News, AAA: senior drivers are safer

Until they're not and should be pulled off the roads by their doctors informing the motor vehicle office. I'm already planning that when we leave our acreage here, we'll be moving into an apartment that is within walking distance of a supermarket in the city of Langley, BC. I don't intend to have a reason to worry about not being able to drive. My mother who is 79 just got a letter from the MVB that next year she will have to pass a test (not sure if that's a road test) before she will get her license renewed again. She's worried because neither of the houses she owns are close to shopping.
 
Well, I think it's the age of the "older" drivers. As for myself and my wife, we "try" to keep up with traffic on the freeway, do use our turn-signals, don't run stop lights or stop signs, don't "tailgate" drivers and don't weave in and out of traffic.

But, my MIL (80 at the time) was very different when it came to freeway driving! Wife and I rode with her once on the freeway in the Carpool lane and THAT "one time" was definitely enough! She was going way below the speed limit and vehicles behind her were hitting their horns. She paid no attention to them! That night, in our bedroom, my wife said to me "No more riding with mom!"

After an accident, where she rear ended someone, she turned in her DL and started using a Senior bus to get around.
 

I think we older drivers wear our seat belts more often, and have driver's licenses and auto insurance. We also try to keep our cars in repair and obey the rules. This makes us safer drivers, I think. We can also remember when courtesy and patience traveled the highway along side us.:)
 
I've been licensed to drive a vehicle for 54 years. In that amount of time... and a few hundred thousand miles... I've learned to focus on driving and constantly be aware of my surroundings. When I first began driving my parent's car... a 1957 Chevrolet... it didn't even have an AM radio. I purchased a radio with money I'd earned at an after school job. My mother resisted installing it in the car. She said having a radio on would distract from my paying attention to driving!!!!
Today, there are many distractions. Texting... reading an e-mail... talking on a cell phone... listening to talk radio... kids in the car... six-lane traffic... eating a fast-food order at 75 mph...
Seniors are less apt to be distracted. Most of us no longer have kids bouncing around in the back seat. We are not apt to begin trying to text our BFF while driving. About the only "noise" that I might have inside the car would be my wife's conversation and, in 48 years of marriage, I've learned to tune that out pretty well!!! :>)
Yet, there comes a time when we all reach the age we become a liablity to ourselves and other drivers if we insist on remaining behind the wheel. We look at the privilege of driving as a "necessity" to maintain our freedom and quality of life. There is no justification to continue driving when one's quality of life may take another person's life. When it's time for me to turn in my keys, I hope my kids will have the strength to demand it and I have the sense to go along with it.
 
Speaking of distractions... I think "picking your nose"should be up near the top of the list. I'm not sure if it is a guy thing or not...hmmmm? But I always remember a buddy's remarking at a red light: "Whadda they think they are??...INVISIBLE" !?!:)
 
Around here, there are also a lot of younger drivers who have no drivers license at all! Not to mention the ones who drive around without insurance or on revoked or suspended licenses -- a lot scarier than older drivers, IMHO.
 
What butterfly said goes for me too! My state is one of the worst in the country for drunk or druggy drivers. (A guy on pot here just slammed into a car containing 4 sober college students, killing 2 & maiming the others, & people want to legalize pot???) In spite of a literally perfect driving record, & my only claims were being hit while parked in what were legal & supposedly safe places by my own home & job, when I turned 75 my rate took a big hike, at that time has application thru that $&@$&@ auto club & they refused to tell me why!! So I dumped them, have a policy elsewhere & it has been creeping up a few $ at a time. Because I'm paying for the other scofflaws.
 
Geezerette said:
What butterfly said goes for me too! My state is one of the worst in the country for drunk or druggy drivers. (A guy on pot here just slammed into a car containing 4 sober college students, killing 2 & maiming the others, & people want to legalize pot???) In spite of a literally perfect driving record, & my only claims were being hit while parked in what were legal & supposedly safe places by my own home & job, when I turned 75 my rate took a big hike, at that time has application thru that $&@$&@ auto club & they refused to tell me why!! So I dumped them, have a policy elsewhere & it has been creeping up a few $ at a time. Because I'm paying for the other scofflaws.
Click to expand...


Just a point here about the underlined above, maybe if the number of accidents and people that are killed are the deciding factor in whether or not something gets legalized, maybe we should all be marching for a return to Prohibition.
 
One thing I've noticed is that very few older drivers are going down the road with a cell phone stuck in their ear. In the past couple of years cell phone users have surpassed drunk drivers as being the leading cause of traffic accidents and deaths. I have had to dodge several drivers who have drifted out of their lanes in recent years, and it is always a dicey maneuver to avoid them. Recently, I saw a report where someone has developed a device that can be plugged into the cars diagnostic port that will block cell phone signals while the car is in motion. There Certainly needs to be a move towards making cell phone use illegal while driving. I know that if I am ever the victim of such stupidity, and I survive, my lawyer and I will own everything the cell phone addict has.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top