75ZT Community

Didn't help the perceptions ?

News report this morning about whether Oldies should take a test again..

Interviewed a 91 year old still driving ... Guess what ..A Rover ..
( a 45 actually) but still !! ?

At that level of maturity ('age' is ageist) there may be a point.

Unfortunately, the usual loud-mouthed semi-governmental official bodies will be rolled out to present the results of yet another survey. Opinions will be sought on a heavily loaded question, outside an A&E department on a Saturday night and only the parents of accident victims will be qualified to take part. Those that decline to be interviewed will be taken as 'don't know' and added to the real 'don't know' figure. The resultant figure will be deducted from the total of respondents, giving the survey base. I'll bet my house that the result will show a huge 'democratic' majority in favour of anything that will result in a fee-based retest. Not that I'm prejudiced or in any way biased of course.

Things like eyesight and hearing should be tested as a minimum. Deterioration creeps in so slowly many elderly drivers either don't realise it is happening or refuse to acknowledge they are.
At age 86, my father stopped driving in low light conditions. Shortly after noticing he was no longer confident in such conditions I took him for an eye test............ 3 months later, after having cataracts removed and some new specs installed he gained a new lease of life and continued driving until age 94. I only recall him ever having one accident and that was scraping a low level bollard in a car park, before the operations, which any of us might have succumbed to even with 20/ 20 vision.
I hope if ever I deteriorate to that extent (probably kick the bucket well before) I will hang up the driving gloves and make some use of my bus pass.
We are all very different and to be honest I think an outside agency should be invoked to medically test elderly drivers on a regular basis. IMHO not age but infirmity should be the criteria, some people will have difficulty much earlier than others. Some will never have a problem should they live long enough.

Mick wrote:I hope if ever I deteriorate to that extent

Must resist from posting, I like it here. ......

Mick wrote:Things like eyesight and hearing should be tested as a minimum. Deterioration creeps in so slowly many elderly drivers either don't realise it is happening or refuse to acknowledge they are.
At age 86, my father stopped driving in low light conditions. Shortly after noticing he was no longer confident in such conditions I took him for an eye test............ 3 months later, after having cataracts removed and some new specs installed he gained a new lease of life and continued driving until age 94. I only recall him ever having one accident and that was scraping a low level bollard in a car park, before the operations, which any of us might have succumbed to even with 20/ 20 vision.
I hope if ever I deteriorate to that extent (probably kick the bucket well before) I will hang up the driving gloves and make some use of my bus pass.
We are all very different and to be honest I think an outside agency should be invoked to medically test elderly drivers on a regular basis. IMHO not age but infirmity should be the criteria, some people will have difficulty much earlier than others. Some will never have a problem should they live long enough.

agree Mick its not just infirmity - some people drive about when they should wear glasses but don't!