MY GRIPE:- Older drivers and the frustration they cause!!!!!!!!!!! (General)

Member Name: luigi0778

Product:	General
Date:	03/04/09 (224 review reads)
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There are few things in life more annoying or frustrating than an old person behind the wheel of a car. Ok I need to clarify at this point, I am talking about ones who are no longer capable of coping in today's driving conditions. (Sadly I estimate thats most of them). As always there are of course exceptions, one of my neighbours is in her 80's and drives brilliantly, she can parallel park, and keep up with the traffic. Good for her, and I hope she enjoys many more years of motoring.

I also need to add, that I am not ageist! I dearly love old people, and I think they are great! I might (if lucky) even get to be one, one day!

However, let me paint the scene for you, and im sure most people reading this will know what im talking about.

Its a lovely bright sunny morning in spring, its rush hour but fortunately the traffic is very very light. It's a friday the earlier you get to work, the earlier you can leave to enjoy the weekend. You turn on to your favourite stretch of gently undulating "A" road it has a few gentle curves, its nice and wide. That morning the road conditions are dry, its a national speed limit road so you drive to the legal speed limit of 60. Then on your horizon a car appears at a junction. Its far ahead of you, so you assume it will pull out in good time. You glance behind you, the road is empty. OK maybe they are going to wait for you.

BUT NO the car waits until your bearing down on them, and then pulls out in front of you forcing you to brake heavily, and then adds insult to injury by driving no faster than 40. Being a safe patient driver you don't want to overtake them, so you sit there, beautiful open roads pass you by, and you enter a small village with tighter roads, double parked cars, and YET this mono-speed vehicle in front of you continues to trundle onwards at 40.

Eventually they pull over without signalling in front of a shop, clank their wheels against the kerb, and the tell-tale silver top head appears in view. Yes, its Grandad on his daily rush-hour jaunt down to the shops. The silver haired angel, totally oblivious to the other traffic around him, or how that how over the years driving demands have changed, and his skills set and competancy is no longer compatible with the demands of modern driving.

An this is not an unusual occurance! Far from it! on any sunday, or any day (mostly) outside of rush hour you will find hundreds, if not thousands of these silver haired, or flat capped wearing older drivers out an about causing unkowingly and uncaringly untold annoyance and frustration on our roads.

So should they be? I think not. All the attention falls onto the young and reckless drivers on our roads, and most of the jokes ridicule and belittle our female drivers. Yes statistically the young do probably cause most accidents. An yes some women have trouble parking their cars (as do many men).

Wait though, think about it. Parking a car isn't really dangerous (but funny) and for most of us the foolishness and hormone driven emotions of youth will pass and we will become sensible and proffiecient drivers. However in my opinion there comes a time, where we peak and over time our skills fade and will no longer be relevant but yet older people can continue driving unchallenged.

How many times have you read about an old person driving the wrong way down a modern motorway, or mounting a pavement and striking and killing a pedestrian because their eyesight isn't what it was! Quite often in fact! An this is nothing compared to the amount of unseen frustration that they cause every single day on our roads. I wonder how many more crashes have happened because people have lost patience and attempted to overtake a slow car, on a road they would normally not have driven so fast on.

It is my opinion that the UK driving licence should expire at 65, meaning that drivers need to retake their test and prove that they are fit both physically and mentally to still remain on our roads. I think it would be hugely unpopular, but in todays congested road network, the place for accomodating drivers indefinitely, should be over.

Summary: Driving is a privilege not a right!!!!!