lippydave Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 My father in law has gradually had his eyesight deteriorate over the last few years. We had a family party at our house a couple of years ago. My in-laws drove over. My mother-in-law was in tears when they arrived. My pa-in-laws driving had deteriorated rapidly and he really wasn't up to the 20 odd mile drive. As a family we sat down over dinner and decided that he had to quit driving, despite having clung onto his licence he was clearly in no way fit to drive any more. I took his keys off him, my brother-in-law drove them home and I sold their car that week. Initially they struggled to adjust to being carless but with a bit of family driving support sahred between us and the use of taxis they have reached a stage where they don't miss it any more. My father -in-law was suffering from deteriorating vision and my ma-in-law has the early stages of Alzheimers. They'd have been fooked if they had got lost, he couldn't see where he was going, and she couldn't remember where they were supposed to be going... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajpearson Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I don't think that it is just old people that are a hinderance on the road, there are many many people that no longer have the ability (and some that never had the ability) to continue driving. I am one for a continued revision of driver skills, and believe that you should not be able to pass a test at age 17 and then keep driving until you are 70 to have your licence renewed. I fly helicopters and I have to keep up, and be regularly tested and examined Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibby Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I don't think that it is just old people that are a hinderance on the road, there are many many people that no longer have the ability (and some that never had the ability) to continue driving. Agree completely, the whole system needs an overhaul from the initial testing procedures to the policing policy of the only aspects of bad driving are being young and speeding. Still, it could be worse, spent a weekend in Dublin admiring the people driving on their second provisionals. A bloke stopped in the middle of a dual carriageway reading a map, general lack of indication, people pulling out of junctions left, right and centre. Our roads are pretty good in the grand scheme of things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echoz Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Ive been in a passenger whilst driving in Ireland and it is definitely and intense experience at times haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lippydave Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Ive been in a passenger whilst driving in Ireland and it is definitely and intense experience at times haha! Italian city centres are better for brown adrenaline production... I sh*t you not (sic), in a rental car in 8 lane chaos in a large piazza in Naples I was cut up by two nuns in a Fiat Punto... :blush: Mrs L was weeing herself with both fear and laughter as I shouted, "I'll get the b*stards back..." :d I did too.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff oakley Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I am not in favour off a compulsory cut off due to age as there are many reasons why people deteriorate driving wise. I have seen some people so disabled they look incapable of driving yet they do. Look at John Surtees and Stirling Moss, would we take their licence off them? The only fair way is constant evaluation of all drivers skill sets, at work we employ ouside assesors for all our drivers and it is strange how people forget what they have been taught and require remedial lessons for basic errors. If we did not do this there would be no one to tell them. One other issue is the impatinets of of other drivers. I never harrase learner drivers or older drivers, give them room and anticipate they will make errors and they are not a problem. For every old driver who kills or mains someone there are many more drivers from all ages groups who do the same. It is easy to say do x to older drivers but remember we will be old one day, the key is life long learning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibby Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Italian city centres are better for brown adrenaline production... I sh*t you not (sic), in a rental car in 8 lane chaos in a large piazza in Naples I was cut up by two nuns in a Fiat Punto... :blush: Mrs L was weeing herself with both fear and laughter as I shouted, "I'll get the b*stards back..." :d I did too.... Two nuns in a Fiat Punto ... sounds like there's a punchline there Egypt was quite an experience too, no way would I drive out there. In the dark you don't know whether a single headlight is a motorbike with 10 people hanging off it or a juggernaught with a light out driving down the middle of the road. If anyone has a crash while in a taxi, we quickly learnt the way to sort it out is for the local police to wave their guns in the tourists' faces and demand all our money. Luckily we'd been bugging the driver to teach us smatterings of Arabic and "I have no money - I am a student and not a tourist" came in very handy right then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveD Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 had a old fart drive into the side of my van , a white vivaro i had stopped in a line of traffic across a side road he looked straight at me through the passenger window of my van ,straight into my eyes and then rammed me moving my van across the road , while i was shouting at the f***** retard to stop , when i climbed out he said he didnt see me ,what the devil stupid old fart wanted banning from driving ,he said dont go to the police as i drive my freind around who cannot see ,i replied you cant f in see either ,and carried on to say what if that was a kid on a bike you hit instead of me and reported him to the feds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Gadgetman, They let anyone drive over here. The driving is atrocious with now forward thinking at all. Still, it was they who wanted me to exchange my UK licence for a French one, just so they could apply something called points. I wanted to know if I got enough did I get a prize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echoz Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Italian city centres are better for brown adrenaline production... I sh*t you not (sic), in a rental car in 8 lane chaos in a large piazza in Naples I was cut up by two nuns in a Fiat Punto... :blush: Mrs L was weeing herself with both fear and laughter as I shouted, "I'll get the b*stards back..." :d I did too.... quite the kodak moment i find people lack driving skills in spain as well, especially the ones on mopeds in flip flops and shorts utter madness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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