Annual Testing for Elderly Drivers!

[1stFlight]

After reading stories like this (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/07/16/farmers.market.crash/index.html)

And being stuck behind an easily confused q-tip, doing 35 in a 50, for miles. I'm starting to wonder if it's time to advocate annual competency from elderly drivers.

It's common knowledge that the older you get the worse your reflexes get, as such it's reasonable to conclude there are elderly drivers out there with reflexes as bad as drunk drivers (anyone else thing .08 is too low?), as such they are just as much a road hazard. What do you all think?

[UDawg]

You beat me to the punch on this. ;)

Driving is not a right. It is a privilege.

I don't want to hear about elderly rights on this issue either. If you do the wrath unleashed by me would make Flibble cry in the corner in the fetal position for hours. :mad:

[styles-T]

I totally agree.
My dad is in is seventies and cant drive worth a damn anymore. He's terrible on the road and is going to kill himself or someone else.

I wish they would retest every three years after 60 to get people like my dad off the road..:D I love him to death but damn he cant drive worth a damn.

As for the alcohol content being .08 thats ridiculous IMO. But I guess its better to be safe than sorry :( I usually drive buzzed when I go out with friends. I'll have a few here and there - than sober up about an hour before we leave. Totally in control but above .08

[vampireuk]

I think it should be every 2 years, one year seems a bit too much to be honest. But a lot of elderly people can't drive worth squat. Once you get older your insurance goes up too.

[UDawg]

Originally posted by vampireuk
I think it should be every 2 years, one year seems a bit too much to be honest. But a lot of elderly people can't drive worth squat. Once you get older your insurance goes up too.

Yeah I have to agree 2 years. It will cost less and there will be fewer coming to the DMV in their Grand Torinos while barely peering over the steering wheel. :D

I also think traffic violations should cost more. Younger drivers are even more dangerous. I think it is 16-40 males cause more accidents than any other age group.

[The Baron]

After being nearly run off the road three times in one two-mile trip yesterday in this little retirement town, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LET THERE BE YEARLY TESTING.

[PsychoSy]

Testing ever 1 or 2 years is fine by me. As for the argument of reaction time going down as you age, that's is true but older people don't necessarily need that reaction time as they've logged more experiance behind the wheel. Then again, you people are lucky I'm not the dictator of the world because, if I were, all automobiles would require a 100MPH governor on them in order to be street legal. :p

I don't want to hear about elderly rights on this issue either. If I do, the wrath unleashed by me would make Flibble cry in the corner in the fetal position for hours. :mad:

Beat you to it - I awoke around 3AM with Ol' Flib on my chest, gazing at my kneck while stroking a hand sickle. I asked him, "You wanna give me a haircut with that thing?" and he nodded emphatically. Then, we had a glare contest for 18 minutes. From there, I used a prop and gave him an ultimatum: "See this heatsink? If you don't get away from me, I will use your nether regions as phase change material and, everytime you open that beak to scream as the hellacious heat from the core of that Barton fries your balls off, I'll drag an Alka-Selter tablet across your tongue! Afterall, why kill that which you can torture...?"

He's been in the corner cowering ever since. :angel:

Hope I didn't scare him to death! :p

[UDawg]

Originally posted by PsychoSy




Beat you to it - I awoke around 3AM with Ol' Flib on my chest, gazing at my kneck while stroking a hand sickle. I asked him, "You wanna give me a haircut with that thing?" and he nodded emphatically. Then, we had a glare contest for 18 minutes. From there, I used a prop and gave him an ultimatum: "See this heatsink? If you don't get away from me, I will use your nether regions as phase change material and, everytime you open that beak to scream as the hellacious heat from the core of that Barton fries your balls off, I'll drag an Alka-Selter tablet across your tongue! Afterall, why kill that which you can torture...?"

He's been in the corner cowering ever since. :angel:

Hope I didn't scare him to death! :p

OMG! *tears* LMAO! You should write childrens stories. :D

Oh yeah well I was punching him repeatedly while all the time saying "STOP BLEEDING! STOP BLEEDING!" ...and that is when he whent to your house. He was acutally looking for some comfort but you just had to rub lemmon juice in the paper cut didn't you?

[vampireuk]

Now that was hardly fair, flibble had been out all night delivering hand grenades to the homeless and picking fights with m1a1 tanks. Be wary when you sleep now because you may not wake up with any testicles:eek:

[volt]

You gotta be kidding. Elderly shouldn't drive even if they took the tests twice a year. You never know what the hell they gonna pull off. It's simply too dangerous.

Had too much of a bad experience with grandma's and grandpa's :rant:

[UDawg]

Originally posted by vampireuk
Now that was hardly fair, flibble had been out all night delivering hand grenades to the homeless and picking fights with m1a1 tanks. Be wary when you sleep now because you may not wake up with any testicles:eek:

Too late! My ex took them :( along with half I owned. :mad:

[saturnotaku]

I think once you reach a certain age in Illinois you are tested yearly. And frankly I think that's a great thing.

[StealthHawk]

As long as once you guys become elderly you don't complain about frequent testing :p

[Sazar]

hmm... well I have been all for the placement of massive neon orange stickers on old peoples cars warning of DANGER for years now...

3-4 years ago this old lady had a little haircut @ a join down near clearwater/florida (about 15-20 miles from where I live) and then got into her car.. shifted into drive and promptly smashed through the wall of the very store she had just got out of... creating a brand new opening...

thankfully the occupants inside were having a little smoke break in the back and no one got hurt... but you get the gist of what I am saying...

if you can't control your bowel movements... wtf makes you think you can control a 2 ton behemoth that you choose to drive ?

and thats a given... any old person in america will drive an armored tank coz its 'safer' for them... while all the better to kill other people with :rolleyes:

I say give them an island and let them run havoc over there... just get them out of florida :(

-edit-

btw that person should be in jail... not on the streets... if this was a regular 'YOUNG' person you know for sure he/she would be in jail... this guy is getting off too easy... just coz you can unintentionally wet your pants should not be a reason to get off like this :(

-edited for updates- he KILLED TEN PEOPLE...

[1stFlight]

Ten now ... :(

[Son Goku]

I read this...and yes this person should have been tested. How this person even managed to keep a liscence. Age or not, there is no way a person can safely drive if they're accelerating while plowing through a market place, killing (10 people now according to CNN) and injuring something like 51.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/07/17/farmers.market.crash/index.html

And mistaking the gas for the break while they're mowing through people... If someone is that discomboulated, they're a hazzard to everyone, including themself. I wouldn't say take the liscense away from everyone regardless of competency, but that competency should be tested when people hit an age where they could be a danger to everyone.

As to "when you get older", it might be an inconvenience but if it keeps us safer. Remember even the elderly can be pedestrians walking to their car, when another non-competent elderly could run them over too. No way should this person be allowed to drive, and my 78 year old father and my 64 year old mother would probably be among the first to so indicate. They too had family, such as Erny who used to hold his head up to the stearing wheel and have to ask the passengers if anything is there. They too thought his driving was rediculous...

[PsychoSy]

Originally posted by volt
You gotta be kidding. Elderly shouldn't drive even if they took the tests twice a year. You never know what the hell they gonna pull off. It's simply too dangerous.

Had too much of a bad experience with grandma's and grandpa's :rant:

Fine. Let's have a mandatory "community service" law where everyone between the ages of 16-25 must deliever perscription drugs and groceries to the elderly and provide transportation to their doctors appointments.

Twice a week.
8 hours a day.
Without pay.

The elderly are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Nobody wants to really help them so what other choice to they have other than getting behind the wheel and helping themselves? People want them off the roads so they aren't a danger to everyone? Fine - provide them what they need so that they don't HAVE to get on the road. Face it, young whipper-snapper, you've got more time and money than they have.

[volt]

Originally posted by PsychoSy
Fine. Let's have a mandatory "community service" law where everyone between the ages of 16-25 must deliever perscription drugs and groceries to the elderly and provide transportation to their doctors appointments.

Twice a week.
8 hours a day.
Without pay.

The elderly are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Nobody wants to really help them so what other choice to they have other than getting behind the wheel and helping themselves? People want them off the roads so they aren't a danger to everyone? Fine - provide them what they need so that they don't HAVE to get on the road. Face it, young whipper-snapper, you've got more time and money than they have.

There are buses and other means of transportation. Where I lived, people over 80 in a car were hazardous to the community. Everytime I drove I had to have my eyes in my ass.

At least forbid them to drive in big cities. It's a "hit or miss" with them.

[PsychoSy]

There are buses and other means of transportation.

Where I live, all the taxi companies went bankrupt because they couldn't afford drivers and the insurance costs. Five years ago, there were 4-5 taxi companies. Today, there are none. As for the buses run, they run on fixed routes every half hour on weekdays and between Noon and 4 on Saturday. No Sunday service. It's not bad if you live within Monroe Township but there's a lot of retired old folks that live out in the boonies where the buses don't run or come as far as a certain intersection a quarter mile down the road.

That's exactly the case where I live and, before the trailer park behind my house was built, I was probably the youngest SOB living this far out of town. The bus comes as far M-50 and Raisinville - about a 5 minute walk across a field for me. What do you think would happen if my landlord or any of my neighbors (not counting those people in the trailer park - they're less than 40 years in age) had to walk that 1/4th of a mile in 90+ degree heat with 100% humidity just to catch the bus?

If they took the road (which they'd have to), they'd have a heatstroke.

If they were to cut through the uneven field, they'd get their foot caught in some snake or groundhog hole, fall and break something...then get sunstroke! :p

Someone might say, "Well, what about Medicare and the Welfare card? Some places will take Medicare to deliver drugs and the Welfare card (if they're on welfare) to deliver groceries to their door."

Problem: Medicare for nearly all seniors in Monroe County (over 100,000 people) was cut completely - my old man and landlord was among them. And since welfare here is based on income (which the elderly hardly get any income as it is) ammounts to about $30 a month, which should get them bread, milk and maybe some lunch meat. Either way you shake it, they're dying and alot sooner because all of this creates more worry for them.

The elderly shouldn't have to take a mortgage on their house or trailer (if they own either) or impoverish themselves just to freakin' continue living what meager life they have left anymore so than any of the working poor should be forced to work 3 god damn jobs to pay their bills and put food on their tabes. It's insane.

Face it - The Reagan Era Middle-Class is DEAD!

It's like the idiot Rick Santorum who once claimed to be in the "poor" income bracket. Here he makes 6-figures a year and claims, "if I were to $500,000-750,000 a year, I'd be middle class and any ammount higher than that is what I would consider being rich." That's hilarious considering the nearly 90% of his constituents had an estimated annual income of $37,000 a year...and he has the gall to call himself poor!?!?! Lay off that hashpipe, Mr. Santorum, okay? :D

Or, better yet, Bill O'Rielly. In his books, he claims that he was from a lower middle-class family. I think he said his Dad only brought in $30K-50K a year in the 1970s. I got something to tell O'Rielly - adjust that to the current level of inflation!!! My parents made about that much - perhaps even 50K a year - in the 1970s just like O'Reilly's parents. If I were to adjust that to today's inflation, it'd be a 6-figure salary easily and none of my parents graduated!

Highest level of education my dad made it too was the 10th grade and my Mom left sooner than that! A salary of $30-$60K in 1970s was damn good money for educated people and a freaking fortune for the non-educated! We're talking faaaaar from the government cheeze and dry milk lines, if I may be so bold. My parents did this and managed to feed and cloth 6 kids - how many kids did O'Rielly's parents have?

Poor my ass! ;)

Quit spinning, Mr. O'Rielly! :afro:

[volt]

I agree with you man, but for bigger cities it's a plague. Buses / trains come nearly to their houses, yet I see 80-90 year olds swaying back and forth on 6 lane highways, not to mention narrower roads which is even worse.

b00bie better back me up on that one. He knows what I'm talkin about :)

[1stFlight]

Hate ro bring back an old thread but when I saw this (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92942,00.html)

I thought Fox was rehashing old news... lo and behold it's happened again. Screw the AARP

[UDawg]

Ya and the guy who ripped through the church parking lot taking a bunch out. :rolleyes: I'm with you screw the AARP

[Riptide]

Well, kinda funny this thread has been going on because guess what I just witnessed today?

On the way into the gymnasium I saw an old man, probably 70-80, in a nice big blue cadillac back up out of his handicapped spot and smack right into a parked car. He punched a nice indentation in the bumper, probably at least $500 worth of damage. He knew he hit it because I saw him look up into his rear view.

Here's the kicker... The old guy took off! I got his plates and let the lady know what had happened once she got back to her car. Gave a police report as well...

I have a lot of respect for senior citizens and all, but this is ridiculous. If you hit a parked car the moral thing to do is stop and take care of YOUR mistake.

:(

[stncttr908]

It really is dangerous. At the supermarket that I work at, most of our customers are elderly. That means that most of the cars in the lot are taking up four spaces at a time.