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        General >> Off Topic Subjects >> Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst?
        
(Message started by: leftofcentre on Feb 11^th, 2006, 10:52pm)

Title: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst?
Post by leftofcentre on Feb 11^th, 2006, 10:52pm

Thought i would start this debate as i expect there are members on here who come under both headings.

Well, basically, i drive aprox 7000miles a month along the A9, A90 + M90 up here in Scotland for a living and have been a Vocational Driver for almost 8 years now in various roles both here in the UK, in Eire and accross the continent. I have seen a lot of different situations arise and happen before my eyes however i understand that, when compared to some folk, my driving experience is still somewhat lacking.

I am fortunate enough to have an accident free record and have no motoring convictions yet am under the age of 30.

What has inspired me to write start this topic is the divide between younger and older drivers and public opinion.

The majority of opinion these days is that youngsters are to blame for a lot of accidents and injuries. Suffice to say that thier Insurance Premiums are extraordinarily high and they have a 6 point threshold before Totting-Up disqualifies them, not to mention the stereotypical stigma they carry as youngsters anyway.

However, in my opinion, too little notice and enforcement takes place against incompetent elderly drivers. Some road-rage i have seen over the last 8 years has been from this category (How many have you noticed wave a fist or flash lights at you?) all because the driver behind them has become so frustrated at doing 20mph below the speed limit, he has made a foolish overtaking manouvre and upset the said elderly person in some way.

Why is it that a certain class of elderly person thinks that by holding up the traffic they are being safe and responsible? Every day along the A9 i see this where gramps is at the front of a huge convoy, slowly winding its way along 114miles of mainly single carriage road.

Fine, if you want to travel slowly, then why not use laybys to let others pass? Now this is what i call safe + responsible. They (gramps) would most likely find they feel better themselves and not under so much pressure. Folk would even say thankyou = No Stress.

Also why do some elderly drivers travel along the motorway just ever so slightly slower than HGV's etc , yet when the latter attempts to pass, they speed up, trapping the HGV whom now everybody thinks is a pain in the arse! Dont they know HGV's are physically limited to a max speed of 90km + buses 100km hour? You may ask why bother passing for the sake of a few miles per hour but then get upset with lorries hammering on your backside!

Bit unfair how youngsters are penalisised yet the few older generation create animosity for themselves dont you think?

By the way, this following link shows what resulted from an elderly driver drifting over into the path of a motorcyclist. Not nice.

DO NOT LOOK IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH OR INFRONT OF THE KIDS.

http://www.leftofcentre2005.plus.com/motorcycle.html

All the above is just my opinion btw and is not a generalisation by any means. I am just trying to provoke debate. I have many work collegues over the years who are still driving Class 1 + 2 HGV's in thier 70's!

Am also certain there are many other photos of injuries caused by youngsters too.

If anyone takes real offence to this posting then i will delete it btw. Just ask ;)

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by paulscorp on Feb 12^th, 2006, 5:06am

Well i reckon this will always be a big bone of contention just as the men/women drivers debate.

I think the majority of us young(er) drivers are under a lot more stress and pressure to move around quickly, especially for our employment, that when we come across "gramps", the encounter is generally multiplied a great deal.

That said, there is always, as you say, the safe and responsible aspect to it all. Of course, driving slower than "normal" on a motorway for example is a large hazard in itself, and following an elderly driver along a long stretch of single lane carriageway and a stupidly low speed is, in my opinion, more selfish than dangerous. The danger aspect only comes from those who make the final decision to make the sort of manoeuvre that endangers every other road user at that time, and blame must stop with him/her. We all have the opportunity to keep calm and make sure it is safe to proceed with the move planned.

Of course it is extremely enfuriating but as "professional" drivers, myself included, i'm sure you'll agree, we see many many great hazards and this is but one of them.

Ultimately i agree that this type of hazard is totally avoidable but until mr plod decides to act upon unsafe elderly drivers with the same gusto that they do everyone else there is little we can do.

That said, the "just passed" drivers of today that use the roads as the local wrc stage are just as dangerous

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by leftofcentre on Feb 12^th, 2006, 11:42am

Did you log on after coming in from a night on the toon mate?

« Reply #1 on: Today at 05:06:43 »

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by andyjones on Feb 12^th, 2006, 12:32pm

young - elderly - male - female, there's an ar*ehole in all of us. nobody's perfect :-/

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by paulscorp on Feb 12^th, 2006, 12:58pm

lol no mate, i had just finished work lol

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by leftofcentre on Feb 12^th, 2006, 1:56pm

on 02/12/06 at 12:32:49, andyjones wrote:

young - elderly - male - female, there's an ar*ehole in all of us. nobody's perfect :-/

Would call one's self a bit more than that if you took my wife + kids out in a selfish iresponsible manouvre mate.

:-/ :-/

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by kskjon on Feb 12^th, 2006, 2:06pm

Caught up with an elderly lady in a Nissan Micra a few nights ago, she was doing 25-30km/h in a 50km/h zone. After flashing my lights and using my horn a few times, with no luck, and as the line of cars behind me started to grow beyond the horizon, I dropped into second, and overtook her. She actually started flashing HER lights to me, even though the only oncoming car was 5-600m away.
People like that should be kept off the road.

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by Highlander on Feb 12^th, 2006, 4:30pm

Nissan Micra drivers?? ;D

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by mazzy_j on Feb 14^th, 2006, 9:53am

lol, A slow Nissan Micra - not that anyone has ever seen one of them before ;)

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by Geoff_W on Feb 14^th, 2006, 10:45am

Once upon a time it used to be minor 1000 drivers with pork pie hats

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by kskjon on Feb 14^th, 2006, 9:34pm

pork pie hats? ???

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by Geoff_W on Feb 14^th, 2006, 9:42pm

KSK

You young people never lived 8)

http://www.dadshats.com/porkpie3.html

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by Highlander on Feb 14^th, 2006, 10:06pm

Morris Minors?? :)

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by kskjon on Feb 14^th, 2006, 10:09pm

the 60's was a few decades before my time ;D

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by Geoff_W on Feb 14^th, 2006, 10:13pm

Highlander what can I say?

http://www.theminorsite.co.uk/phpCA/item.php?id=175

My dad told me never to argue with anyone who was waving a big stick and had a face covered in red and blue hermetite ;D

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by Octavian_P on Feb 14^th, 2006, 11:00pm

I'll contribute to the statistic. I'm almoust 23 year old. I had a driving license since 18, also had different cars. Till now only had problems with speeding, and one with a "cop" that wanted to take my licence for "entering in a juntion at the red light", the only problem was that it was just yellow (and i had a verry close car at the end of my scorp, that was doing a pretty good speed). The ba$tard (cop) wanted "a sum of money" to "not see the incident". Because he couldn't demonstrate and had no witness of my "red junction entry" he wanted to fine me because i was not wearing a seat belt.....which i of corse was wearing !!!!. Also he said that i was talking on the mobile phone, wich in my case it wasn't eaven charged !!!! After half an hour of arguing with him "i got away" with a small fine for "yellow junction entry"- aka rutless driving !!!!. Another silly situation i was in, it happend a few years ago, when i was driving in another town, and didn't see a stupid sign wich was masked by a tree and found myself on a single way road.......this was happening right in the front of the police section of that town .........and...yes the cought me and fined me :P. So beside stupid and corrupted cops, i didn't really had a problem and i hope it stayies that way.

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by leftofcentre on Feb 14^th, 2006, 11:08pm

well at least there are no corrupted cops in this country }{ }{ }{

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by Octavian_P on Feb 14^th, 2006, 11:32pm

Want me to realy belive you ;D, at least maybe they have high school done, and know to make a sentance from start to end. There is a joke here in Romania wich says: "Why do cops always work in teams of 4 and have a dog with them ? Answer: because together they have 12 classes of high school, and thet know a foreign language". Also they use the principle of i'll beat you know and i'll ask you questions later" ;)

As for the young vs old

There is a "strange" phenomenon, everday when its raing outside you'll see twice the number of cars, twice the jams, and half of the cars are driven by people that are older than usual. So they are a kind of raindrivers but i call them just sundaydrivers }{ }{ }{

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by leftofcentre on Feb 14^th, 2006, 11:47pm

i was being sarcastic about the cops not being corrupted.

although to give them credit, they are polite. "Good evening Sir, do you know why we have stopped you?"

As for Ireland and the Gardai, welll theres another story........

Title: Re: Elderly Drivers -v- Young drivers. Who's worst
Post by Octavian_P on Feb 14^th, 2006, 11:55pm

It's a nice thing to have polite policemans. In my country if you ask a cop how to get to an adress and he in not in the mood it could fine you for traffic jaming !!!!!! :P

OK i don't want to scare you with this, in most of the cases theres a big chance of not meeting this kind of "specimen" but if you ever have......you'll know how the problem solves ;D