Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Elderly Drivers????

I was just watching one of those stupid "MOST SHOCKING MOMENTS" TV shows and this one was on deadly driving and I noticed something.

Every other one was someone elderly. Of course you had your drunk or high idiots...... But the next clip was of grandma, and she hit the gas instead of the brake and mowed down a crowd of people. Or grandpa's going down the wrong side of a divided highway at 60 MPH.

I wonder how much this is true sometimes. I look at my grandparents and I start seeing it. Hes gotten pulled over more times ten fold then me in the past 5 years and hasn't gotten a ticket.

In fact he got pulled over yesterday for doing 15mph over and the cop let him off with a warning, and not kidding, it said this on the warning, "must take Betty out for a nice dinner or face getting a ticket in the mail". If that were me i would have gotten a ticket without a second guess.

Danged old geezers, every one of them should be run off the road the minute they turn 50.

Yep! A big part of the problem is geezers drivine 10-15mph under the speed limit and azzholes driving 10-15mph OVER the speed limit. Even on an interstate that is a really bad and potentially harmful combination.

My mother always drove like a bat outta hell, regardless of how many different meds she was on, right up until she azz-ended the vehicle in front of her and bumped it into another car. We yanked her driving privileges at that point.

Dad had two or three fender-benders in various parking lots before he voluntarily gave up his driving. Thankfully, no one was hurt before he quit and also moved himself into a nursing home. He turned 87 Friday...... He probably wouldn't have lived very much longer if he'd continued driving. Hell, he couldn't drive worth a damn when he was 40............... He'd always lived out in the sticks and couldn't handle traffic worth a damn. Two more cars on the road was heavy traffic for him, at that.

It's all about experience ...
I was told that one can safely drive the number of MPH as the number of years they are old.
But I don't think my car will do a 100.

Dad turned 87 last Sat. and just returned from a road-trip.

Drove from N. La. to New Mex. then up through Ok. City to Cabot, Ar., to get fishing bait, then back home.

Knock-on-wood, he hasnt had a wreck, that I can remember, and only one speeding ticket.

Well, when I leave this world, I want go peacefully in my sleep like grandad. The passengers with him were screaming though.

That's a winner!

My Mom drove until she was 92. First time she failed her every three month 'wellness/fitness' check up, she handed in her keys, sold her car.
I don't recall she ever had a ticket. She was a helluva good driver.

My Grand-mother was a Christian nut that absolutely believed that God would keep her alive whenever she drove straight through the stop signs, give way signs, red lights, and intersections...she scared the living [bleep] out of me!

One of my brothers went to Queensland with her to visit relatives and had such a terrifying experience that he would never get into a vehicle with her again.

The woman was a raving lunatic when behind the wheel of a car, and you have no idea how pleased we were when she gave up her licence. I lived a whole state away from her, and didn't feel safe went she went for a drive.

Most of the accidents around here are caused by elderly people, and women drivers.

However, in a stark contrast, most of the fatalities are caused by people under 30.

Maybe she should have spent more time reading the Bible instead of driving. She'd have read how Christians are to obey the law. Expecting God to protect her when she breaks the law? It also says that we are not to put the Lord to the test. He wasn't protecting her but rather the other innocent people on the road.

Yep...when you start 'shakin off' and hear the meat a flappin on the end.....it's a done deal!! May as well put a 230 gr. hardball through each ear hole!!

Nothing but Precious Memories left!

There's always that horseshirt about statistics showing that elderly drivers are the safest drivers. Says a lot about statistics.

I'm a driving instructor and I took my Mom's driving license when she drove over a curb stop and hit the car on the other side. I drive her wherever she wants to go. My Aunt's friend just lost her insurance. She is 90 and is crying about it. She has hit several people. Well, you can't drive an uninsured car here. Driving requires good reflexes and they fade. There's nothing we can do about it. The statistics show that there is a learning curve and experience makes you a safer driver... to a point. Then when motor skills go with age, accidents go up again. There's nothing you can do. Then there's eyesight. I get a new license every 5 years. The elderly have to go in every two and they get their eyes checked. There's a reason.

If you have a loved one that you think is a danger on the road, you can request they be road tested. The driving schools usually provide road testing as a service. It's easier for a lot of people to have an instructor make the call. I've had to do it a few times. I also drove a half dozen little old ladies around for a good part of my life. It's not like there's an effect. People's lives don't just end.

I've seen it go the other way too and had parents want their kids tested, and I've seen parents take their kid's licenses. Teenagers are a menace too. I tell my students that I've been rear ended at stop signs and lights about 10 times and it's 50/50 between teenagers and old people. We have the worst drivers in the Country in Rhode Island too. Year after year. We have one of the highest insurance rates too. We have the highest insurance fraud rage here as well. Our premiums reflect the losses to the vultures and deadbeats.

Let me guess, you saw "christian nut" and "raving lunatic" so you felt the need to proselytise at me?

My dad had 2 at fault accidents in his late 70's. The last one totaled 2 cars. I'm still not sure dad was truly at fault on that one. He was confused and did not clearly explain what happened to the officer. The other guy kept his mouth shut and let dad take the blame. At best the 2nd car was 50% responsible. That was the last time he drove.

Mom is 8 years younger than dad and did all the driving for about 8 years. At 80 we finally convinced mom she had no business driving. It was much harder to get mom to stop than dad.



Elderly drivers and female drivers of any age tend to have far more accidents than males under 25. But insurance companies pay out far more in claims on male drivers under 25. There is a big difference in backing into another car in a parking lot, or hitting a mailbox which is the most common accident for women and elderly. The young males are the ones who drive off the road at 100+ killing 4-5 people and end up getting sued for a million dollars. Insurance companies only look at the dollars they pay out, not the total number of accidents.

I'll take them over the bird-chit-brained YOUNG idiots texting/yakin' on their PHONES every day and twice on Sunday...

GET OFF THE DAMN PHONE AND DRIVE!!

Just making it clear that what you call a 'Christian nut' and what a Christian is are far removed from each other.

i just saw it the other day. i came up to a scene with cops all over it and saw one of those giant concrete pots that they plant trees in was smashed and pushed out onto the road from a bank parking lot. saw a car all mangled up on the curb on the other side. now mind you, this car came from a small parking lot with enough speed to push a giant concrete pot full of dirt and a big tree about 10 feet and continue on its way across the street and crunch into a high curb. little old lady sitting in the drivers seat. looked about 100. didn't take a genius to figure out what happened. thank god nobody was in her way.

years ago i had an old neighbor in his 80's. he insisted on driving even though both legs were basically dead below the knees from diabetes and would eventually come off. he was backing into his driveway, nailed the gas,smashed into his house, dropped it into drive, nailed the gas again and shot across the street and up the front porch steps of another house and had his foot jammed into the gas until the rear tires were smoking. the neighbor came out and turned the key off.