane each way highway. Once I was a passenger and as she got to her left turn to her farm, she slowed down to maybe 20 mph a good quarter mile before she needed to. I was nervously looking in the mirror noticing a couple big rigs coming up on us pretty fast. I was seriously concerned that we were going to get rear ended. Fortunately the trucks were able to slow way down and she turned before they got us. I am convinced she had no idea they were coming up on her. My wife confirms this impression from many other trips.

What I am getting at is 1) I believe old people either do not see what is coming or don't care("it's their road and right of way after all") 2) Old people's reaction times are way down 3) Old people don't seem to check before they change lanes, I guess it is because 40 years ago there was no traffic to check for so the old habits die hard. Young people do stupid things and lack experience. Old people have experience but their skills and senses deteriorate rapidly over time.

Just my opinion,

Jim Henderson

 

you asked im gonna say my peace and apologizze to anyone i ofend up front.
Old people should be tested on a regular basis biyearly a driving skills test as well as a vision test. Seniors who get excessive tickets/accidents should be treated like ateen new driver with losing their license if they dont keep their noses clean.
I also believe that if a child knows their parent is a bad driver and a senior they should also be held liable should the parent get into an accident, like the one poster said how their dad is like 90 and still driving and a menace. well get off your keyster and take the freakin car away from them. And dont give us five hundred excuses while ya cant i can give you one why you s hould... it is your responsibility as a child to take care of the people who raised ya morally and should be legally. if the panty waste judges would make people accountable but thats a topic for off topic discussion....

 

Would it not be logical to just have everybody take a driving test every other year,redoing a written test that has not changed in years is silly if you ask me.Stop signs are still stop signs,yield still means yield,I for one would rather they were checking EVERYBODY`S driving habits,not whether they remember what color a yield sign is.

 

I agree Triton, I don't see use for the written test but skill and vision need to be checked FAR more often. I have to wonder about places like Montana where a license is only renewed every 10 years (if I remember right, could be wrong). A lot can happen between 70 and 80 years of age. Check these people often! It's not like they don't have time in their busy schedules to spend 15 minutes at the DMV.

 

I would be in favor of a test for seniors. I also would like to see tougher standards for those that are just becoming drivers. There also is the question as to where you drive. Urban with its many interstates,divided highways and such is a whole different driving experience verses someone that is in a rural two lane with little or no traffic to contend with. Granted the standards should be the same but..... I spend many hours every week on the roads and if you get in your vehicle with an attitude it doesn't matter what age you are. People just seem to think they are more important or need not to follow, but cut and swerve just to work their way ahead of traffic. Mindless driving I call it. We've had similar posts here about this same problem here before and like one poster said it is not a right but a priviledge. And until we wake up and see this there will always be whining about how people drive. I can catagorize some groups. Anyone with a AAA sticker on their bumper......bad. Teenage girls with cellphones......lucky to still be alive. Teenage boys with a point to prove........fast track to hell. Soccer moms in their minivans or SUVs........amazing how much carnedge they leave behind and never knew they caused the accident. They are clueless when they get behind the wheel. Farmers in their trucks..........coming to the city gets pretty exciting for them. Slow moving and scarey. I know I have offend someone and not everyone falls into these categories, but I have seen these people driving day in and day out. Not much changes with the way we all drive.

 

Cell phones ARE more dangerous then all the elderly drivers combined on one city-street in "anywhere" America. IMO

Watch and read with this will bring on!

 

Cotton Tops scare me........its even worse when I see em driving those giant bus RV's. Yea, their "okay" now, but whos to say no radical change is going to go down and wipe out a freeway of cars.
I believe reaction time should be a part of the drivers lisc renewal, for all ages.

 

Great idea.
How could you realistically test for that, and make it where it represents a real world situation?

 

Several years ago there was a defensive driving test offered down in, I think, Kal. One of the things they did to people was to have them drive past a row of parked cars at 25 MPH and when you got to the last car they ejected a plastic trash can in front of you at a precise time. There was only one way not to hit it and virtually everyone failed that incident and hit the can. Why you may ask? It's simple, they hit their brakes. The escape was to swerve. This was all on a test facility of course, and you had no idea what was going to happen. In the case of the trash can, they were simulating a kid running out into the street.

On edit: An average driver can identify a situation, process the info, decide, and react in 5/8 of a second. Simply have a test with real world situations and set it up on a simulator car. Also, have a few private companies run it thus eliminating all of the govt waste and inefficiency.

 

After a certain age, testing every two years, after a certain year, every year, imo. Maybe 65/70.

In Atlanta a small child was just killed by a 73 year old while playing in his front year, after the guy backed out of a parking space, through the kid's front yard, across the street, and flipped his vehicle over in a ditch.

 

Quote:
On edit: An average driver can identify a situation, process the info, decide, and react in 5/8 of a second. Simply have a test with real world situations and set it up on a simulator car. Also, have a few private companies run it thus eliminating all of the govt waste and inefficiency.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What a great idea,a simulator,set up right in the Sec of State office,real world situations,without putting anybody else at risk,but alas the gov will look at this as a expendature,so it probably will never happen.BUT MAN,what a great idea!Honest,I am not being a smartaxle,I mean it.

 

Note the last sentance of my previous post. No govt waste needed.

As for never happen? We had simulators (nicknamed stimulators) years ago back when I had to take traffic safety. We liked the fancy sport steering wheels they had too .