http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8618992.stm


Are these the same ones who have had no accident for ten years but caused hundreds of accidents?

"never had one, seen loads".

Tell it to the sodding pensioner I just saw doing 45MPH in the middle lane of the M61 about an hour ago, indicating every half mile or so to move into the outer lane (!) then chickening out every time because people were using it to overtake him.

Tell it to the old bloke I saw drive the wrong way up a slip road into a stationary traffic jam, push his way in, cut someone up to get into the next lane, then cut someone else up to come back into the lane he started in, all within the first mile from the junction. He was so small he could barely see over the steering wheel and had glasses on with lenses so thick it could feasibly be used as windows on the space shuttle.

Old people generally speaking go out outside rush hour. When there are fewer other cars. Therefore they have less accidents because they have less opportunity for accidents. Younger people, who have to go to work in the rush hour, tend to have more accidents because there are more cars travelling in the same space. Other factors - experience vs physical fitness are a smaller influence than simple traffic density. It's a simple matter of probabilities. I commute into the centre of Manchester by car. Someone who had been doing so for a long time told me when I started "You will have an accident, probably within the first year. Doesn't matter how well you drive, doesn't matter what route you take. if you drive into a city in the rush hour, you will have an accident eventually." Turned out to be right by about 6 weeks. If the old people I've seen outside rush hour drove the way they did in the rush hour, there'd be absolute carnage.

I'm sure there are good elder drivers who have remained fit and also driving experience certainly helps - which is the main problem younger drivers have obviously - but there is definitely a point where the physical and mental faculties have been reduced to a degree which makes people dangerous on the road. Yet this lot would be happy to let them carry on in favour of a younger driver maybe with less experience but with faster reactions, clearer vision and, frankly, faster pace of thought.

Anyone who drives more than average mileage will tell you their position simply doesn't marry with reality.

Thinks : I wonder what the average age of an RAC member is...


Jon

My grandfather before he died only gave up driving when he was faced with the prospect of a medical. He was very long sighted. He could still shoot a clay pigeon down like a sharpshooter, but needed my grandmother to tell him the colour of the traffic lights. He never had an accident or passed a driving test. He was already driving when they started the driving test. Thankfully he never drove very far, no more than a few hundred yards.

Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart...

When I was cycling in London years ago the number one threat to cyclists were old men in hats driving. They were to be avoided at all costs. Next were black women in Volvos. Bad drivers and who felt safe because they were in a Volvo. Then Volvo drivers for the same reason, and regardless of sex.

Come on, he's not even up to using a lift safely...

Jon