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What do you think about the elderly driving (poll on bottom)
Enigma
Member UncommonPosts: 11,384
When I was a deputy back in '95 I got into a very loud debate with my SGT. I was 21 and he was in his 60s. I thought that very old people need to have a review of their driving skills at regular intervals and he thought I would supress tthe elderly's rights if we implemented a routine driving check.
To this day I get irritated when I see someone who clearly cannot even walk right get behind a 800 pound vehicle and try to drive. take this story that happened today, for example:
Fourteen people were hospitalized Thursday after an elderly man lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a Long Island building where a Hanukkah festival was under way, police told CNN.
Rescue workers at the scene after a car plowed into a storefront where a Hannukah celebration was taking place.
Rescue workers at the scene after a car plowed into a storefront where a Hannukah celebration was taking place.
Some of the injuries were severe, Nassau County Police Officer Patricia Tanksley said. Police said the 78-year-old man's vehicle crashed into a Woodmere, New York, storefront where Chabad of Five Towns was holding its Hanukkah Wonderland event.
Police said the driver, who hit a parked car before going through the storefront, is among the injured. There were no details available for the others.
Hospitals in the vicinity reported receiving adults and children, including two children listed in serious condition.
The event included menorah- and dreidel-making activities for children, according to the Chabad of Five Towns Web site.
Heshey Jacob, president of the Hatzolah Volunteer Emergency Medical Service, said the vehicle went through a play tent in the front of the building where children were playing and into the back of the store. Video Watch footage of the accident site »
Thirteen victims were initially transported to hospitals, he said, including one medevaced to Nassau County Medical Center. Another child, traumatized by the accident, was taken to a hospital later.
Other than the driver, the injured range in age from 18 months to 40 years old, police said.
No criminal charges have been filed, police said.
"Our first priority at this time is to make sure that everyone is taken care of by medical personnel and that all of the children are safe," Rabbi Zalman Wolowik of Chabad of the Five Towns director told chabad.org. "We are doing whatever we possibly can for the families of these children during this most difficult of times and urge all people of goodwill to keep them in their prayers."
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Comments
I say if you are a real danger to other people, screw your rights (kind of harsh, I know). Besides, a regalur test doesn't hurt anyone. Quite a tradeoff, considering the lives that could be saved.
Here in the Netherlands 3/6 months before people turn 70 years of age, need to take a new exam and a medical examination.....if I am not mistaken..to continue driving a car.
How do you propose the old people get around then? You can't just go take their drivers license away from them when many of them rely upon it to do things like get their basic needs such as groceries.
There are a lot of smaller towns around where I live and a lot of elderly people live in those towns. I've seen the bad driving elderly, but honestly I've seen the younger folks taking more risky chances and causing just as many if not much more accidents.
The elderly have done their time man. I think that in America (and in a lot of the western world actually) it's gotten to where the elderly are somehow just easily tossed aside. It's like we worship youth or something. Youth is stupidity, ignorance, bad decision making, disregard, cockiness. A long list of negatives that I think needs to be highligthed more often.
The elderly need to be taken care of and we need to begin to realize that they are our wisdom and can give us bearing if we give them a chance. They deserve a lot more respect and consideration than we give them today.
My grandfather gave up his license voluntarily. He realized one day that his driving days were over. But he had a support group that came and checked on him regularly. Many elderly do not have this. Why??? Because we just dump them off to the side to go somewhere and die. Even their own families consider it a hassle to go check on them. I spent some very good times with my grandfather and learned a ton from him going over and checking on him. Those were things that I never suspected I would have learned at first but that came out despite my early and presumptuous youthful dumb assness. I remember arguing with my mom at first about going over there, and then suddenly realizing that I looked forward to visiting that cool guy.
If you want to take their licenses away so quickly then I think you need to do a paralell proposition to give them a solution to your tucking them away in their houses. Keep in mind, like I said, many of the elderly live in small towns away from mass transit and other means of commercial or community transportation. They just don't have that option. And many of them are just scared to move into the citites because of the way they are treated by young people.
I also think if you're going to propose this that you also need to look at the driving age for younger drivers. I think that the driving age in this country is WAAAAY to low. 16??? I know that most people who are honest will admit that they were in no mature condition to be behind the wheel at that age. I definitely was not. I am surprised that I am still alive. I also had two friends who were killed in car accidents while in high school back then. Not to mention the many many many accidents that happened from kids behind the wheel showing off.
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I've never been to the Netherlands, but I am guessing that things are a lot different than they are here in America.
There are a lot of places in America where people do not live very close to each other or in densely populated cities. There are a LOT of smaller towns where old people live. And it is not just a walk down the street to go get some milk and bread. It's miles away.
It's a big country with lots of open land. We like our freedom and being able to move around. It's just a part of who we are. Taking that freedom away from an elderly person is a big deal to them. I wouldn't be surprised if it would be something that could crush their spirit.
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Imo, obtaining a car license should be taken as seriously as getting a pilot's (ok, a little hyperbole there, but something to that affect would be appropriate). I don't see any reason why, in general, people shouldn't have to renew on an annual or semi-annual basis with a exam. Again imo, people take driving a multi-ton object for granted.
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
Option 3: routine driving exams for everyone.
South Park says it all.
It's a tough question, do we take away their right to drive..is driving really a right to have heh...anyways in my small town we have a lot of elderly who drive and they are terrible at it, i know they need to do what they need to do because they probably have no one to help them but they cause lots of problems, accidents, they don't remember to use their turn signals (as a matter of fact not just them, most people lately seem to not use them, what the hell is wrong with these fools, i wish cops would heavily fine these bastards that can't turn their goddamn signals on >.>...yes it bugs me)
Anyways i like the idea of testing them often to make sure they can still function properly driving..if not maybe the towns/cities should have something setup to help them out with what they need i dunno..hard question for me i guess heh.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
Not all elderly drivers are unsafe. In fact, I'd say that they're slightly less dangerous than new drivers.
However, I strongly believe that there are some people with driver's licenses out there who should not have them, and some testing to insure that the physical ability to drive safely is in order.
My father KNEW he wasn't safe to drive the last five years of his life and insisted that someone drive him when he needed to go someplace. Not all older people are as aware of their limitations.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Once a denizen of Ahazi
I believe that the elderly should not be able to drive after 3:00 p.m. In most cases the elderly can finish there errands and all their driving needs before then.
This would also ensure that they would not be driving in the dark, since night blindness is common among the elderly and normally traffic begins to build up for Rush hour after 3:00 p.m.
To be fair I think they should also have more restrictions on drivers below the age of 18, there is plenty of supporting data that the brain has not fully developed yet and cannot make the best judgements while driving....if you don't believe me think about some of the decisions you made when you were 18 and younger.
Driving is not a right it is a privilege - in order to drive you need to prove, through testing, that you are able to drive.
I would like to see all people tested every few years in order to make sure that they are still able to drive and not just the elderly.
"The liberties and resulting economic prosperity that YOU take for granted were granted by those "dead guys"
I was in insurance for 6 years, statistically speaking the 16 - 21 year old driver is infinetly more dangerous.
For every elderly news story you can pull up, you pull hundreds of teens / young adults wrecking their cars and killing themselves and others each weekend.
I think younger people are WAY more dangerous when driving. Out of my main group of friends, probably about 75% were in accidents before they turned 20, 2 of them serious car accidents. Everybody else has had at least 1 ticket, most of then have 3 or more and some of those tickets are for speeding upwards of 90 MPH. Considering how serious it is, I know quite a few people who have also had DUI's.
I'd have to say if they made the elderly have to take driving tests all the time to renew their license then they should do the same thing to everyone else too. 99 out of 100 people can't drive worth a shit themselves and are a danger to others as well. That's why we all have to pay so much for insurance. Everyone needs to be held accountable for their bad driving, not just the elderly. That would be discrimination.
As for the article about the eldrly man who smashed through the store. There was no report as to what really happend to cause him to do so. He may have been a very angry man and did it on purpose. Or more than likely since it happens alot from what I've read at times, he may have had a heart attack or something and you can't predict when those things will happen. And it doesn't just happen to elderly people. Another reason may be he mistakenly thought he was stepping on the brake, only to be actually stepping on the gas. And sometimes people get their foot stuck somehow and plow through stores, etc.
The thing is, this sort of thing can happen to anyone. Even that one guy I mentioned above could have something happen beyond his controll and cause an accident. I'm not saying I'm the best driver in the world here and frankly neither are you. (whoever's reading this that is) Driving is a privaledge give to those who can show they can operate a vehicle safely. A written test isn't enough for most people. The DMV needs to employ more people that will actually ride with the potential driver and evaluate their skills and teach them what they're doing wrong if need be. (which is more than likely lol) I don't believe they can single out people based on their age though as to who has to be tested and who doesn't. Everyone should be tested with a ride along at least every five years to show they have proper knowledge of road rules and the ability to drive responsibly.
This website is a safe haven for trolls and haters. I'm done with this pathetic site.
Just be careful what you wish for. I recently had to retake my drivers test. I am a very careful driver but had to retake the test 3 times due to my trouble with parallel parking. It's not that I can't do it, I can, I was just nervous the first 2 times. Third time I got a person who put me at ease for some reason and I did the parking job exactly the way I always do. The rest of the test was of course a piece of cake.
I've also heard story after story of people who have had to go back and take their tests for one reason or another (moved in from out of state, let their license go out of date, etc) and ended up failing the test. These were people who, like me, had been driving for years.
You'd be completely surprised how many people fail that test instead of pass it. You might even be surprised when you go down there and fail yourself.
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I had a feeling that this was the case. Thanks for clearing that up.
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Soylent Green?
If you are not being responded to directly, you are probably on my ignore list.
i think there should be an assessment on whether the 70 year old can still drive safely, or he or she is still capable..
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Just be careful what you wish for. I recently had to retake my drivers test. I am a very careful driver but had to retake the test 3 times due to my trouble with parallel parking. It's not that I can't do it, I can, I was just nervous the first 2 times. Third time I got a person who put me at ease for some reason and I did the parking job exactly the way I always do. The rest of the test was of course a piece of cake.
I've also heard story after story of people who have had to go back and take their tests for one reason or another (moved in from out of state, let their license go out of date, etc) and ended up failing the test. These were people who, like me, had been driving for years.
You'd be completely surprised how many people fail that test instead of pass it. You might even be surprised when you go down there and fail yourself.
I'm pretty sure that the driving tests differ from state to state. In Florida, its extremely easy, and there is no parallel parking test. Mostly because you hardly see places to parallel park anymore.
How bout everyone? In dallas on christmas day a kid wouldn't let some guy pass him and they were both going 80 before some poor guy pulled out in front of them and was killed. The kid is in prison the other guy is in the hospital though he will be sent to prison when he gets out.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
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And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
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