Comments on: Elderly Driver’s 10km Radius Proposal

By: Linc

Linc — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:51:37 +0000

This is a pretty narrowminded approach, to be honest. Not everybody deteriorates at 80, some much later (and as medicine improves, that’ll lengthen further, I’d wager), but some much sooner, thanks to maltreatment of themselves. I’ve had dementia patients who were in their 30s when I worked in aged care. It’s sad, but it happens. So, you can’t put everybody in a bubble. We all fade and pass, but the dimmer switch kicks in at different tiems for each of us.

Medical competency should be assessed periodically throughout life, and driving tests performed intermittently also. I think at 17/18, at 30, at 45, 60 and then every 10 years on. I think the regular revision would improve the road across the board, given that not all accidents are caused by 19 year old hoons and 90 year old narcolepts. No, the lion’s share of the accidents happens just in the general age of driving. P platers get a distinction of being a hazard, but this is not simply from being younger or less experienced, but also from being on the road more often at hazardous times than older drivers. On the other side of teh coin, drivers over 70 make up 9% of drivers and account for 8% of accidents and 10% of the road toll, but the amount of kilometres driven by elderly drivers accounts for less than 2% of kilometres driven per annum, meaning their contribution to the road toll and the accident toll is actually an aggregate of 5 times their times spent on the road. Just because they may have licences doesn’t mean they use them all the time.

By: Meredith Roe

Meredith Roe — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:42:16 +0000

Having looked after my mother who died at 91 and now my father in law who is 87 I can say that people deteriorate at around 80 and go downhill very quickly. They ALL do. And I get mad when I see my father in law’s doctor continually allowing him to drive when he has an obvious stoop and is half blind with glaucoma. What can you do when the doctor tells lies? So this idea that some older drivers are better than others is just not true. They are all bad drivers after a certain age. My father who was a driving instructor during the war gave up driving when he retired at 60 because he said his reflexes were no good anymore. Now, nobody ever thinks to test them on this.

By: lexi

lexi — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:31:41 +0000

I am not quite sure when this sopposed proposal came about, but i have searched and searched for this 10km proposal on the RTA website, there is absolutely nothing that pertains to this. Please take this down if it is false information. I realize it has been about a year, but a proposal usually takes alot longer than that. I am doing a research paper and sites like this make it very confusing when looking for resourceful information.

warmly,
lexi

By: happy boating

happy boating — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 08:46:45 +0000

well guys i just had an accident while towing my boat, the driver pulled out in front of us after not giving way to all lines of traffic he was 92 yo and clearly past his time …how do their familys let them keep driving

By: Wheelnut

Wheelnut — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:35:02 +0000

The thing is that just as you get young people who continue to drive un-licenced un-registered un-insured because they know they will just receive a slap on the wrist or may even have to do community service {joke]
We will probably get a number of elderly drivers dioing the same thing

However if they’re thinking of such a plan what about the number of soccer mums and weekend warriors who do less than the average 20;000kms a year because due to their lack of driving experience or knowledge of road rules they are just as likely to cause an accident

As are the city dwellers who have very little experience on country roads but like to have weekend getaways to the country.. as the majority of people killed on country roads are from the major cities so they should also have a similar restriction forcing them to stay in the burbs

Hell why not just put a 20Km radius restriction on everyone because when you are in an unfamiliar area and don’t know where you are going you too are more likely to be in or cause an accident

By: Kahlan

Kahlan — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:00:55 +0000

I agree with anyone who says retesting is a good idea, whether it’s every 5 years, 10 years, or what.

Everyone blames the young drivers on “bad driving habits”. I agree – a large number of young people DO have bad driving habits. But so do older people.

Many young people and instructors, even (been told this by one, myself), are under the opinion that “young people should drive so that they can pass their driving test. After that, drive how you want…”

I got my learners 3 months ago (have already done over 120 hours), and have already had four near misses, which everyone present agreed was not my fault. One was with a truck that merged into traffic on the motorway without looking. Normally, I would move into the right lane to let them in, but I was being overtaken at the time. A second was an elderly lady trying to do a u-turn at a major intersection (traffic lights), from the left hand side right-turn lane, without looking, at a light where there were no u-turns permitted anyway. I ended up barely avoiding it, and we ended up in a “T” formation, I couldn’t move until she did, and she just sat there mouthing off at me. Meanwhile, the lights changed and we ended up holding up most of the traffic.

I suppose the point I’m trying to make is that it’s not just young drivers causing the problem. Older people can be just as bad. Re-testing them would be a better idea than the “10km radius”.

By: Stu

Stu — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 10:28:24 +0000

When i’m 85 and cant hardly see or turn my head around, i’ll definately still want to drive you can guarantee that!

I had a laugh today, i was behind an older bloke who had his hazard lights on while he was driving, maybe that’s not a bad idea!

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:47:37 +0000

Great post, and I agree with Grumps. GP’s feel pressured to let the old codgers keep their licenses “to let them have their independence”. Mandatory reporting therefore has limited application, and doctor shopping will just get worse. Personally, I think they should sell their cars and get a taxi wherever they want ot go!
Now, 10km from home sounds fine, but when you consider that some old people have trouble getting out of their driveway without driving into a neighbours house, or that most live within 10km of a school or daycare, we need to think again.
I think over 60′s should resit the basic driver test, and provide a medical certificate of fitness to drive. The retest should be at their cost, and should be repeated every 5 years till 70, then annually after that. Sounds harsh, but the fact is by 70 most people have significantly higher risk of heart disease, vision problems and dementia, and by 80 they will have all these to a very significant level. They will almost all also be very frail physically, and have a reaction time that can be measured with a sundial.
Of course, as long as they can vote, no government will ever have the balls to protect the community from the scourge of the elderly driver…

By: David

David — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:40:40 +0000

Reckless1,It wont be long before I am 45.I know that some of my peers are in apalling shape for their age due to lifestyle choices.It raises the likelihood of cardio-vascular,diabetes & intestinal disorders being contracted.
What,me?I’m too young,classic denial.
For those in this age group of 40+ it is common sense to see a GP once a year regardless of how you perceive your health but some won’t. An ex work colleague is grossly over weight,mobility is compromised,is a petrol head,thinks he is a great driver & has an onroad demeanor to match.At times being in the car with him was no fun.Everyone else including the trams was in the way.Age 40.
My proposal is not draconian.It is a simple process of saying he/she is mentally & physically OK to drive a car not run marathons.
I hear what GRUMPS is saying that the GP can be a weak link.It is a hard issue.A blanket ban is too harsh.
Five year testing is probably a good idea as long as pensioners can do it free of charge.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:35:16 +0000

This is a good step forward. I like many others here was hit by an elderly driver, not major but he literally drove into the side of my car not checking his blindspot. Funny because like you Adam although not a crowd this guy tried to say I was in wrong because at the time I was on my red p’s, I told him where to shove it because I was no way in the wrong.

The issue I see is that younger and elderly drivers suffer different issues. Younger drivers crash because of overconfidence, making them do stupid things. It doesnt have alot to do with not being able to do basic things in their car, the tests make sure you can, its the higher order skills required in say an emergency situation which they find themselves in due to recklessness that they lack. Older drivers on the other hand dont have the basic skills, Im sure they have many years of experience but the senses you require to driver such as hearing and site are diminished. So when it comes to checking blindspots they either dont bother or dont have the vision to completely check it. Or when it comes to hazard perception they dont pick up things early enough. And even when it comes to just controlling their vehicle in some cases, on one hand you have younger drivers who feel invinsible and do whatever they want without fear of death etc while on the other hand you have elderly drivers who are shyting themselves when driving and go 30km/h below the limit or take corners at ridiculous speeds etc. There is also the issue of their brains being able to process lots of information, driving involves alot of this especially in traffic… elderly drivers cant quite keep up, overload and consequently cause a crash or do something stupid.