Halloween Tale

[Bluepete]

I think a licence is a privilege too. After all, you can have privileges removed, but not your rights.

Plus it was a woman, so why are we all acting so surprised?





Only joking, honest!

You folks best be carefull. I would be surprised if say the 70 to 85 year old age group cause more accidents than say 25 to 40 year olds. Who of course have all of their faculties and bodilly functions in full control,dont they?

Originally Posted by Ping

How can it be a privilege to have a licence? You do your training, you take your test, you pay for your vehicle, pay to tax and insure it... In a free world it is NOT a 'privilege' that someone on high has seen to grant the masses.

Yes, re-test, re-train to keep safe standards but by no means should you consider it a privilege to drive. That's utterly ridiculous. If you attain the standards required for safe driving it is your RIGHT to do so.

When I get a mo' I'll retrieve the legal quote I was referring to.

Originally Posted by BluePete

I think a licence is a privilege too. After all, you can have privileges removed, but not your rights.

Plus it was a woman, so why are we all acting so surprised?





Only joking, honest!

Of course you can have your rights removed. 'Rights' are just something that parliment grant you, and something that they can take away.

I agree with Ping, driving isn't a privilage. It's deeply depressing that the government has such a strangle hold over everyones lives that they can convince anyone otherwise. Although I wouldn't consider driving a 'right' (see my point above).

what do you first think when you read the following
20 yr old blond female drives 5 miles up moter way on the wrong side. cause's multi car crash
20 yr old chav male drives 5 miles up moter way on the wrong side. cause's multi car crash
40 yr old mum drives 5 miles up moter way on the wrong side. cause's multi car crash

each one has done the same thing, but what do you really think when reading.
age is not the problem at the end. the "person" is at fault. caused multi car crash plus all the other problems. Banned for 5 years and have to resit. the crash ? wouldnt like to say on that. Fined and ??

Originally Posted by Ping

How can it be a privilege to have a licence? .

Cos you have to prove you are worthy to have it!!!!!

I think there should be regular assesment after a certain age, nothing major, but an eyesight test, a reaction test, and an assesment of ones driving. If the assessor deems you unfit to drive, you have one more chance (to allow for the occasional "off" day we all have) but between those assesments you are not allowed to drive

Matt

Originally Posted by neio79

Cos you have to prove you are worthy to have it!!!!!

Nobody has ever won an argument starting with 'cos' ...

Originally Posted by neio79

Cos you have to prove you are worthy to have it!!!!!

Privilege:
a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor ; especially : such a right or immunity attached specifically to a position or an office.

It is NOT a privilege.
You do your training, you reach the standard necessary to pass the test. By doing so you acquire your RIGHT to drive until such a time as you give reason to disqualify you.

Originally Posted by Pedrosa

You folks best be carefull. I would be surprised if say the 70 to 85 year old age group cause more accidents than say 25 to 40 year olds.

I think you'd be surprised how close the two groups are, in terms of "accidents per person". The latest research shows old folk are not, in fact, the safe slow drivers insurers have assumed them to be all these years. They are in fact the main party responsible for pulling out on people at junctions (poor eyesight/reactions are blamed as the main cause, although both are associated with old age). Oddly, insurance quotes seem not to have caught up with this yet, but then, they don't reflect many things particularly accurately in terms of cost vs risk, so that's hardly surprising.

As someone else mentioned, there's also the other associated risk of anti-socially slow driving (which whilst not exclusive to old people, is certainly more prevalent amongst them). I know it's the 'fault' of the impatient knobber in a car who does a dodgy overtake and has a head-on after being stuck behind someone doing 25 in an NSL for 10 miles, but it's caused by slow drivers. If people (young and old) are incapable of driving close to the speed limit in good conditions (HGVs etc. obviously excepted), they are probably incapable of good vehicle control at slower speeds too.

As to the healthcheck every 3 years, I was under the impression that this was an unenforced legal requirement and that the onus was on people to get themselves checked and 99% of them didn't bother to and many weren't even aware that it was required? I've also not heard of insurers insisting on proof of this are renewals time.

It's a sad state of affairs; many people even when retired do need a car/bike, irrespective of what environmentalists/people who've never left central London think. Labour's centralisation of NHS hospitals, GP practices and Post Offices has made this even more the case. I suspect that part of the problem is with an inadequate public transport system in most of the country, many older drivers who realise they are probably past it continue to drive as they have little alternative. I respect old people generally (aside from when they try to push in queues ) and definately think that the many good older drivers who are still in complete control of their vehicles (often bolstered by a huge amount of driving experience) shouldn't be penalised with draconian measures introduced to deal with the batty/incompetent/nearly blind, etc.

I would like to see people like the slow-reacting, myopic and arrogant 90 year old (who genuinely seemed to believe he had done nothing wrong) who pulled out on me on a roundabout off the road. Even when he was found to be at fault (and by multiple independent witnesses too), he still didn't think he'd done anything wrong. I suspect he still drives in the same dangerous manner. He is much more of a threat than most of the <25 boy racers I see around town in Corsas etc. As an aside, I also suspect that prosecutions against people of his age are brought less frequently as, it's seen as "oh he's just getting on a bit", rather than "this young blood needs to be slowed down before he hurts someone".