do you think aged people should be taken off the road because they possibly are a danger to other motorists and to themselves? please give me some points on this one
As I said in this same thread in Ethics... I think that after a certain age (perhaps 50ish), driving tests (written and behind the wheel) should be much more frequent (at east once a year). The reflexes and senses start failing in enough people to warrant it for the safety of others. If you just pull licenses based on age alone people will cry "age discrimination" and have every right to do so. But if you test them, and they ARE well and fit enough to drive, then they have nothing to worry about, however if they AREN'T fit and well enough to drive, they have no right to complain. It is not hard at all to kill innocent people with a car. It happens all the time. Like people tell you when you first get your license, "Driving is a privelage, not a right." That is as appropriate for the old as it is for the young.
This kind of test will be voted soon in France (we have some of the most dangerous "roads" in Europe), but we should add a test for every driver too (could be every 5 years).
Having some bad experiences with old people and cars (old dude pulled out in front of my dads car and we more or less fishtailed him, we span, he span, he had a heart attack, lived, we crapped our pants, all because he put his foot too much on the accelerator and he's had previous problems with that) I believe that a test of some sort should be implemented. Some older people are competant enough to drive but others should really be shot if they even think about taking their Lada out for a drive in the middle of a road and decide to cut people off. A humourous theory to this is 'Hey, I'm old. If I crash who cares?! If I survive, let's see if you do!' So yeah, yay for tests! The UK has too many old people causing avoidable crashes through driver error.
Between 16 and 65 or so, I think it would be a good thing if your license expired every five years. No need to retake the test though, just an eye exam. After 65, it should be decreased to one year or so. Currently, in Ontario, you get your G1 (learner's) and G2 (full license except it expires) at 16, and at 17 you get your G (which is a G2 but it doesn't expire). You get to keep your license for life even if you are 70 or 80. Once you make an accident at that age though, they will start examining you more carefully. What bothers me is the "after."
In the UK, you have to take a re-test when you are 70 or 80. We should be really working towards somekind of widespread public transport though, IMO!
as a voting block, the elderly probably has more influence than others, more cash blah. legislators might be elderly too. so ahh......?
I dunno if we should take the elderly off the road. but i do believe that the incompetent should be removed from the road, so mabe at age 50 theres a manditory retesting, and then every 10 years after that another....
Accidents aren't just caused by older people, I think they should make it so that if you cause an accident your license gets automatically expired and you have to retake your written and drivers test, if the accident involved alcohol then you should never be allowed to drive again. Sorry but I have no tolerance for idiots, also I think if a police officer causes an accident through negligence he should lose his job. On the other hand for those people that were invovled in the accident that didn't cause it should have to retake the written and drivers test when the license has to be renewed (the exception is if you were part of a drunk driving accident) this is because if they had been driving defensively they would have had enough time to avoid being part of the accident.
last year i was in a car accident with an old couple who was driving 35 in a 55, stopped without warning and turned without a blinker right as i approahed them. I received carless driving becuase i was a teenager. A week later i was forced to get behind the wheel again for a dinner at my french teacher's house after graduation. (not my car, my van was totalled from the previous accident). Thank goodness the traffic was slow, otherwise i wouldnt have been able to swirve into the other lane when an elderly woman whipped out not infront of me, not behind me, but AT me. 3 weeks after that i was sitting passanger at a stop light in the old downtown section. (very unpopulated now, just tiny restuarants, jcpenny.. etc. ) the light had been red for a while and i was in mid conversation when someone bumped us pretty hard from behind, cracking the bumper. the light had turned freen just then so we pulled ahead to the curb and got out. the old man met us on the sidwalk. his excuse? and im seriously quoting here, "I dont know what happened (confused). I was stopping, and then i just took my foot off the brake. hmm.. " just wait, it gets better. I went home and told my mom about it.. before i could finish, she described the old mans car to me. little turqoise Geo thing.. but how did she know? simple. he'd hit her last week. i think after 50 a road test should be mandatory yearly to keep one's liscence and only one chance is given to make that up. after that its a permanent bus pass.. and who knows.. having bitchy old ladies in taxis might really spruce up the services here. our cab comapnies are lousy. they forget people all the time.
It's so funny that I would see this thread today, because I almost got into an accident with an elderly man (?) today. (I'm not sure which gender this person was. Hard to tell sometimes.) Anyway, I was pulling into a WalMart parking lot, and there was a random old person walking in the middle of the lane between the parking spots, so I was driving very slowly behind her, waiting for her to notice me and move. When she finally did, I saw a great parking spot, so I started to go forward toward it, and this old person came flying out of another spot, then slammed on his breaks, right in front of me, and just sat there, and then slowly started inching forward. I thought for a second he was having a heart attack or something, or his foot was spasming. Omg...he jerked all around the parking lot, and nearly hit me a couple times. Needless to say, I backed out of that lane and parked across the lot. Actually, I think everyone should have to retake their test at least once every two years. Some people never actually know how to drive. Besides, with all the people taking their tests, it would create new jobs. Of course, it would take away work for paramedics, fire fighters, police officers, fire police, tow trucks. I mean, not put them out of jobs, but give them less to do.
hahahaha.. geat mental pic with that... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! thanks. p.s. old people at walmart are Vicious!
^ i have to agree with your comment, and my guess is that he fears his 50th birthday which is quickly approaching. lol. tell me something siledre, are you saying that if i were driving defensively properly that i would not have been hit while stopped at a stop light?
