old drivers

[fxgt race]

driving home in me L300 1998 from work,very straight road with a cross roads on stop signs.the car in front goes through and i am following when an very old guy in a ford focus who was stoped at the stop sign lets the front car through and then takes off and t bones me,tryed to get around him but he just didn't see me in a bright red van,the dog and i went about 2 metres sideways. when is old to old to drive,it looks like a right off,bummer

[Punter]

Bugger man, that sucks.

At least you were ok(?)

[Jazza]

Boy racers (steriotype, not the street drifters) > Old people. At least young males generally have good spatial awareness and know their vehicle. I get old people at work (supermarket ) who cant read the directions or words on the eftpos machine, and they hobble out car keys in hands. Ive been a witness for 5 crashes in our works carpark, and all were caused by old people.

[HELBND]

and now, thanks to aunty helen, its no longer compulsory for them to have to resit their license

[Stealer Of Souls]

This is one of those hard topics...
There are those who are elderly but are still very competent and aware drivers. They are very safe because they can still drive "properly" and have lots of personal experience.
And there then are those that you often see...

It's like "car enthusiasts". You have your idiots and you have your serious people.

The question is should we make blanket rules that penalise everyone, or blanket rules that gives everyone a chance.

[RomanV]

There are just as many (if not more) moronic young people on the roads.
Old people arent NEARLY as dangerous as young people, otherwise their insurance premiums would reflect this.

In saying this, this is possibly skewed by the fact that old people spend significantly less time on the road, so its possible that for every hour on the road, old people are more likely to crash. Personally I think the old people that suck are the ones that have sucked at driving their whole lives, there's plenty of incompetent people out there no matter what age.

What $&#$% me off the most is slow drivers that dont let people past, slow drivers that sit in the fast lane/middle lane on the motorway when the other lanes are free, and $&#$% that drive slow on the motorway three abreast for some reason, blocking any chance of overtaking.
Basically, inconsiderate drivers make me want to kill them till they die in the face.

[eritate]

This is one of those hard topics...
There are those who are elderly but are still very competent and aware drivers. They are very safe because they can still drive "properly" and have lots of personal experience.
And there then are those that you often see...

It's like "car enthusiasts". You have your idiots and you have your serious people.

The question is should we make blanket rules that penalise everyone, or blanket rules that gives everyone a chance.

This man speaks the truth

I reckon ALL old people over 60? should have to resit their licence every 5 - 10 years at the cost of tax payers....

-Mike

ps: Id rather see my money on keeping the safe drivers on the road and the non safe drivers off the road. Than funding the Mr. Murderer in prision getting 5star meals,watching sky tv, getting free gym use and getting a degree of some kind.

[eritate]

..and $&#$% that drive slow on the motorway three abreast for some reason, blocking any chance of overtaking.
Basically, inconsiderate drivers make me want to kill them till they die in the face.

I rofl'd

so much hate!!!!!

[l1ttle_d3vil]

i dont have anything against old drivers in general, but there must be more dangerous old drivers than dangerous boy racers on the road.

i spend quite a bit of time on the road and have never once nearly had an accident or seen an accident as a result of a boyracer.

on the other hand, i've nearly had about 10 accidents (8 or 9 of them would've been write-offs) in the last couple of months, all of which was the result of old people's bad driving!
after the first two or three i started to wonder if it was just my driving, but when you're going round a roundabout really slow because the council ripped them to sh*t and its really bumpy, then some old d*ck comes onto the round about infront of you while LOOKING TO HIS LEFT and never to his right...i would've t-boned him if i hadnt stopped and he would never have known if i hadnt beeped at him.

...then theres the old guy who started reversing in the main street without looking behind him...

... and the guy who pulled out of a side road without looking, then wave at me as I slam my brakes on and toot at them...

[Cahuna]

But any accidents caused by racers are more likely to be at higher speeds than the 10km/h that pops will be driving blissfully through the intersection at.

IMO ALL drivers should undergo practical driving tests every 10 years to show that they still know the road rules, how to handle a vehicle and know how to be considerate to other road users. Age shouldn't come into it, there are some absolutely shocking teens/twenty-somethings who have no spacial skills at all just as there are older people who still have more marbles than I do. You could very easily add race into the mix too - how often have I seen someone of Asian origin driving 30km/h, pulling out in front of me, failing to indicate etc? Or the middle-age businessman running a red light in his Range Rover because the light hadn't been red for that long.

In NZ holding a licence is seen as a right, not a privilege as it should be, and if it were serious about improving standards we would start again from scratch with retesting every driver on the road to a far more stringent level. I'm sure that if we had a licencing regime similar to that in Germany or France that over 50% of people currently holding drivers licences would have to undergo significant retraining in order to aquire their licence. No favours for Mr Successful Businessman because otherwise he won't get to his meetings, to teenage boy who needs a car to get to school from the farm he lives on or to pops who needs to drive 30km once a month to see Aunty Joyce, everyone should get the same treatment.

[UTERUS]

I was following an old man down my road this morning and he decided to stop, not indicating left or right to turn into a driveway or anything like that, he just decided to stop.

So i gave him a toot with my horn and he waved me past, i pulled up beside him, wound down my window and asked him if he was alright.

You won't believe this, he was reading a map.
I expressed my anger and told him that it is a much better idea to pull over to the side of the road so as to not block traffic, and he told me that i was young and incompetent! I was like WTF??!!!11



Watch out for old men in hats.

[Stealer Of Souls]

But any accidents caused by racers are more likely to be at higher speeds than the 10km/h that pops will be driving blissfully through the intersection at.

IMO ALL drivers should undergo practical driving tests every 10 years to show that they still know the road rules, how to handle a vehicle and know how to be considerate to other road users. Age shouldn't come into it, there are some absolutely shocking teens/twenty-somethings who have no spacial skills at all just as there are older people who still have more marbles than I do. You could very easily add race into the mix too - how often have I seen someone of Asian origin driving 30km/h, pulling out in front of me, failing to indicate etc? Or the middle-age businessman running a red light in his Range Rover because the light hadn't been red for that long.

In NZ holding a licence is seen as a right, not a privilege as it should be, and if it were serious about improving standards we would start again from scratch with retesting every driver on the road to a far more stringent level. I'm sure that if we had a licencing regime similar to that in Germany or France that over 50% of people currently holding drivers licences would have to undergo significant retraining in order to aquire their licence. No favours for Mr Successful Businessman because otherwise he won't get to his meetings, to teenage boy who needs a car to get to school from the farm he lives on or to pops who needs to drive 30km once a month to see Aunty Joyce, everyone should get the same treatment.

I fully agree here. I think that the way NZ currently gives out licences they might as well put them in Weet-Bix boxes. Our current levels are pathetic.
There should be no exceptions. We should all have to resit our licences. I would most definitely put up with the inconvienence just to get some of the idiots off the road.

[shazeal]

Pffft, least you aucks guys dont have to put up with ChCh drivers. Down here we have a whole new set of road rules...
Green means dont indicate and change lanes in middle of the intersection where possible.
Orange means floor it and close your eyes, mandatory to give the finger to any poor bastard trying to turn right.
Red upto 5 seconds after orange means floor it or the SUV tailgating you will sexually assault the rear end of your car.
At unmarked intersections never give way to right or you will be givin the finger and abused by confused drivers.
Old people have the right of way no matter the colour of the light, stop signs and give way signs are negated if you are over 70.
Indicating is optional if you are aged 70 or over and it is not necessary to indicate the direction you are actually going to turn, when turning left it is satisfactory to use the right hand indicator, hazard lights, head lights, or internal dome light or possibly even your horn if you cant remember where the other lights are located.
Middle ages people must tail gate every moving object on the road to ensure fuel efficiency.
Police must pull over any car that looks or sounds good especially if they are driving within the speed limit and obeying the road rules (very suspicious).
Braking at all times is optional and not recommended due to the 10 cars tailgating you. When braking you must ensure you depress the pedal with as much force as possible to ensure minimum braking time.

[gmacrae]

hahahaha shazeal, that cracked me up

[eritate]

hahahaha shazeal, that cracked me up

yer i rofl'd

[Chickenman]

It's pretty accurate though

[Loudtoy]

Around where i am it seems that to be on the road you have to ignore all road rules common sense indeed any kind of sense. Imagine backing into someone as your reversing out of a car park, that someone you have hit in there drivers side door. He was doing a u turn behind the missus, he then started to abuse her untill i hopped out of the car - i'm not a big fella by any means but he got the message pretty quick. Also in just the last week i have had to undretake someone who decided the best way to deal with a stop sign was 2nd gear at about 30kph then straight into the middle of the road in a 100k zone with me about 20 meters away and people comming in the opposite direction, never did get to see how old the people were but i'm sure they got a hell of a fright as a horn blowing van went up the inside on the gravel - i hope i broke there windscreen. And today i finally had the straw that broke the camels back. Some dickhead in a gti pulsar (stereo typing he was a boy racer) decided that he would undertake me, cut me off then slam on his brakes right in front of me (it was about the 10th incident of something really stupid today) only to find out that the front bumper on the van was pushing him along the road untill he decided that he better turn off - i attempted to chase him but the van being what it is i didn't have a show. Anyhow i have a fair idea that i will be seeing the car again so next time i see him i may have to stop and have a quiet chat.
So after all that i agree with Cahuna in that everyone should be retested every 10 years for generall road rule knowledge and awareness. Maybe everyone should be tested after an accident that was there fault. Being on the road as often as i am you see all sorts of things that would be entirely the fault of one person. And i'm sure that it's not a one off thing for most of these people as well unfortunately.

[snwtoy]

Knowing the rules is one thing, having a suitable attitude to operate a half tonne+ lethal weapon is quite another.

[Bling]

after reading this thread, i'm, not going to write my own speel....


but I get so frustrated with old people on the roads, I drive all over chch everyday, and have had so many close calls due to old people just not being aware they are even driving!!!!

one day my vans awesomeness of brakes wont stop me in time and I wont be sorry

My grandad was one of the above drivers, shouldnt have been able to drive. I refused to be a passenger in his van

[Boldy]

Ha! you were never going to get any support for the oldies driving on a car enthusiates forum, is there anyone over 50 that actually reads this?

Anyways just to offer some arguement from the other side of the coin. The leading cause of death for males aged 18 to 25? Um car accidents, this would have to reflect on the driving ability of young males. Young drivers know their own cars? Therefore can push it too the limits? Can you say over confidence combined with

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story ... D=10403532

I think at the end of the day bad drivers can be any age, but if it were up to me 18 would be the minimum age, and compulsary retesting over the age of 65.