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Elderly Woman Causes Wrong-Way Crash

OilerBuck

Sweet Crude
This may rub a few people the wrong way, but i just saw it on the news and it made me REALLY angry. Something needs to be done to make renewing your license harder after you hit a certain age. It seems like I cross paths with several elderly drivers every day that have no business being on the road. They drive 45-50 mph down the highway causing backups, they don't pay attention to the lights and will sit there after a light turns green until you honk at them, and then there is a situation like this where their slowed reflexes and poor driving costs a person their life.

Before you get too upset about my harsh statements, imagine how angry you would be if your wife, mother or daughter was killed because of this type of ignorance. It really makes me mad.

Link

Wrong-Way Driver Causes Deadly Accident

Two people are dead after a driver going the wrong way on the freeway smashes head-on into another car.

The accident happened on I-270 on the north side, near the Cleveland Avenue exit.

Police say an Elderly woman drove the wrong way in an Oldmobile Olera on Interstate 270 this morning.

The woman died when her car hit an SUV with three people inside. One of the women inside was life-flighted to the hospital, but was later pronounced dead.

Spectators, visitors, and other drivers stood from the overpass above and below I-270 with binoculars and cameras to get a closer look at the head-on collison.

I-270 was shut down for a few hours until the traffic could be cleared.
 
I was vacationing in Naples, Fla. when I read a newspaper story about an elderly woman who drove for an ice cream cone.

She got her ice cream and got back into her car. Unfortunately, her car was parked behind a parking curb and only 10 yards from a bench attached to the outside of the building. Sitting on this bench, enjoying their ice cream were a brother (5) and sister (3).

The old lady inadvertantly put her car in drive instead of reverse....when she started to go up on the parking block....she missed the brake and, mistakenly, floored the car.....the car jumped the curb and the kids didnt stand a chance being stuck between a speeding car and a brick wall...

so...you know where i stand....
 
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I'm with you guys. I think that after a certain age (and I don't know what that should be...) elderly drivers should be re-tested every year to ensure that they've still got what it takes to drive a car. And if not, no license.
 
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I live right off of that exit, and I can see how it's possible to get on the freeway the wrong way there, but wow -- you'd really have to be almost completely senile to do it.

It's a lot easier to do on divided highways that aren't limited access. One time on my way down to OU, someone who must have been hammered ass drunk went flying past me at 100+ going the wrong way on the same side of the freeway. It was several seconds after he'd past me that I realized how close I'd just come to being a statistic. You're completely not expecting anything like that, and it just doesn't register.
 
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OilerBuck said:
This may rub a few people the wrong way, but i just saw it on the news and it made me REALLY angry. Something needs to be done to make renewing your license harder after you hit a certain age. It seems like I cross paths with several elderly drivers every day that have no business being on the road. They drive 45-50 mph down the highway causing backups, they don't pay attention to the lights and will sit there after a light turns green until you honk at them, and then there is a situation like this where their slowed reflexes and poor driving costs a person their life.

Before you get too upset about my harsh statements, imagine how angry you would be if your wife, mother or daughter was killed because of this type of ignorance. It really makes me mad.

Link
I think you are absolutely correct. Driving is not a RIGHT, it is a PRIVILEGE. I think there needs to be a test at age 65 just like there is at age 16, and then give a test every 10 years after that. Or to make it fair you could just give a driving test everyother time you renew your licence form age 16 and on. We had to take away my grandma's car several years ago because she was driving so dangerously. She would go 35 Mph down the interstate, drive though red stop lights, sit in the middle of green lights, and pull out in front of other drivers (she thought they were going too fast, so she would teach them a lesson). Some older people (70-90 years old) seem to revert back into a child like state. Do you want someone who acts like a child driving a vehicle in your neighborhood??

Should someone be able to drive if their reaction time, mental reasoning, and attention span are less than that of an average person that has had more than two or three drinks of alcohol?? I think for the most part I would rather see someone on the road that has a little buzz than someone who doesn't know what side of the interstate they are on.
 
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OilerBuck said:
Something needs to be done to make renewing your license harder after you hit a certain age. It seems like I cross paths with several elderly drivers every day that have no business being on the road. They drive 45-50 mph down the highway causing backups, they don't pay attention to the lights and will sit there after a light turns green until you honk at them, and then there is a situation like this where their slowed reflexes and poor driving costs a person their life.
A good part of the problem is in the testing. We don't test for reflexes, stamina, hearing, etc. We just test for the knowledge of the law, and for vision. Big deal. While it is more important, or more likely, that a senior will have problems with these tests / abilities, we don't even test youths for them. I believe everyone should be tested, and just increase the test frequency after a certain age. Maybe 65, as most agencies pick that area as a retirement age.
 
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Elderly drivers are terrable down here... since I've been here there was a woman who drove through a fence and into a pool, a guy who backed into the arrivals terminal at the airport and numerous other things. One that I have seen in person a few times is this: A car stops in the middle of an intersection and backs up when the light turns red and they don't go through... they leave the car in reverse and when the light turns green... they back into the car behind them because they never put in back into drive.
 
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I agree there should be mandatory testing, but it should be for all ages. I see plenty of very poor drivers and stupid driving does not fall into a specific age group.

I also would like to see use of handheld cellphones banned for all driving. If you want to drive use a headset. I believe a recent study said the reflexes of a young person using a cellphone when driving was the same as a 70 year old.
 
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I think everyone outside of the AARP membership is in agreement that the elderly and driving is a significant problem.

I don't think the problem goes away, however, unless a better system of public transportation is put in place. You can take away their licenses, but that doesn't mean they are going to stop driving--especially the most senile ones, who likely create the most problems. In my opinion, there's just no way to monitor all of the people who would fit into this demographic of problem drivers, and be able to regulate it in such a way as to keep them from driving...unless, the country lays down tracks for a massive system of public transportation that would afford older folks to get to where they need to go.

A lot of people think that taking away driving privileges is the last straw that breaks the pride of old folks. But I think everyone is in agreement that it's a small price to pay when compared to the devastation they create when they drive.
 
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BuckinMichigan said:
I also would like to see use of handheld cellphones banned for all driving. If you want to drive use a headset. I believe a recent study said the reflexes of a young person using a cellphone when driving was the same as a 70 year old.
I have actually identified what I call the "Evil Trinity" of bad driving. :evil:

1.) Women
2.) Eldery
3.) On a Cell Phone

Sadly, women live longer than men on average and talk on the cellphone more...so a growing percentage of drivers out on the roads actually complete that evil triangle. :lol:

I about got sideswiped by one the other day...it really melts my butter. :mad1:
 
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OilerBuck said:
I have actually identified what I call the "Evil Trinity" of bad driving. :evil:

1.) Women
2.) Eldery
3.) On a Cell Phone
There's a fourth element, when added to your above three, that makes it all the more devasting: the SUV (esp. for small women), and the bigger it is, the greater the potential severity of the accident.
 
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JohnnyCockfight said:
There's a fourth element, when added to your above three, that makes it all the more devasting: the SUV (esp. for small women), and the bigger it is, the greater the potential severity of the accident.
The one that almost hit me WAS in an SUV, it's all coming together now! :yow2:

I'm going to call it the evil trinity still, just because that's a catchy name. From this point forward, however, whenever I speak of the theory I will give homage to the SUV rule that can bind the trinity together to create a true wrecking ball of destruction. :lol:
 
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i agree that elderly people should be tested again in theory, but in practice i was quite hypocritical.


my grandpa had altzheimers. bad. anyways my grandma never ever drove a car and didn't have a license so he did all the driving.

the second to last words my grandpa ever said to me was basically accusing me of parking his car upside down with the wheels up in the air. the last words he ever said to me were 'chug-a-lug' as we tipped back our beers. the whole time he drove damn near every day. he even drove all the way to florida and back in that state. my grandma is still sharp to this day and would navigate.

anyways our whole family knew he had lost it and we all let him continue to drive. after what he did for his country there was no chance in hell i wasn't going to allow him to go out on his own terms. he earned the right to take some random people out with him in my book.

he never did have a car accident despite the altzheimers.

i would have felt pretty bad had he did kill someone, but i still believe that he earned the right to go out with no restrictions on his life.

he did later lose a leg and then would freak out about it everytime he realized his leg was gone. he died shortly thereafter.
worst part of altzheimers was that he didn't recognize his wife of 60 years or whatever at the end. he would wake up and wonder who the hell he was sleeping with. very hard on her for sure.
 
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