Good News! The Gov't is Going To Protecting Us Older Drivers

[Lin]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/12/08/nhtsa-senior-drivers/3901567/

[bobofthenorth]

Marketing, nothing more.  Prepare for a veritable blizzard of this kind of crap as the population ages. Everything from diapers to coffins.

[Lin]

Costco has both of those!

[Utahclaimjumper]

 Who are you including in that "US" business Lin?? I'm 72 and am not "older" yet.>>>Dan

[Lin]

According to the article, they are including everyone over 65.  Although, I would not expect anything to come of this real soon, it would seem that the implication is for the gov't to look into ways to re-qualify or restrict this particular age group.  Despite the relatively low accident rate for seniors, some well meaning person seems to have decided that the group needs this form of "help".  It is also interesting that, in a time of budgetary issues, money is being spent here.

[Iceni John]

Be afraid, very very afraid, when the government says it wants to "protect" any of us !   Protect from whom or what, anyway?   (Maybe from the government, or the NSA?   Oh, wait, never mind.)

I think that many tons of bus is protection enough from the slings and arrows of most misfortune.   However, I still assume everyone else on the road is a complete idiot, because some actually are.

John (just a whippersnapper)

[gus]

An article I read yesterday said we old farts have a higher rate as we get older - makes sense to me.

I'm probably the oldest one here and I'm not too worried about it.

I'm still flying airplanes and there is no age rule for that!!

[LowTide]

Be afraid, very very afraid, when the government says it wants to "protect" any of us !   Protect from whom or what, anyway?   (Maybe from the government, or the NSA?   Oh, wait, never mind.)


John (just a whippersnapper)

Quoted for truth!

[Lin]

Gus, the interesting thing is that it would seem to make intuitive sense, but the charts I looked at say differently.  The highest accident rates are in the 25-64 age group with over 55 being substantially lower than under 55.  Plus, the rate for 65-74 is half of that for 55-64.  The rate for over 75 is even lower.

[HB of CJ]

Brought to us by the same power base that rammed mandated auto insurance down our throats.  The insurance industry has a very powerful lobby.  Money changed hands and here we have it.  Very sad indeed.  We are loosing our freedom of liberty. 

Yep....more fascist involvement designed and intended to maximize $corporate profits$ which in theory would not be so bad.  Just buy stock in that company.  My problem here is that we do not have any choice in the matter.   My read.  HB of CJ (old coot)

[belfert]

Are the accident rates expressed in number of accidents per million miles driven or similar?  That is the only way to compare between groups as a lot of older folks tend to drive less than younger age groups.  I happen to know a number of folks 80+ that have been in auto accidents when they were driving.  Now, I don't know that it was the driver's fault, but most 80 years don't have as good of reflexes to avoid accidents either.

Plenty of people are okay driving well into their 80s, but plenty aren't either.  My grandfather gave up his car around age 85 or so as he realized he should no longer drive anymore.  My father is in his late 60s and drives fine, but he is starting to leave the turn signal on, or forgetting to signal altogether.

[luvrbus]

Here in AZ and it has been for years you buy divers license at 18 for a one time fee they are good till you are 65 then after 65 you renew every 5 years 

It is scary I saw a guy in a wheel chair with real thick glasses when getting mine renewed @ the DMV he pitched a fit because the clerk told him he failed the test me personally I would not want to on the same highway with guy   

[Jon]

Since I am now in my 70th decade I guess I should be upset there might be some hurdles I have to jump to have my license renewed. But I am not. Members of this forum have to recognize some people just should not be behind the wheel or at the controls of a plane or running machinery.

I think some people are incapable of driving no matter what their age. We all have seen them try to get their rigs into a campsite. We see the dents and scrapes on their rigs. It might be humorous talking about some old coot who keeps scraping his sides on guardrails, but the reality is he could be doing the same to a school bus full of kids. So the simple solution is to require retesting. I don't care if the retesting is done by the local DMV or is an AAA program. And the retesting should be at the highest level vehicle the person intends to drive. If you drive a bus, you need to be tested in the bus. If you drive a pickup with a 5th wheel trailer you need to be tested in that rig.

Pilots need to prove their skills so why not require everyone to prove their driving skills? And if we are going to set up such retesting programs, lets make sure they are meaningful so we weed out those that do not need to share our roads. I know a person who drives, has no tickets (ever) or accidents, but cannot even pull into the garage or back out of the garage. Does that person belong on the roads?

[luvrbus]

I agree with you Jon when I was in business all my equipment operators had to be certified by OSHA standards a friend and competitor said to hell with he wasn't going to compile,then he had a operator back over a labor and kill him he paid the price he lost everything that it took him 25 years to build the lawyers and OSHA ate him alive 

[Oonrahnjay]

    I useta tell the Yankees "When I get old, I'm gonna move to where you live and drive slow!"   I just turned 65 last month -- what do I do now??