Why can't we stop renewing licenses at a certain age? Have you ever driven behind or beside an older driver? I guess I won't call out certain ages for fear of offending my older audience (yeah right), but some of these drivers can be scary. Last week, I was behind what I will call "The right side drifter." This elderly driver seemed to get pulled to the right by an imaginary huge car magnet or something and would jerk to the left very hard and quickly, resulting in some serious swirving action. It reminded me of an old movie where the driver would try to drive off of a cliff, but the passenger would jerk the wheel in the opposite direction so that they would not make that fatal mistake. It was scaring the you know what out of me for the cars coming from the opposite direction. Then there's another driver that I will call "I'm braking for that cat that just ran across the street or for that stop light that's 10 miles away." No matter how far back you are from them, it's dangerous!!! Why are you breaking so frequently, so hard, why? The last type of elderly driver I will call "What stop sign, what red light, what's a 4 way stop?" Have you ever seen an elderly driver not look at all if and when they stop at a stop sign or a 4 way stop. They just look straight ahead. Maybe they do a little count in their head (1...2...3...go) and just step on the gas. I don't know. And a stop light, if they do stop, it's because someone is in front of them that has stopped or they are in the middle of the intersection when the light is red. The worst are the ones who frequently drive going in the wrong direction. I have heard of 2 accidents recently resulting in death due to this and both involved a confused elderly driver. I think that after we hit a certain age, we should get tested every year instead of every 5 years. What do you think?
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
So many older drivers scare me...
Why can't we stop renewing licenses at a certain age? Have you ever driven behind or beside an older driver? I guess I won't call out certain ages for fear of offending my older audience (yeah right), but some of these drivers can be scary. Last week, I was behind what I will call "The right side drifter." This elderly driver seemed to get pulled to the right by an imaginary huge car magnet or something and would jerk to the left very hard and quickly, resulting in some serious swirving action. It reminded me of an old movie where the driver would try to drive off of a cliff, but the passenger would jerk the wheel in the opposite direction so that they would not make that fatal mistake. It was scaring the you know what out of me for the cars coming from the opposite direction. Then there's another driver that I will call "I'm braking for that cat that just ran across the street or for that stop light that's 10 miles away." No matter how far back you are from them, it's dangerous!!! Why are you breaking so frequently, so hard, why? The last type of elderly driver I will call "What stop sign, what red light, what's a 4 way stop?" Have you ever seen an elderly driver not look at all if and when they stop at a stop sign or a 4 way stop. They just look straight ahead. Maybe they do a little count in their head (1...2...3...go) and just step on the gas. I don't know. And a stop light, if they do stop, it's because someone is in front of them that has stopped or they are in the middle of the intersection when the light is red. The worst are the ones who frequently drive going in the wrong direction. I have heard of 2 accidents recently resulting in death due to this and both involved a confused elderly driver. I think that after we hit a certain age, we should get tested every year instead of every 5 years. What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think it's easy to say that when your young. I don't think you can just say a certain age. How ever, I think at a certain age, testing should be done for drivers. Not everyone ages the same of course. I remember seeing an elderly lady driving the wrong way on Peter's Creek Parkway. I was terrified.
Every age group has its problems. Young women and teenagers driving while trying to put on their make up---young guys with the music up so loud they cannot hear a car honking its horn or emergency vehicles with their sirens, moms driving like crazy to get their kids off to football/basketball/cheerleading/& other after school activities. In fact, statistics show that next to drunk driving (every age group), road rage and speeding occurs with men/boys from age 18-42, not to mention the fatalities that occur from it. Maybe every one should take a road test with every license renewal.
I know that drivers of all ages are dangerous and not only older ones. I remember how scary my teenage friends were in high school when I would ride with them and how I was myself. Thank God I'm still alive. I've had a few friends that have died in car accidents.
Post a Comment