Ban on elderly driving

bubbleking

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is set to announce a blanket ban on anybody over the age of 75 driving a vehicle on a public road. Its their latest attempt to cut down on the amount of raod accidents claiming that members of this age bracket are responsible for a high proportion of road deaths.

seems a little harsh to me in fairness

alwaysadub

Got a source or link to this?
Sounds kinda odd.

And what about young male drivers who also cause a high proportion of fatalities? They gonna ban them too?

Minstrel27

If it cuts down on accidents and fatalities then it is a good idea.

bubbleking

alwaysadub wrote: »

Got a source or link to this?
Sounds kinda odd.

heard it from somebody who works for them - set to go public with it tomorow

inforfun

Why not just straight on shoot all over 75's?
They might still want to cross the road walking and cause accidents that way.

There is only 1 ban that would make sense. Ban L drivers till they have a proper license.

This smells like BS.

I'd ban under 25's from driving instead

galwayrush

I doubt very much if that age bracket is the worst group of offenders on the roads today.:rolleyes:

deman

Minstrel27 wrote: »

If it cuts down on accidents and fatalities then it is a good idea.

If that's the case then why not raise the minimum age to 21? Stupid idea if you ask me.

deman

bubbleking wrote: »

heard it from somebody who works for them - set to go public with it tomorow

So it's BS then!

Elessar

A load of nonsense.

PogMoThoin

How about they make all over 40's re-sit a driving test, and do it every 10 yrs.

Some of these have no idea how to drive, the bigger and wider the road, the worse the driving You encounter. They all think they can drive, just because its a big wide road. I see lots of clueless drivers everyday driving at half the speed limit, hogging the white line, or even worse driving completely in the hard shoulder because they can't keep up with the pace of things. Get them off the roads. Farmers in clapped out pieces of shít are the worst offenders.

omahaid

galwayrush wrote: »

I doubt very much if that age bracket is the worst group of offenders on the roads today.:rolleyes:

Ya, your probably right, but this government is determined to pump as much money as possible into saving each life on the road. €1 million = 1 person saved on the road, €1 million = 100 young men saved from suicide.

It's easy to see where our government will spend our money.

georgefalls

Its not the over 75's that are actually involved in the accidents. Its the fact they drive too slow for the road conditions. This causes other motorists to take risks, in order to get out of their way. Leading to THEM having the accidents.

BostonB

That would put Stirling Moss off the road.

Do you have any links to that? I know a few over 75's that are perfectly fine driving. without a car they'd be seriously stuck, as many have problems walking too far. Also means the families would have to drive them everywhere. I think like the driving licence after a certain age they should be tested more often. Like every 3 years or something. To be honest regardless of age, if you had a few convictions you should have to do the same. Theres a lot of drivers young and/or middle aged who drive like complete morons. Obviously driving too slow is a problem. But I see far more people driving too fast than I do too slow. If you have no patience you equally shouldn't be on the road either.

TBH the only real problem is enforcement. Theres hardly any Guards on the roads, and if they enforced the existing rules, and pulled people for dangerous driving, speeding, driving too slow etc, then they wouldn't need stupid blanket bans.

Run_to_da_hills

Link,

My old man is going on 88 and still drives, he would be fcuked without his car. :eek:

Ri_Nollaig

Minstrel27 wrote: »

If it cuts down on accidents and fatalities then it is a good idea.

if it saves one life ANY measure is worth it ... :pac:

NinjaTruncs

Banning is a bit extreme, but they should have to re-sit test every few years once a certain age is reached.

Run_to_da_hills

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

Banning is a bit extreme, but they should have to re-sit test every few years once a certain age is reached.

They already need to do a medical every year.

galwayrush

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Link,

My old man is going on 88 and still drives, he would be fcuked without his car. :eek:

He'll be making the Greens happy with one less car on the road, bet he'll get over it once he realises that.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Grindylow

Worst group of offenders is most definitely not under 25's. Don't try blaming anything which you've done on the younger generation. How many of you have ever drove through a red light? How many of you have ever gone over the speed limit? I'm sure most of you have. It's the older type men who I believe are the offenders as I see it on a daily basis, crashing into cars because they're not paying attention.

Abrasax

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

if it saves one life ANY measure is worth it

No, it's not.
Saving one life or a few lives versus the inconvenience and lack of mobility for thousands of over 75's, not to mention those who would now have to give up their time to assist them, is not worth it.

Diabhal Beag

We need to ban old people in general. If you're over 60 get behind the shed and I'll be around with the double-barrel gun.

Ri_Nollaig

Abrasax wrote: »

No, it's not.
Saving one life or a few lives versus the inconvenience and lack of mobility for thousands of over 75's, not to mention those who would now have to give up their time to assist them, is not worth it.

i was being sarcastic, i was hoping the 'ANY' made that clear, guess i need a ':pac:' aswell

old_aussie

Minstrel27 wrote: »

If it cuts down on accidents and fatalities then it is a good idea.

Then ban everyone under 25 from driving

The Big Red Button

I don't agree with a blanket ban at all. However, in my opinion, every driver on the road should have to re-sit the test every ten years, and more frequently after the age of, say sixty - maybe every three years.

It's completely wrong that there are elderly drivers on the roads today that have never even taken a proper driving lesson in their life!

deman

Noel2k9 wrote: »

Worst group of offenders is most definitely not under 25's.

You make this sound like a concrete fact. Where's the link to this fact? Or is it just your opinion, which we should all believe?

Mike 1972

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

if it saves one life ANY measure is worth it

By that logic we should ban all drivers with the possible exception of the ambulance/fire brigade

Abrasax

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

i was being sarcastic, i was hoping the 'ANY' made that clear, guess i need a ':pac:' aswell

The use of ':pac:' in relation to elderly deaths is quite flippant and typical of the sickminded attitudes one regularly encounters here on AH.

galwayrush

Noel2k9 wrote: »

Worst group of offenders is most definitely not under 25's. Don't try blaming anything which you've done on the younger generation. How many of you have ever drove through a red light? How many of you have ever gone over the speed limit? I'm sure most of you have. It's the older type men who I believe are the offenders as I see it on a daily basis, crashing into cars because they're not paying attention.

I think the u-25's are definitely the worst offenders, i say that because of my everyday experience of them on the roads.

BostonB

old_aussie wrote: »

Then ban everyone under 25 from driving

+1 lol.

The Big Red Button

old_aussie wrote: »

Then ban everyone under 25 from driving

That doesn't make sense - if someone's going to learn to drive at all, then it makes sense that the younger they start to learn, the faster and easier they'll pick it up.

Mike 1972

Thread summary:

I blame:
Drivers older than me
Drivers younger than me
Drivers with bigger vehicles than me
Drivers with smaller vehicles than me
Drivers who are the opposite gender to me
Drivers who are of different nationality to me
Drivers who are from bigger cities than me
Drivers who are from smaller villages than me
Drivers with a different licence status to me
Drivers who go faster than me
Drivers who go slower than me

etc etc etc (you get the general idea)

Basq

Just ban drivers from driving tbh!

JONJO THE MISER

Load of B.S, maybe the O.P lives in dublin and doesnt think of people in the country who are old and the car is there only means of transport. Load of bollocks thread.

Ri_Nollaig

Mike 1972 wrote: »

By that logic we should ban all drivers with the possible exception of the ambulance/fire brigade

Read back up, I was been sarcastic and I was quoting someone who did agree with a measure like this, which I can't stand. Any time some stupid measure is brought in, it is often defended with the blind argument "if it saves one life it is worth it". This seems to be used everywhere, from road safety to the banning of head shops. I think its laughable the idea of banning anyone over 75 just as it is banning anyone under 25...

Abrasax wrote: »

The use of ':pac:' in relation to elderly deaths is quite flippant and typical of the sickminded attitudes one regularly encounters here on AH.

Good for you, perhaps one should avoid this forum in the future so; or maybe the entire internet. ... :pac:

fonecrusher1

The thing is if you're going to start talking about banning certain groups of people for the safety of motorists then lets face it under 21's with provisionals would get the chop first. Then mabye the over 80's.

Captain Slow IRL

PogMoThoin wrote: »

How about they make all over 40's re-sit a driving test, and do it every 10 yrs.

Some of these have no idea how to drive, the bigger and wider the road, the worse the driving You encounter. They all think they can drive, just because its a big wide road. I see lots of clueless drivers everyday driving at half the speed limit, hogging the white line, or even worse driving completely in the hard shoulder because they can't keep up with the pace of things. Get them off the roads. Farmers in clapped out pieces of shít are the worst offenders.

+1

For the proportion of elderly drivers (I meet anyway) is way too low to make any serious impact on deaths. Bad driving isn't a characteristic of age or sex - there's just so many of them, it's hard not to label and stereotype.

When I was doing my Ignition course, the instructor told us about thousands of indemnity licenses issued in Ireland to provisional license holders in the 80's (open to correction!) to make the figures look better - so there's thousands of people on Irish roads who never had to do any work to get their license:rolleyes:

Run_to_da_hills

galwayrush wrote: »

He'll be making the Greens happy with one less car on the road, bet he'll get over it once he realises that.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

I am sure those that will be put off the road will be entitled to free taxi concessions.

What about collecting pensions at the post office, getting perscriptions and in my old mans case vsiting his missus in hospital.

El Weirdo

Abrasax wrote: »

The use of ':pac:' in relation to elderly deaths is quite flippant and typical of the sickminded attitudes one regularly encounters here on AH.

:pac:

Hyperbullet

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

They already need to do a medical every year.

If an elderly person has passed a medical and is deemed fit to drive, why stop them?

old_aussie wrote: »

Then ban everyone under 25 from driving

A totally ridiculous notion. Were you not a learner once yourself? All this would lead to is a bunch of inexperienced 26-30yr olds on the road.

If you want to save lives, put a speed limiter into cars for people under 23. Thats 5 years of experience of having to go no more than 100kmph for example. Also a ban on anyone under 23 owning a car with an engine size of more than 1.4L. Too many young people getting hurt in these cheap jap imports that have engines too powerful for Irish roads.

PCPhoto

Mike 1972 wrote: »

By that logic we should ban all drivers with the possible exception of the ambulance/fire brigade

have you seen the way they drive :eek:

What we need is an overhaul of the system:
-flat rate insurance
-restrict new drivers to 1L engines for first 2yrs
-restrict drivers under 5yrs to max 1.4L engines
(any crashes in first 5yrs - return to start - restricted to 1L)

give optional retests every 2yrs - passing retest means drop in insurance
passing 5 retests in a row means insurance premiums drop to a maximum of €100-€200.

failing a retest allows the driver to return to restricted driving point (ie. after 7yrs driving ....fail retest - return to max 1.4limit, after 9yrs driving ....fail retest loose retest insurance - return to 5yr point and start again)

wild stab at figures:
Restricted (2yrs) - €1200 per yr
Restricted (<5yrs) - €850 per yr
unrestricted (>5yrs) = €700 per yr
retest pass - drop €100 per year.

after 5 retests (which means approx 10-12yrs of safe driving) - insurance premiums at an all time low: (mandatory every 5yrs retest to ensure driver ability)
ALSO : driving convictions database linked to Motor Tax/Motor Insurance database office - serious traffic offences punished by courts.

as for elderly drivers: if they are capable of driving at the speed limit they are entitled to drive.

Ahoy!

old_aussie wrote: »

Then ban everyone under 25 from driving

We might aswell ban people from driving alltogether then. Shur that'll save hundreds of lives. What this country needs is more guards on the roads and a completely new procces of getting the drivers license. Driving tests are very easy compared to my home country, where you need to do a compulsory course and a series exams which costs a fortune, and if you fail three times, you have to go through the whole procces again. Therefore the insurance premiums are 5 times less than in Ireland because its much harder to get the license. It makes sense when you think about it.

irishguy

How about they make people sit a test every 10 years, which would bring up the standard of driving on the roads. It doesnt have to be as stringent as the original test, but would get people used of new things on the road i.e. 3 lane motorways, bus lanes,luas etc ..

banning a particular group of people is stupid, but people in their 70s should have to sit a test every 5 years or less. As a lot of them are a danger on the road.

PCPhoto

Ahoy! wrote: »

We might aswell ban people from driving alltogether then. Shur that'll save hundreds of lives. What this country needs is more guards on the roads and a completely new procces of getting the drivers license. Driving tests are very easy compared to my home country, where you need to do a compulsory course and a series exams which costs a fortune, and if you fail three times, you have to go through the whole procces again. Therefore the insurance premiums are 5 times less than in Ireland because its much harder to get the license. It makes sense when you think about it.

but do you have a proper public transport system back home?

I agree that the licence should be a privilage - but theres plenty of people in rural ireland who require a vehicle to get to the local shop...and making it financially difficult to get a licence will only result in people driving without licences.

Mike 1972

Captain Slow IRL wrote: »

When I was doing my Ignition course, the instructor told us about thousands of indemnity licenses issued in Ireland to provisional license holders in the 80's (open to correction!) to make the figures look better - so there's thousands of people on Irish roads who never had to do any work to get their license:rolleyes:

It was actually the late seventies.

And lets not forget the thousands of drivers who got their licences before the introduction (in the mid 1960's) of the driving test. Including the current chairman of the RSA :rolleyes:

dermothickey

people should be thought the 3c's courtesy, care, consideration.

Ri_Nollaig

Mike 1972 wrote: »

It was actually the late seventies.

And lets not forget the thousands of drivers who got their licences before the introduction (in the mid 1960's) of the driving test. Including the current chairman of the RSA :rolleyes:

he might be getting banned soon!

ha

Mike 1972

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

he might be getting banned soon!

Hardly

Not even the current government would be stupid enough to go along with this proposed measure as they know it would adversly affect the handful of people still prepared to vote for them.

Run_to_da_hills

Mike 1972 wrote: »

It was actually the late seventies.

And lets not forget the thousands of drivers who got their licences before the introduction (in the mid 1960's) of the driving test. Including the current chairman of the RSA :rolleyes:

I believe they were called cowboy licenses at the time.

I missed them by months, at the time the UK wanted to ban anyone holding a Irish license dating that period from UK roads.

fergiesfolly

My Dad is in his 70s and NEEDS his car. Yes, if does drive slower than when he was younger but his driving is as safe as most. Put yourself in there position and see how you'd cope with a ban because of your age and not ability. .

ejmaztec

In Kerry I've seen more people driving like 75 year-olds than actual 75 year-olds driving. Some people are scared sh1tless of doing above 60kmph on any roads, even 100kmph ones.