Oap Drivers? Should They Be Made To Take There Tests Again?

[harryskid 193]

Never mind oaps what about the mindless morons who hog the roads with their f**king big 4 wheel drives. They get in the way on motor ways and the ones with women drivers can't even reverse!

[damien 22 1 Cars]

as someone said above, everyone thinks they are a better driver than everyone else.

 

if i was to resit the test with my current standard of driving i dont think i would pass but if i tryed to drive the way that i was showen i beleave i could.

people always try to make shortcuts in everything they do, if it means driving faster than they should or not keeping 2 hands on the steering wheel or just not paying attation.

[hman205 1]

How about the DVLA and insurance companies making eye tests mandatory every year it could be checked when you apply for road tax so there is already an infrastructure in place to police it.

 

During your eye test they could conduct a hazard perception/reaction test this would dramatically cut down on many of the idiots you see on the road

 

Grantly I agree Bristol is appalling for driving standards far worse than London.

[All Praise The GTI 3]

i agree. oaps in my opinion are far worse and more dangerous on the road then youbg drivers who drive fast. coming up behind an oap doing 30 in a national limit is bloody dangerous and whats worse is the old feckers who do 35-45 in the national limit and in the 30 zones!!

[grantley1988 1]

How about the DVLA and insurance companies making eye tests mandatory every year it could be checked when you apply for road tax so there is already an infrastructure in place to police it.

 

During your eye test they could conduct a hazard perception/reaction test this would dramatically cut down on many of the idiots you see on the road

 

Grantly I agree Bristol is appalling for driving standards far worse than London.

 

The cyclists are much worse in london though! i spend half my time working in london and tbh i do prefer the dog eat dog attitude of the london drivers much safer than the old drivers!

[GLPoomobile 958]

I do sort of agree with that those comments about London actually. After 5 years I'm totally adjusted to it now so it doesn't pahse me in the slightest, but when you first experience it you realise two things - one being that you need to have eyes in the back and both sides of your head, and need to be totally aware of everything going on around you, and the second being that it is every man for himself here. You give an inch and another driver will take a mile. There's no courtesy and no consideration. You cannot survive in London and be accident free if you are not 100% on the ball.

 

And yes, London cyclists are mostly a menace. You have the casuals who take no notice of any sort of rules whatsoever, probably because they don't know them, but if they did they wouldn't care. So they ride on the pavements, cut in and out of traffic, go through red lights etc. Kids are the worst, and to be frank it worries me how badly educated and over confident they are. They really don't give a s*it and treat busy streets like a playground, literally like playing with a loaded gun. I've been knocked off my bike on a main road at age 9, and it's obviously not nice, and I was lucky not to be seriously injured. These kids need to realise how stupid their behaviour is. Then you have the serious cyclists, who in my opinion can be worse than the casuals, because they think they are superior to everyone else, think they are always in the right and everything else is in the wrong, and just have a really bad attitude. They cut in and out of traffic far more aggresively, fly through junctions and red lights, shout and bang on cars that dare to get in the way because they didn't see a skinny twat baring down on them at 30 mph weaving through gridlocked traffic, and they shout at pedestrians. They are a menace.

 

I believe they actually made it legal in London for cyclists to continue through red lights, supposedly to make it safer for them. Bollocks! It was bad enough before, but now they know they have the right to do it, it just makes it all the more risky for pedestrians.

 

I've also been the witness to a cyclist being crushed by a lorry turning left as the cyclist was on his inside. Happened right in front of me and I had to help the guy while the ambulance was coming. He was in a pretty f***ed up way. I'm not entirely sure whose fault it was, but it shows how careful you have to be as a cyclist and it's just not an attitude you see much of in London. Like the other guy I saw who pulled a longside a bendy bus at traffic lights. The bus was quite clearly indicating left and had been all along, but the cyclist goes up the inside and tries to go straight ahead, and the bus turned and caught him. Luckily for him that they were just pulling away from the lights so the bus stopped quickly. He didn't get hurt but his bike was damaged. What a pleb!

Edited July 7, 2010 by GLPoomobile

[Moby 0]

Definately OAP's should retake the test and especially some women who are confused while driving straight suddenly miss a turn then stop in the middle of the road indicate left and try reversing to turn into the turning they missed.

[richsmells 2]

Definately OAP's should retake the test and especially some women who are confused while driving straight suddenly miss a turn then stop in the middle of the road indicate left and try reversing to turn into the turning they missed.

 

Some old geezer did that to me, completely oblivious that I was behind!

 

Hang on whilst I stop and reverse to avoid you driving into me!

Edited July 7, 2010 by richsmells

[hman205 1]

I have a bull horn on the 306 for such occasions

[muddatrucker 125]

I've been watching an 80 year old man trying to get into his Ford Ka for 20 minutes, how you can be so frail physically and still have the adequate reaction speeds is beyond me.

 

To make it even more politically incorrect there's some disabled people who shouldn't be allowed to drive too, but I think we have a culture of not being able to stop it for fear of causing offence.

[gixxerash 0]

I do agree with a resit or some sort of refresher training. To keep my psv license i have to do a cpc course 1 day a year but 5 day's worth must be done in in 5 years. They might be in a classroom or on the road, maybe something like this is a good idea to have.

 

I also agree with GLP about cyclist they do think they own the road and you are always wrong. The police don't do anything when they go through a red light but if you squash them the police are straight onto you even though they were in the wrong. But then again i suppose there is no way to police this issue

 

Ashley..

[GLPoomobile 958]

The problem with many OAPs is that being able to drive is literally like a lifeline to them. So in many respects, it's a bit like some of you were saying earlier about the fact that being able to drive is not a human right, but a priviledge. I guess that for many OAPs, they see how badly it is going to affect them if they no longer have the freedom that driving affords them, and they obviously just feel that it's not something they can give up and so stubbornly carry on, as if it were their human right to do so.

 

And we all know how stubborn many oldies can be They all think they know better than everyone else

 

I remember my mates grandad years ago was starting to suffer with his eyesight, and commendably so, he just jacked it in. Fair play to the old fella. Whereas the prick of an old c*nt that my late nan was married to (can you guess I didn't like him?) carried on for years when we all knew he was a danger.

 

So really it's plainly simple. Mandatory testing of OAPs is entirely justified and necessary. You can't rely on them to recognise when they are past it, and often they do recognise it but it is too big a sacrifice for them to make. The government needs to be able to take them off the road if they are not fit to drive anymore. Cue the PC brigade bleating on about how unfair that is

 

But that still doesn't change the fact that there are a lot of s*it and dangerous drivers of all ages, sex and ethnicity. I like a joke about women drivers as much as the next man, but really I don't believe in stereotyping where driving is concerned as it's a very broad spectrum of unfit drivers on our roads!

[flipperthebushkangaroo 2]

i agree. oaps in my opinion are far worse and more dangerous on the road then youbg drivers who drive fast. coming up behind an oap doing 30 in a national limit is bloody dangerous and whats worse is the old feckers who do 35-45 in the national limit and in the 30 zones!!

 

Thats got to be about my biggest bugbear, the Tw@'s that pick a speed usually about 40 and drive everywhere at that speed especially round here in lincolnshire and norfolk.

 

Had a brief off the local accident prevention policeman while i was at Marham, he stod up at the front of the hall looked us over and said " I bet your all waiting for me to blame all the accidents around here on RAF lads speeding aren't you? Well i'm not most accidents in norfolk are caused by OAP's who can't see."

 

One example he gave was off a young woman who was knocked off her bike on a stretch of dual carrageway, the main reason she lived was because the driver never saw her so did not slow, this sent her straight over the roof landing in the carrageway behind luckly the traffic was far enough away to stop before she was hit again. When the driver was interviewed the marked police car with lights going was about 25 yards away and when asked if he could read the number plate he could not even see the car until he wa salmost on top of it!!!!!!!!

[gixxerash 0]

Was in the middle of writing a big long reply then my puter crashed guess it must be because it's getting old

 

The government needs to be able to take them off the road if they are not fit to drive anymore. Cue the PC brigade bleating on about how unfair that is

 

I think thats a fair comment. As said they think it's there human right to drive and they won't give up when they know they should do as it will take there Independence away. For the safety of other road users i don't think Independence should even come into it.

 

And this won't take away there Independence they can get the ring and ride and the also get a free bus pass anyway.

 

I once had an old person roll back into me he got out and said i went into the back of him he never even realized he did it thank god i had witnesses.

 

Ashley...

[giveitsomebar 0]

i agree on the re test theory but i dont agree with the way people are judged on passing / failing at this moment in time.. im a rally instructor by trade and the way learner drivers are taught nowadays is a total joke.. if you dont shuffle the wheel you will fail where as when im instructing and a car goes sideways and someone shuffles the wheel it ends in disaster its deffinatly not the way to drive also everyone should be tested on thoe motorways before they pass as its deffinatly a different kettle of fish altogether thats just my 2pence worth though

[swordfish210 20]

I hate wheel shufflers, you can't get the lock on quick enough that way. I had to do a driver training course for my last job (basically the advanced driver training jobbie) and the instructor kept trying to get me to shuffle the wheel and i refused saying it was a stupid way of driving. He argued that you could apply lock quickly that way so i timed him to go one way then the other with his shuffle technique then i did it much quicker by crossing my arms over the wheel. He didnt really know what to say to that which i found hilarious

[welshpug 1,629]

I tend not to cross my arms, I just super shuffle

 

I think it helps that my cars have fairly short racks lock to lock, I dread to think what shuffling is like in a "normal" car!

[24seven 104]

Lock to lock I've always done with one hand on the wheel if the car has power steering. I also find often that straightening up after a sharp turn or junction, letting the wheels slide in your hands but controlling the speed is much safer, quicker and easier than trying to rush your hands by doing it gripped.

[GLPoomobile 958]

Just to prove my earlier point about London cyclists, I saw the prefect example this evening as I was walking home. There was a guy pulling out of a parking space on the wrong side of the road, so his vision up the road was obscurred. A youngish guy coming down the road on his bike, not overly fast, makes an dramatic affair of stopping by deliberately locking up the back wheel and sliding to a stop, then rides around the inside to the drivers side and punches the rear wing very hard. He then starts shouting at the driver. The driver shouts back - albeit in a non threatening way without any swearing - and says "you could have gone around me, that's why I stopped". The cyclist then shouts"well you could f***ing apologise" (the driver had done absolutely nothing wrong) and the driver replies "well you could f***ing apologise for smashing my car".

 

I carried on walking down the street but the cyclist continued to have a go at this guy in a threatening way, even when the guy was just trying to pull across the road and in to the traffic. It was utterly pathetic the way the cyclist behaved. He was never in any danger and could have easily ridden around the car, but he just wanted to start an argument. The driver had simply tried to pull out of a difficult spot with poor visibility, had seen the cyclist in good time and had stopped so he could continue.

 

 

For the first year at least I think new drivers should not be allowed to drive unaccompanied

 

I agree with just about everything said in this topic, but I think this is a bit of an extreme suggestion. It's just not practical, and I really can't see how it's of any benefit. For many new drivers, having someone unqualified breathing down your neck, being critical, potentially passing on bad habits, and at worst being a distraction is obviously not a good thing.

 

As with everything, everyone thinks they're intelligent, funny, sexy, good at driving, etc.

 

I am all of the above btw!

 

I think I've always been a bit of an oddball in that sense. I've always been of the opinion that I'm not a particulary great driver. I'm reasonably confident with general driving, but not enough to go throwing a car around the public roads at high speed. But after some of the passenger experiences I've had lately I'm starting to realise that most other drivers have now lowered the bar so far that actually I must be a better driver than I give myself credit for I'm just not that great by my own standards (probably not a bad thing).

 

My wife, mum, dad and sisters all think I drive like a nutter. But even when I make an effort to slow the pace down just for them they still say it's too fast! Yet when we rented a car in Lanzarote (my first time driving abroad) I did most of the driving, and when we had to pick our way through horrendous traffic in the capital city my mother in law apparently said to my wife "isn't Steve a very professional driver", so that was nice. And my father in law was taxi driver for years so I expected him to be a reasonably good driver, but I found his width perception to be pretty scary (his first time driving abroad too) and he lacked any smoothness with the controls.

 

But I have no doubt I'd fail my test if I took it tomorrow. There's a big difference between being taught to be a competant driver and being taught to pass a test

[ORB 227 1 Cars]

Part of my job (for those who dont know I flog cars) I take people out on test drive (demonstration as we are meant to call them)

 

I have been frightened to death and back by old people. I have even refused to sell a Fiat Panda to an old boy before because he was so bad.

 

I have on the other hand been in the car with younger people who have actually had me make them stop the car and abort the demo.

 

Old people smell of wee too, so they should not be allowed to drive.

[24seven 104]

I agree with just about everything said in this topic, but I think this is a bit of an extreme suggestion. It's just not practical, and I really can't see how it's of any benefit. For many new drivers, having someone unqualified breathing down your neck, being critical, potentially passing on bad habits, and at worst being a distraction is obviously not a good thing.

 

If it means not driving, then it means not driving. While you're a learner driver, you'e required to be accompanied by someone over 21 with 3 years experience on the road and if there's no-one to come with you when you want to go somewhere, then tough luck. I don't see why it would be any bigger an issue once you've passed. Having someone more experience with you once you've passed, they won't be teaching you driving techniques etc because you've already passed. I see it more as a way of taming young drivers who've just found themselves with a huge wad of responsibility at the hands of a dangerous machine. think of it like a machine operator being supervised during their first week. It's no secret that new drivers are very accident prone, especially blokes and for them in particular having someone else around to keep them in check until they're more experienced behind the wheel can't be a bad thing.

[Cameron 16]

I think the "cycle terrorists" are hilarious, they're the road equivalent of people who fake cough really loudly around someone smoking in a public place.

[muddatrucker 125]

Had one of the blue rinse brigade pull out onto me without looking, gave her a toot on the horn and she still didn't know what she'd done...probably messed her Pampers though.

 

I'm gonna start a hate campaign!

[lagonda 41]

Whilst I totally agree that some elderly drivers are a real danger, perhaps we should all stop & think that....one day....we're all going to be elderly drivers. So think twice before shooting self in foot!

My father just sort of stopped driving. I desperately needed someone to drive another car home for me, so got him to follow me. Realised pretty soon why he had stopped driving! So I suspect many will do just that. Yes you will always get irresponsible idiots....but then you get those at all ages.

[danpug 1]

Just to prove my earlier point about London cyclists, I saw the prefect example this evening as I was walking home. There was a guy pulling out of a parking space on the wrong side of the road, so his vision up the road was obscurred. A youngish guy coming down the road on his bike, not overly fast, makes an dramatic affair of stopping by deliberately locking up the back wheel and sliding to a stop, then rides around the inside to the drivers side and punches the rear wing very hard. He then starts shouting at the driver. The driver shouts back - albeit in a non threatening way without any swearing - and says "you could have gone around me, that's why I stopped". The cyclist then shouts"well you could f***ing apologise" (the driver had done absolutely nothing wrong) and the driver replies "well you could f***ing apologise for smashing my car".

 

If a cyclist touched my car he'd be losing some teeth. I've heard of motorcyclists doing similar.