Gripe of the day - What is yours?

[svenrico]

Originally Posted by SV650rules

Look at the stats and the group comprising 16 to 29 year olds are the most likely to have a serious accident, and a lot of them are very serious indeed ( 5 killed in one car sort of thing ), with the 20 to 29 year olds the worst by far of every group. Drivers over 80 are more likely to kill or injure themselves than others. Maybe a few older drivers need a psychiatric assessment as they may have alzheimer's.

If they have Alzheimers they will already have been medically assessed and as I have said in another reply any medical condition that may affect your driving has to be declared to the DVLA, otherwise your insurance is invalid.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by daktulos

If this happened, the IAM would be in trouble!

Originally Posted by TamSV

Doesn’t really matter does it? It’s not long before self-driving cars will be good enough that all human operators will be banished in the name of safety.

Enjoy the thrill of pensioners coming at you on the wrong side of the road while you still can.


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Both those made me laugh! The org is on form today, or is it the topic?!

If a vehicle is in the right hand lane of a multi lane carriageway and they're turning right, it is legal to pass them on the left hand side.


Highway code 163
Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should

only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right, and there is room to do so
__________________

Not entirely sure why you posted that (could be a few things I guress) though I do love a highway code interpretation session and a question just sparked - I'd always hoped to be able to argue, if challenged, "only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right, and there is room to do so" that a vehicle could be signalling to me their intention to turn right with behaviour other than using indicators . i.e road positioning right most, shoulder check. What do the org think?

The multilane bit "and they're turning right" is similar to my question above (and actually validitates my thought above a bit) . It obviously doesn't mean the steering wheel has been turned and they're moving away from parallel with you... it's about intention. Re. my example's intention - at that time there was feck all - she was literally half a mile to a mile from the next right turn - there aren't even houses on the right of the stretch, only a body of water. What I was getting at, and she didn't admit to was she'd subconsciously/habitually/lazily avoided the inactive buslane on the left. I was a bit surprised by the 'it's convenient for me screw everyone else' sort of response I got back - I took it more of defensiveness from the lack of awareness engaged up until that point (which is what worried me).

I do agree young people are higher risk and generally disagree strongly with discriminating but in terms of survival it is sometimes useful to observe common factors - re. age I did state subject to testing in my flippant comment above. .
Edit: but now I'm questioning that last sentence, and myself - as I've definitely challenged anyone bleating similar about race or gender.

[chris8886]

Originally Posted by svenrico

Driving IS a right if you pass the driving test and tax and insure your vehicle. What if you had failed the driving test if they had made it FAR more difficult, would you still feel the same way ?

I'm afraid I don't believe it is, it'd be damned awkward without the ability to drive (I definitely know this), but you can manage. Also that is why I think everyone should have to go through some form of retraining/test every set number of years. That way you ensure that the people on the roads are competent and able to use the road safely and appropriately. I understand that this is probably a controversial point of view, but until I can be persuaded otherwise, I believe it to be a good way forward.

[punyXpress]

Will they, though, or will they be 'soldiering on' in blissful ignorance?

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by admin

Lumping a whole age group together is dangerous and discriminatory. I'm 64 this year so only a few years away from this. I recognise the driving styles mentioned above and it's not just limited to over 70's (and it annoys me too). I've always thought some sort of regular checkup on the driver would be a good idea, like an MOT. Just to check that drivers like me who passed their tests decades ago still have had their eyesight checked, have the same number of limbs (that work) and still remember the basics of the highway code.



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Apols if an offensive vent John, it was a bit of a kneejerk from a bit of fresh worry about my parents. It was supposed to be a little tongue in cheek with the whole 'I'll change my stance when I'm that age' thing. Didn't expect anyone to take any notice.

Originally Posted by svenrico

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Ouch the sleep apnoea thing is a bit brutal, I've never heard of it affecting driving - did it, or was it a docs precaution?

Originally Posted by svenrico

Driving IS a right if you pass the driving test and tax and insure your vehicle. What if you had failed the driving test if they had made it FAR more difficult, would you still feel the same way ?

If everyone was made to do the same thing I think I'd feel okay about that. If it was impossible they'd know and change it (and if not we'd all have fun overthrowing the dictatorship). I know tests now are harder than what I sat and I sat tests much much much harder than my instructor did - he'd always tell me how his motorbike test was just an emergency stop and a free icecream. I never felt agrieved (other than missing out on icecream), I think it's a good bit of progress.

[svenrico]

Originally Posted by chris8886

I'm afraid I don't believe it is, it'd be damned awkward without the ability to drive (I definitely know this), but you can manage. Also that is why I think everyone should have to go through some form of retraining/test every set number of years. That way you ensure that the people on the roads are competent and able to use the road safely and appropriately. I understand that this is probably a controversial point of view, but until I can be persuaded otherwise, I believe it to be a good way forward.

Yes , it is a controversial subject and we are all entitled to our point of view ,but I don't quite understand your point about ' awkward without the ability to
drive ' .
As things stand it is a fact that it IS a right and you are legally entitled to drive if you have passed the driving test and your vehicle is taxed and insured.
I have nothing against people taking some form of training to improve their skills but I am wary of this idea of ' compulsory' this or that and more government interference.

[svenrico]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

Ouch the sleep apnoea thing is a bit brutal, I've never heard of it affecting driving - did it, or was it a docs precaution?

Dave, I think it depends on the degree of the condition. Mine was diagnosed after testing and monitoring by the sleep clinic as 'severe obstructive'. I didn't realise I had it until the doctor asked a standard list of questions and referred me to hospital. But, I knew something wasn't right because I kept waking up during the night and kept falling asleep during the day. So, yes it could affect driving if left untreated if you are sleepy during the day. Once diagnosed you have to inform the DVLA for them to liaise with the hospital. My problem was I couldn't stand the treatment to start with and therefore had to surrender my driving license. Using CPAP every night, as I have for the last 5 years, I am fine and there is no problem with DVLA. It is as well for anybody to seek medical attention if they think they might have this condition, stopping breathing while you are asleep is not good and even worse if you should choke and stop breathing altogether !!!
Sorry if I am waffling a bit ,but if anybody recognises the symptoms ----

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by svenrico

Dave, I think it depends on the degree of the condition. Mine was diagnosed after testing and monitoring by the sleep clinic as 'severe obstructive'. I didn't realise I had it until the doctor asked a standard list of questions and referred me to hospital. But, I knew something wasn't right because I kept waking up during the night and kept falling asleep during the day. So, yes it could affect driving if left untreated if you are sleepy during the day. Once diagnosed you have to inform the DVLA for them to liaise with the hospital. My problem was I couldn't stand the treatment to start with and therefore had to surrender my driving license. Using CPAP every night, as I have for the last 5 years, I am fine and there is no problem with DVLA. It is as well for anybody to seek medical attention if they think they might have this condition, stopping breathing while you are asleep is not good and even worse if you should choke and stop breathing altogether !!!
Sorry if I am waffling a bit ,but if anybody recognises the symptoms ----

No that was both useful and worrying, I've wondered if I had it on a number of occasions - I know I snore and I wake up a lot in the night and wake up feeling like crap but hard to differentiate between 'the usual' and sleep apnoea

[SV650rules]

Sleep aponea is already a question on the licence renewal at 70, but much younger people can suffer from it. The Aussies have the right idea about young drivers, fed up of 17 year olds getting into their parents 5 litre V8 and wrapping themselves and their mates around 'power poles' ( like a telegraph pole but on steroids, a lot of lectrickery in Aussie roads is run on wooden poles and goes into upper part of houses, just like phone wires used to do in UK ) - the Aussies made green 'P' ( probationer ) plates on car compulsory for first 12 months after passing test, If they are stopped by police for any 'moving traffic violation' in that time they lose their licence and have to retake, the blood alcohol limit is also 50% of normal limit, which IIRC was 0.05 - reduced to 0.025. It is also an offence to show 'L' plates on a vehicle not being driven by a learner, I recall the youngsters using magnetic L plates that were easy to apply and take off. Authorities are normally very reluctant to take older peoples licences away, as it reduces their mobility and makes getting older even harder to bear. If you notice though, all ages of driver are being squeezed by new regs, the truth is the driver is an endangered species and the powers that be want to get them off the roads and replace them with little 4 wheel drone vehicles controlled from a satellite, charged by the mile and tracked everywhere they go.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by svenrico

As things stand it is a fact that it IS a right and you are legally entitled to drive if you have passed the driving test and your vehicle is taxed and insured.

There is a difference between a right and an earned entitlement. Driving is NOT a right, when I was born I did not have the right to drive. I earned the entitlement to drive when I passed my test. This may seem like a semantic argument, but I think goes to the heart of the poor driving standards currently plaguing the UK. Everyone thinks they have a 'right' to drive - they do not. The privilege of driving un-supervised is earned through passing a test at the appropriate age. This privilege can be revoked through being un-fit due to health or by being found to not meet the required standards. A right cannot be legally withdrawn.

A lot of people seem to think they can drive like ****s because they have a 'right' to drive, when in fact they should be working to maintain their standards as the license (an earned privilege) to drive can be removed. If we were in the lucky position of having enough police officers to effectively police driving standards laws a lot more people would be losing their licences no matter their age.