Age, Bigotry, and Driving
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
There is nothing bigoted about telling the simple truth. As people age their reflexes slow down, their eyesight deteriorates, and their ability to make quick decisions degrades.
These are all well known medical facts and the source of endless complaints by the elderly. Until it's time to talk about taking away a privilege they can no longer safely have...i.e. driving. Then it's discrimination!
Many people, the elderly included, think that it's safer driving at 10 miles per hour (16 KPH) below the speed limit. The fact is that ANY deviation from the mainstream speed is dangerous! According to the (American) Department of Transportion, ten mph slower is as great a traffic hazard as ten mph faster.
Besides slower speeds the elderly will often come to a complete stop to make a turn, which can also cause difficulties on a busy street. Their ability to focus on more than one thing degrades meaning that they really don't see most of the pedestrians and vehicles around them.
This narrow focus often causes them to miss something they should have seen, causing an accident. The aggravating thing for the victims of the accident is the smug superiority of the elderly driver who caused the accident in the first place as they comment on others' driving habits.
As in any sweeping statement this does not hold true for every elderly driver. Many of them still retain more than enough of their skills and reflexes to drive as safely as any driver on the road.
Nor are the elderly the only ones to have these bad driving habits. It has long been touted that women have better driving records, on the average, than men. However, recent studies of accident reports show that in a large number of accidents involving men the actual cause of the accident (where the man was not at fault)was often a woman -- thinking she was driving safely.
Other causes included elderly drivers, intoxicated drivers, and small children suddenly running into the road. In many of the accidents involving male drivers, the driver who actually caused the accident swore they were driving safely and that the man involved with the accident was completely at fault, often in the face of a number of witnesses who thought otherwise.
People think that they have a right to drive, whether they have the physical capability or skills to do so or not. I think it's time to make requirements for holding a drivers liscence more stringent and reexamination at periodic intervals mandatory. Moreover when people are ticketed for poor driving a successful driving test should be mandatory for the privilege of continuing to drive.
As a final aside, I have never driven. I know that i am too easily distracted and that I have poor coordination with my legs due to a childhood accident.
These are all well known medical facts and the source of endless complaints by the elderly. Until it's time to talk about taking away a privilege they can no longer safely have...i.e. driving. Then it's discrimination!
Many people, the elderly included, think that it's safer driving at 10 miles per hour (16 KPH) below the speed limit. The fact is that ANY deviation from the mainstream speed is dangerous! According to the (American) Department of Transportion, ten mph slower is as great a traffic hazard as ten mph faster.
Besides slower speeds the elderly will often come to a complete stop to make a turn, which can also cause difficulties on a busy street. Their ability to focus on more than one thing degrades meaning that they really don't see most of the pedestrians and vehicles around them.
This narrow focus often causes them to miss something they should have seen, causing an accident. The aggravating thing for the victims of the accident is the smug superiority of the elderly driver who caused the accident in the first place as they comment on others' driving habits.
As in any sweeping statement this does not hold true for every elderly driver. Many of them still retain more than enough of their skills and reflexes to drive as safely as any driver on the road.
Nor are the elderly the only ones to have these bad driving habits. It has long been touted that women have better driving records, on the average, than men. However, recent studies of accident reports show that in a large number of accidents involving men the actual cause of the accident (where the man was not at fault)was often a woman -- thinking she was driving safely.
Other causes included elderly drivers, intoxicated drivers, and small children suddenly running into the road. In many of the accidents involving male drivers, the driver who actually caused the accident swore they were driving safely and that the man involved with the accident was completely at fault, often in the face of a number of witnesses who thought otherwise.
People think that they have a right to drive, whether they have the physical capability or skills to do so or not. I think it's time to make requirements for holding a drivers liscence more stringent and reexamination at periodic intervals mandatory. Moreover when people are ticketed for poor driving a successful driving test should be mandatory for the privilege of continuing to drive.
As a final aside, I have never driven. I know that i am too easily distracted and that I have poor coordination with my legs due to a childhood accident.
