Older drivers no more dangerous, accident data study says

[Carl the Llama]

4 hours ago, Countryfox said:

Younger drivers (especially male) drive a bit too quick cus they know it all, think they are invincible and have loads of testosterone ...   They learn eventually ....    Much older drivers are a bit slower ...   They have to be to avoid an accident ...   Give them some time and respect !   ...    We'll all be old one day !    Drink drivers are scum and ruin other peoples lives ...    They deserve all they get.   We get the odd accident at roundabouts when you see nothing coming but the woman in front hasn't moved cus she juuuuust wants to be sure ...   (Silly cows) ....  Yep I've hit one !!     But overall we, as a nation,  are bloody good drivers compared to most tw@ts that drive abroad.

Nope nope nope nope nope.  As someone who learned their driving skills in a foreign country I can honestly say that using a car in England for the first time was an infuriating culture shock:  We can't use motorway lanes properly; we don't indicate to switch lanes regardless of how close behind us the car in the lane we're merging with is; our lorry drivers treat roundabouts like a game of jezzball (only instead of the balls destroying your line when they hit it, they crumple and explode); we get upset if somebody joins from a side-road even if they do so with plenty of time to accelerate up to speed so we will accelerate ourselves until we're right on their tail just to prove the point that this is my road though I somewhat understand the concern at seeing a car pulling out because; we are inexplicably slow when cornering; if there are parked cars on the other side of the road and a bus is coming the other way you can forget about being allowed to use your lane; we love exuberant use of full-beams at night; we really, really hate people who drive 20mph in a 20mph zone; etc. etc.

 

Basically driving seems to be seen by the English as a relaxing retreat from our obligation to display good manners and etiquette.

[Carl the Llama]

Also of course old people suck at driving.  Not all of them to be sure but everyone - if they are fortunate enough to live that long - reaches an age where their mental and physical faculties are reduced such as to denote a serious hazard to other road users.  There's no blanket age for this because different genetics and lifestyles cause it to happen at different ages to different people which is why there should be a fair method of testing beyond a certain age to make sure someone hasn't reached that point and haven't realised/accepted it yet nor been brought to task on it by concerned family members or friends.

[Thracian]

22 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

They might not be involved in accidents themselves, but there must be plenty of accidents caused by people getting frustrated by the way the greyheads drive. 

 

Of course, it's up to the rest of us to drive defensively.

 

Instead of speeding up and swerving around some codger driving Miss Daisy at 31mph in a 60 zone, I always find that the properly British way of dealing with it is to make unheard passive aggressive comments whilst gripping the steering steering wheel a bit tighter and wishing that they pass away soon in their sleep.

 

I've not had an accident in 20 years of driving around for a living....

 

 

If people cause accidents because of the frustration of slow traffic - whether it be an old person or a tractor moving between farms that entirely makes the case about bad drivers. 

 

We all get faced with potential frustrations - and the more so the more miles we drive - but the good driver accepts the situation for what it is and doesn't compromise his own good judgement. . 

[Thracian]

Countryfox has it about right - standards on British roads are pretty good and politeness is there to be seen on most days.

 

Loss of mental/physical capabilities is overstated with countless people living to be over 100 now and far more likely to stay active than their predecessors. .

 

On the other hand there's plenty who shouldn't be on the roads. For example you could take hundreds off every weekend just by driving along the M69 and seeing how many hog the middle lane and refuse to drive anywhere else.

 

But, generally, I'd say 90%, or even more, show a professsional attitude to driving and level of maturity necessary to minimise danger whatever speed they're driving and cars are much safer now than they used to be with far superior breaking and road-holding capabilities.

 

The biggest hindrance now is not other drivers but the volume of road works, man-made hazards and ever increasing levels of street furniture which theoretically demand momentary distraction from the road ahead. You should count the signs one day on, say, a 500m stretch up to and away from a road junction. The mind boggles.

 

All are there in the interests of health and safety yet some serve to create blind spots just as visibility at many road junctions is now being purposely limited to prevent the highway code requirement of looking ahead and anticipating the situation ahead and the constant summertime problem of direction signs being obscured by trees and shrubs.                      

 

"It all makes work for the working man," I suppose, along with all the dangerous man-made chicanes and back-bouncing road humps that have made some streets no-go areas and created greater traffic congestion elsewhere.     

  

[Smudge]

I think you have to distinguish the difference between a poor driver and a reckless one. Without doubt the majority of older drivers have lost the skills they might have once had, @Thracian excepted, he is the Dorian Gray of Foxestalk. However, absent the person who mistakes the gas for the brake or drives down the wrong carriageway etc., they are, in the main, without serious injury.

 

In contrast we have the lads who have been on here boy to man who have no real experience of driving. A 21 year old is unlikely to have driven more than 50,000 miles in his lifetime and probably much less. Of course they can handle the car, handbrake parking, full on oversteer drift around the Porkpie Roundabout and the ability to get from London to Leicester quicker than anyone else. They can offer a master class in automotive prowess. 

 

So who is more likely to have a serious shunt? I make no judgement but I know who I would worry about. In fact I have, both of my children in the late teens to mid twenties have had very serious accidents and I'll say no more than no-one else was to blame. 

 

So instead of getting angry at that person who is driving you nuts, back off and either just let them be or pull into somewhere and breath. 

 

 

[Thracian]

9 hours ago, Smudge said:

I think you have to distinguish the difference between a poor driver and a reckless one. Without doubt the majority of older drivers have lost the skills they might have once had, @Thracian excepted, he is the Dorian Gray of Foxestalk. However, absent the person who mistakes the gas for the brake or drives down the wrong carriageway etc., they are, in the main, without serious injury.

 

In contrast we have the lads who have been on here boy to man who have no real experience of driving. A 21 year old is unlikely to have driven more than 50,000 miles in his lifetime and probably much less. Of course they can handle the car, handbrake parking, full on oversteer drift around the Porkpie Roundabout and the ability to get from London to Leicester quicker than anyone else. They can offer a master class in automotive prowess. 

 

So who is more likely to have a serious shunt? I make no judgement but I know who I would worry about. In fact I have, both of my children in the late teens to mid twenties have had very serious accidents and I'll say no more than no-one else was to blame. 

 

So instead of getting angry at that person who is driving you nuts, back off and either just let them be or pull into somewhere and breath. 

 

=========

 

Had to laugh at the Oscar Wilde reference.  

 

Your driving summary seems spot-on to me - experience is all-but everything, and time is calming. Almost everyone I know well enough to comment, seems to have become a safer driver over time.   

 

PS: Hope you and yours are keeping well.   

[Smudge]

3 hours ago, Thracian said:

 

Had to laugh at the Oscar Wilde reference.  

 

Your driving summary seems spot-on to me - experience is all-but everything, and time is calming. Almost everyone I know well enough to comment, seems to have become a safer driver over time.   

 

PS: Hope you and yours are keeping well.   

The advantage we have is that we have been young and old, you can't learn experience.

 

Yep family doing well thanks Mr T.

[Unabomber]

In my experience older people are generally worse at everything driving, sports, staying up late. 

[Carl the Llama]

9 hours ago, Unabomber said:

In my experience older people are generally worse at everything driving, sports, staying up late. 

They're better at complaining about modern things they haven't tried/don't have the mental capacity to try imo.

[Countryfox]

20 hours ago, Unabomber said:

In my experience older people are generally worse at everything driving, sports, staying up late. 

 

Quite right Una ...   I fell asleep in the taxi on the way home last night and it was only midnight.   Fookin lightweight !    

[Foxhateram]

On 08/09/2016 at 19:39, Thracian said:

 

 

If people cause accidents because of the frustration of slow traffic - whether it be an old person or a tractor moving between farms that entirely makes the case about bad drivers. 

 

We all get faced with potential frustrations - and the more so the more miles we drive - but the good driver accepts the situation for what it is and doesn't compromise his own good judgement.  

The issue is that many people go to overtake and then hit an oncoming car. The oncoming car then also becomes a statistic.

 

People driving 30/40 in a national is also dangerous. It only takes someone to come around the corner doing national (which they have every right to do) and hit the back of said slow driver. Then no matter how that person argues it is always their fault, despite the accident really being down to the dawdler who is driving dangerously. I have seen a lot of people going 30/40 on A roads recently too. Now that is dangerous, 9/10 of these people are always older members of the public.

[potter3]

1 hour ago, foxhateram said:

The issue is that many people go to overtake and then hit an oncoming car. The oncoming car then also becomes a statistic.

 

People driving 30/40 in a national is also dangerous. It only takes someone to come around the corner doing national (which they have every right to do) and hit the back of said slow driver. Then no matter how that person argues it is always their fault, despite the accident really being down to the dawdler who is driving dangerously. I have seen a lot of people going 30/40 on A roads recently too. Now that is dangerous, 9/10 of these people are always older members of the public.

 

There is absolutely no way you can drive into the back of someone travelling at 40 mph and it not be your fault.

[Thracian]

2 hours ago, foxhateram said:

The issue is that many people go to overtake and then hit an oncoming car. The oncoming car then also becomes a statistic.

 

People driving 30/40 in a national is also dangerous. It only takes someone to come around the corner doing national (which they have every right to do) and hit the back of said slow driver. Then no matter how that person argues it is always their fault, despite the accident really being down to the dawdler who is driving dangerously. I have seen a lot of people going 30/40 on A roads recently too. Now that is dangerous, 9/10 of these people are always older members of the public.

 

So everyone exercising their horses on village streets, every farmer cutting his wayside hedges, any escaped cattle and anyone daft enough to be driving a slow-moving farm vehicle is at your mercy, I presume. It must be carnage when you hit the countryside down your way!      

[DB11]

3 hours ago, foxhateram said:

The issue is that many people go to overtake and then hit an oncoming car. The oncoming car then also becomes a statistic.

 

People driving 30/40 in a national is also dangerous. It only takes someone to come around the corner doing national (which they have every right to do) and hit the back of said slow driver. Then no matter how that person argues it is always their fault, despite the accident really being down to the dawdler who is driving dangerously. I have seen a lot of people going 30/40 on A roads recently too. Now that is dangerous, 9/10 of these people are always older members of the public.

I think that's a stupid thing to say. You should only be driving at a speed that is appropriate to your view and road conditions. If you can't stop within the distance that you can see then you are driving dangerously. 

[Smudge]

21 hours ago, Carl the Llama said:

They're better at complaining about modern things they haven't tried/don't have the mental capacity to try imo.

You mean people like Stephen Hawking, Warren Buffet, Richard Branson and the likes of Pete Townsend? All over 65.

[Foxhateram]

4 hours ago, potter3 said:

 

There is absolutely no way you can drive into the back of someone travelling at 40 mph and it not be your fault.

 

4 hours ago, Thracian said:

 

So everyone exercising their horses on village streets, every farmer cutting his wayside hedges, any escaped cattle and anyone daft enough to be driving a slow-moving farm vehicle is at your mercy, I presume. It must be carnage when you hit the countryside down your way!      

Very confused by your responses. Obviously you slow down on narrower roads, but my point was that someone doing 30 on a main road with a national speed limit becomes a danger. I was by no means saying that I wouldn't slow down, but many don't, and I have seen many of accidents caused by others not slowing down and hitting the back of a slow moving vehicle (not tractor etc). 

 

It's just as unsafe to drive too slow as it is to drive too fast. Was my point. Maybe my example was loose. A roads/ dual carriageways especially. Hopefully this validates my point and clears my name. Haha

[Foxhateram]

2 hours ago, DB11 said:

I think that's a stupid thing to say. You should only be driving at a speed that is appropriate to your view and road conditions. If you can't stop within the distance that you can see then you are driving dangerously. 

Valid point back. See my response above. It is still a danger to other drivers, when someone is doing considerably below the speed limit. Especially on A roads/dual carraigeways where even in good view, slow moving traffic can come upon you a lot quicker than one might expect. (Obviously you slow down or make sure it's clear in the other lane to go by, but it is still an unnecessary situation to other drivers that has the potential to cause an accident). 

[Carl the Llama]

6 hours ago, Smudge said:

You mean people like Stephen Hawking, Warren Buffet, Richard Branson and the likes of Pete Townsend? All over 65.

Yeah, what have they done since they became old though? Apart from probably complain about people noticing their driving skills have deteriorated.

[Smudge]

1 hour ago, Carl the Llama said:

Yeah, what have they done since they became old though? Apart from probably complain about people noticing their driving skills have deteriorated.

I'm sure that's all they think about. 

[Strokes]

I drive alot, i can cover about 60000 miles a year and the drivers i see that cause a majority accidents or near misses are usually males between the ages of 17-40. Driving at speeds far too fast for the road conditions, usually in cars designed for aggressive speed. We all just need to slow down a notch and consider others a bit more, nobody is perfect and we can all lose concentration. What is the rush?

[Vacamion]

15 hours ago, Smudge said:

 Pete Townsend

 

In defiance of his advancing years, he certainly embraced the Internet to assist his "research".

 

 

[Vacamion]

2 hours ago, Strokes said:

 What is the rush?

 

I agree with everything else you said, but traffic congestion, customer deadlines, "time is money", air travel timetables, etc etc can all cause some people to want to get where they are going quicker than others.

 

Personally, I'd like a brown flashing light for the occasions when I'm stuck in traffic and having contractions...

[davieG]

As one of the oldies I try to avoid the rush hour periods however this morning I had no alternative so was my first time in a few months travelling before 9.30 and i was amazed but not surprised as to how selfish and uncooperative so many drivers were lane merging was a nightmare all just to get one or two places earlier in a queue that was going nowhere, going through lights after they'd turned red, no indicators being used to exit islands thus slowing the movement of traffic down that they were so keen to get a head in.

Presumably the vast majority driven by people of a working age. 

 

Illogical, selfish and dangerous

[Strokes]

1 hour ago, Vacamion said:

 

I agree with everything else you said, but traffic congestion, customer deadlines, "time is money", air travel timetables, etc etc can all cause some people to want to get where they are going quicker than others.

 

Personally, I'd like a brown flashing light for the occasions when I'm stuck in traffic and having contractions...

I don't let work put me under pressure to get to places, I get their when I get there and not before. I can understand people panicking over air travel but you have to leave enough time and that's where the problems lie. I'm not perfect by any means but I won't be rushed 

[MPH]

On 9/8/2016 at 06:27, Bellend Sebastian said:

My Dad's 76 and I think he'll be OK for at least a couple of years. He drives at the speed limit, which is what he's always done, which I expect a lot of folk find incredibly frustrating, but that's their problem, isn't it?

 

He knows his limits and I'm confident that he'll notice when his competency falls to a level where he should stop. He won't be one of those old twats that keeps going until someone hides his car keys.

 

I think we get too hung up on this whole young/old thing. Part of the problem is that as soon as we're behind the wheel we tend to consider ourselves brilliant at driving; you might hear someone say they're a bit shit at parallel parking but nobody ever says Jesus Christ I never really got the hang of this driving lark. I think a lot of people have far too much confidence in their own abilities - what proportion of drivers can negotiate a relatively tight right hand bend without crossing into the oncoming lane? If Swain Street Bridge and the bend by the Old Hare and Hounds in Anstey are anything to go by, less than half, and all demographics are well represented in the group that can't. 2 of the last 3 times driving to Anstey along Gynsill Lane I've had an Audi A3 (as far as I know not the same one) come round the bend towards me in the middle of the road because they've messed up and taken it too fast. I don't consider myself to be an amazing driver but bloody hell, some people are hopeless

 

 

My grandma was the opposite... she started forgetting things.. her sight  started going, she didn't realize when she was drifting lanes. It was absolutely awful.... i just couldn't ride with her anymore and despite all us family telling her she refused to believe anything was changing i lost count of how many people would honk their horn at her in any given day.

 

 

 

But here lies the problem - I have lost count of how many restaurants i have eaten at. Loads! But i will never forget that one restaurant where my fish turned up on the plate still frozen. People may pass 15 elderly drivers a day without knowing it but they will remember that one driver who was very slow and was elderly and suddenly they are all like that.

 

 

So are there elderly drivers who are dangerous? Absolutely.. but by no means is it all of them. not by a long shot

 

 

 

People would do well to  remember its a speed limit not a speed minimum.