Appalling standard of driving among old men

Ally Dick · 22-04-2015 12:37AM #1

I don't know whether this is a new phenomenon, but it is becoming all too frequent. Old men driving extremely slowly or in an erratic manner around the place. I'm getting sick of it. The traffic levels are getting worse because more people are buying cars again, so at peak time the traffic is mental. Now when it is off peak, it's the old men causing the tailbacks with their slow ineffectual driving !

major bill · 22-04-2015 12:39AM

Always a 14 or 15 Reg car too

thelad95 · 22-04-2015 12:39AM

Ally Dick wrote: »

I don't know whether this is a new phenomenon, but it is becoming all too frequent. Old men driving extremely slowly or in an erratic manner around the place. I'm getting sick of it. The traffic levels are getting worse because more people are buying cars again, so at peak time the traffic is mental. Now when it is off peak, it's the old men causing the tailbacks with their slow ineffectual driving !

A lot of them would never have sat a driving test. Obviously as you get older your judgement isn't as good as it used to be either.

Sheep Lover · 22-04-2015 12:41AM

It's the yummy mummy types with the people carriers and 27 kids crammed into it. That's a hazard on the road now. Although easily spotted with the stupid "baby on board" stickers and the smears of jam and chocolate on the doors.

Also, under no circumstances park beside this person, your car will be a different shape when you come back to it.

Ally Dick · 22-04-2015 12:42AM

thelad95 wrote: »

A lot of them would never have sat a driving test. Obviously as you get older your judgement isn't as good as it used to be either.

I used to think that women were the worst drivers, but old men take the biscuit

punisher5112 · 22-04-2015 12:42AM

Ally Dick wrote: »

I don't know whether this is a new phenomenon, but it is becoming all too frequent. Old men driving extremely slowly or in an erratic manner around the place. I'm getting sick of it. The traffic levels are getting worse because more people are buying cars again, so at peak time the traffic is mental. Now when it is off peak, it's the old men causing the tailbacks with their slow ineffectual driving !

Reason at night is they are usually wearing glasses or nearly blind.

Reaction times get slower usually as one gets older.

I won't though as saving up to buy a Ferrari.

LadyAthame · 22-04-2015 12:47AM

Ally Dick wrote: »

I used to think that women were the worst drivers, but old men take the biscuit

Someone has twisted your biscuit.

doolox · 22-04-2015 12:50AM

I swear a man in a small Fiesta type car pulled out abruptly from a petrol station on the northbound road from Bray to Shankill in front of me and proceed painfully slowly through a green light at less tha 20 kph in a 50 kph zone then full dead stop at the (then) empty roundabout which leads onto the m50 northbound. I managed to get around him at the rdbt but I swear he joined the motorway behind me at no more than 30 kph..........

Minimum speed limit on motorways is 50 kph but most cars would find 60 - 70 kph in front of them an unexpected obstacle if their attention was distracted.

God knows what they would make of 30 kph Man in front of them.

Mint Aero · 22-04-2015 12:59AM

I keep misreading the title as "appalling standard of living accommodation"

The Backwards Man · 22-04-2015 01:08AM

I believe there should be a mandatory cut off age, no arguments, ifs or buts. A lot of it is pure pride, driving on long after they are fit because Gerry down the road is still diving away not a bother on him. Seventy five and that's your lot. I drive for a living, like my oul lad and his oul lad before him, and I hope to be off the road long before that age.

kneemos · 22-04-2015 01:11AM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I believe there should be a mandatory cut off age, no arguments, ifs or buts. A lot of it is pure pride, driving on long after they are fit because Gerry down the road is still diving away not a bother on him. Seventy five and that's your lot. I drive for a living, like my oul lad and his oul lad before him, and I hope to be off the road long before that age.

What was his oul lad before him driving? a horse and cart?

doolox · 22-04-2015 01:14AM

you are required to do a medical and only get a 1 yr licence after 70.

The Backwards Man · 22-04-2015 01:17AM

kneemos wrote: »

What was his oul lad before him driving? a horse and cart?

An Austin 7 actually

hopgog · 22-04-2015 01:18AM

Ally Dick wrote: »

I don't know whether this is a new phenomenon, but it is becoming all too frequent. Old men driving extremely slowly or in an erratic manner around the place. I'm getting sick of it. The traffic levels are getting worse because more people are buying cars again, so at peak time the traffic is mental. Now when it is off peak, it's the old men causing the tailbacks with their slow ineffectual driving !

Old women are way worse for the slow.

RayM · 22-04-2015 01:18AM

It always seems really stupid that your car has to have a test every two years, but you just need to pass one test (or none at all, if you're a certain age) and you're automatically certified as 'competent' for the next forty years. All drivers, regardless of their age (or gender) should be tested every few years.

Jimminy Mc Fukhead · 22-04-2015 01:19AM

We cannot be too harsh. You must remember that across their whole life this generation has played virtually no computer games. Their coordination and spatial skills are massively unpracticed and undeveloped. Theyve also fallen just short of being around for the imminent self drive cars. Bad luck all round.

retro:electro · 22-04-2015 01:21AM

RayM wrote: »

It always seems really stupid that your car has to have a test every two years, but you just need to pass one test (or none at all, if you're a certain age) and you're automatically certified as 'competent' for the next forty years. All drivers, regardless of their age (or gender) should be tested every few years.

If it was a free test okay ya, if not fcuk right off

hopgog · 22-04-2015 01:23AM

RayM wrote: »

It always seems really stupid that your car has to have a test every two years, but you just need to pass one test (or none at all, if you're a certain age) and you're automatically certified as 'competent' for the next forty years. All drivers, regardless of their age (or gender) should be tested every few years.

My dad didn't even have to do a test he just asked for a licence back in the day, still driving about

K.Flyer · 22-04-2015 01:23AM

There are bad drivers in all catagories.
The worst drivers I see are the younger ones and the D4 execs. Male and Female, usually on the phone talking (in hand up to ear) or texting or whatever and not watching the road.
I was a front seat passenger in a car on the way back to Dublin from Limerick recently. It's rare that I'm a passenger, so I was able to take a good look at the type of drivers who eventually move over after lots of light flashing and the odd honk of the horn from the driver of our car, never mind the tirade of abuse that he hurled at some of them for hogging the outer lane as we hurtled passed some of them at over 100 mph at times. They were of all ages and gender, but so many of them oblivious to their surroundings and other road users.
The driver of our car drives hard and fast but safely, he reads the road very well and I always feel 110% safe in a car with him, even at speed well in excess of 100 mph. He has no time for crap drivers on the road and I am so surprised at how few penalty points he has for speeding.
The driver, he is my Dad, he is 74 years old and he is as sharp as a blade on the road.
Anyone who thinks "old" drivers are crap drivers would change their tune quickly after getting into a car with this "oul fella"

porsche959 · 22-04-2015 01:24AM

Jimminy Mc Fukhead wrote: »

We cannot be too harsh. You must remember that across their whole life this generation has played virtually no computer games. Their coordination and spatial skills are massively unpracticed and undeveloped. Theyve also fallen just short of being around for the imminent self drive cars. Bad luck all round.

Personally, I'm more troubled by the generation that thinks life is a kind of computer game.

hopgog · 22-04-2015 01:28AM

porsche959 wrote: »

Personally, I'm more troubled by the generation that thinks life is a kind of computer game.

YOLO lets bomb down the road at 120kph, IRL RESPAWN once you don't make the bend in the road.

Junkyard Tom · 22-04-2015 01:35AM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I believe there should be a mandatory cut off age ... Seventy five and that's your lot.

That would be just bad form in too many ways to list. There are plenty of entirely competent drivers who are 75+ years old.

Asides from being just wrong an arbitrary cut-off age would be political suicide for any legislator who'd even suggest it, and rightly so.

kneemos · 22-04-2015 01:36AM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

An Austin 7 actually

Had some of those down around here a while back while making a movie.Tiny little things that made a racket and were probably no faster than a modern racing bike.
Certainly earned his money your oul fellas oul fella.

Korat · 22-04-2015 01:38AM

You only notice it now because there aren't many drink drivers, there are less learners who've had no tuition at all and the roads are better.

That said, some people are bad drivers no matter how old they are.

LadyAthame · 22-04-2015 01:40AM

Older drivers tend be classier and have more manners.

Guess what ..I can't drive!

Kermit.de.frog · 22-04-2015 01:41AM

I think older people tend to be safer drivers tbh. And we younger folk are hardly ones to talk given the carnage and needless deaths amongst our cohort.

Nodster · 22-04-2015 01:43AM

Reminds me of the concerned daughter who phoned her elderly father on his way back from a visit to warn him after a radio report that a car was driving down the motorway the wrong way - "One of them?, theirs bloody loads of them!"

pappyodaniel · 22-04-2015 01:57AM

doolox wrote: »

I swear a man in a small Fiesta type car pulled out abruptly from a petrol station on the northbound road from Bray to Shankill in front of me and proceed painfully slowly through a green light at less tha 20 kph in a 50 kph zone then full dead stop at the (then) empty roundabout which leads onto the m50 northbound. I managed to get around him at the rdbt but I swear he joined the motorway behind me at no more than 30 kph..........

Minimum speed limit on motorways is 50 kph but most cars would find 60 - 70 kph in front of them an unexpected obstacle if their attention was distracted.

God knows what they would make of 30 kph Man in front of them.

I'm always amazed at these types of drivers, they have the balls to dangerously pull out onto oncoming traffic but don't have the balls to drive their car over 40kmh.

sligojoek · 22-04-2015 02:00AM

The amount of women in their 20s and 30s I see texting while driving with children in their cars is frightening. I often collect my two younger ones from school and I see them coming out of the car park onto a main road and texting. It's selfish and inconsiderate. It's only a matter of time before there's an accident and some poor innocent people will suffer.

ardmacha · 22-04-2015 02:12AM

Nodster wrote: »

Reminds me of the concerned daughter who phoned her elderly father on his way back from a visit to warn him after a radio report that a car was driving down the motorway the wrong way - "One of them?, theirs bloody loads of them!"

This is an young person's joke. The older generation would never be so irresponsible as to talk on the phone while driving.

Delicia · 22-04-2015 02:15AM

Jimminy Mc Fukhead wrote: »

We cannot be too harsh. You must remember that across their whole life this generation has played virtually no computer games. Their coordination and spatial skills are massively unpracticed and undeveloped. Theyve also fallen just short of being around for the imminent self drive cars. Bad luck all round.

Well, you see Jimminy (I'll be polite & call you by your first name), I learned to drive back in the good old days. We didn't have computer games then but oh golly gosh Dad said "F*ck it, it's time you drove the car". 'Need for Speed' - got it. 'Grand Theft Auto' - if Dad wasn't looking, got it. Computer games are for players, the rest of us just do it - including the odd bit of parallel parking. As for these imminent self drive cars? I heard that on Tomorrows' World 1974.

Appalling standard of driving among old men

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