Another accident brought to you by a senior

[VTEC_Inside]

I went with a buddy of mine to pick up a screen tent or some crap that he found on Kijiji last night.

We got back to my house at about 10pm and were standing outside shooting the shit when we hear a slight screach and then !CRASH!

My buddy is a bit of a scanner (radio) nut and has a police scanner that he built into the center armrest console so I told him to flick the thing on.

Sure enough, like 4 blocks over and 1 down, accident.

Since we had nothing better to do we hop back in his Vue and head over there.

Jist of it (as told by the kids in the Aerostar):
Old guy in Concorde lightly rear ends couple kids in an Aerostar. They exchange quick info and agree to head to the cop shop not 5min away to fill out a report. While turning around he hits a car in a driveway, backs out hits another car.

They start following him, he jumps onto a sidewalk, has to back off it. (at this point I believe he was trying to jet) He then runs a red light, side swipes an oncoming Caravan just aft of the Drivers door taking out the rear tire, and then plows straight into the drivers front corner of a Cab (another Caravan coincidence?)

When we got there everyone was standing on the sidewalk, cops were there, ambulance, and one firetruck.

This old guy looked like the poster child for why seniors should be tested regularly at some point. He was standing alright, but it almost seemed like he had dementia or something, lights were on, no one home. Any thought of sympathy for his "condition" was quickly tossed aside as we surveyed the damage he had caused over the course of a couple minutes. He could have killed several people quite easily, those in other vehicles AND pedestrians.

I took a couple shitty pics of the aftermath with my cellphone but still have to get them off it.

[280Z Turbo]

[Submariner]

Fucking old people...ruined my day too.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Fucking old people...ruined my day too.

It's all good. Today, I saw a rather large, old person drop his credit cards on the floor, and I didn't help him. He almost fell over! Ha!

[omicron]

I have little sympathy for the elderly. I'm doing society a favour and downing a case of wine and a bag of pills at 30.

[FoMoJo]

You guys are just mean , but that's okay.  I thought the same way when I was a young punk.  There were a lot of older people who I just wished would die .

I figured it would be all over by the time I was 50.  I almost wished that I'd crash and burn before then, but it didn't happen.  The funny thing is, I don't think or feel much different.  But I do get a kick out of young punks who get so indignant when old guys poke a bit of fun at them...talk about being 'grumbly'.

Really, it's not the old you need to be concerned about; other than the odd fender bender.  It's the middle-aged.  They're the ones who are going to create all the problems for you; especially when they reach their midlife crisis.  Not only are they going to spend all their money on trying to relive their youth, they're going to try and steal all your women .

[JWC]

FoMoJo is right.

I read the local news everyday online.  There were four accidents in the past couple of days...no one over the age of 40 was involved.  There was a report of a court continuation for a 21yo woman who flipped her SUV over while driving too fast and killed her 20yo friend.  There was also an update to a wreck that happened weeks ago, 2009 Mustang, 23yo, lost control hit three trees and landed in a creek.  Three dead, two survivors, including the driver....five people in a Mustang....jeez.

Most of the old people around here hit the gas instead of the brakes and hit a building.  Most of the younger drivers kill people.

[Raza]

Old people don't generally drive fast enough to cause any real damage, unless they plow into pedestrians. 

[FoMoJo]

Old people don't generally drive fast enough to cause any real damage, unless they plow into pedestrians. 

You should see all the blue-haired old women on their way to garage sales early Saturday mornings out my way.  It's best to avoid being outside then.  I feel sorry for all the cats and squirrels that can't get out of the way in time.

[JWC]

You should see all the blue-haired old women on their way to garage sales early Saturday mornings out my way.  It's best to avoid being outside then.  I feel sorry for all the cats and squirrels that can't get out of the way in time.

My experience is that this true every Saturday morning and isn't restricted to those over 70.   But, teens are scarce, they all stayed up too late Friday night to get up early. 

[Raza]

I haven't seen Saturday morning since the last time I got my car serviced. 

[Tave]

I love Saturday mornings. I always feel like such a boob when I sleep in and miss out on a quarter of my weekend.

[Raza]

I love Saturday mornings. I always feel like such a boob when I sleep in and miss out on a quarter of my weekend.

By Friday night I'm so exhausted I could go to sleep the second I get home from work.  But I soldier on until 1 or 2AM and there's no way I'm getting up at 8 the next day.  I do regret missing that time, but sleep never hurts. 

[TurboDan]

While seniors drive slow, they generally don't get into many accidents. They can be a pain but do they drive outright dangerously? Usually not. People really should have a little more patience with them. They're usually just trying to go to the store to get some groceries or something.

I maintain that the people who drive most dangerously are young men in pickup trucks. The things I see this group of people do on a daily basis continues to absolutely stun me. But it seems like they rarely get pulled over for some reason.

Teenagers are also pretty poorly, though that's usually just stupidity and inexperience - they often misjudge road curvatures and get into single-vehicle accidents while driving too fast for the conditions and/or the road on which they are traveling. Only problem is that they travel in packs, so there are more likely to be passengers who can get injured or killed, upping the death count.

[James Young]

Seniors drive far fewer miles than younger drivers so their risk per unit of time ? the year of an insurance policy ? is very low but their risk per mile driven actually increases. 

It may also be beneficial for us to distinguish between the risks of younger people ? errors of judgment, overestimation of personal skills or abilities of vehicles ? and the risks of older drivers ? loss of motor skills, confusion, etc. 

I do not condemn senior drivers but do support skills and cognizance testing at intervals or if triggered by certain behaviors.

Full disclosure:  I am on the cusp of ?seniordom? since I will be 65 later this year.

[AutobahnSHO]

My wife's grandpa lost his eyesight around 2000. He was around 70yrs old. So his wife, who was also around 65yrs old, and who had NEVER DRIVEN went and got her license so they could get around.

After grandma hit a city bus, managed to put the car into the Wal-mart "cart corral", and other assorted incidents, my MIL talked them into moving near her, and giving up the license..

[giant_mtb]

She didn't have to go through driver's training?

[dazzleman]

She didn't have to go through driver's training?

That was probably with driver's training.....

[AutobahnSHO]

She didn't have to go through driver's training?

She somehow passed that. US driver's ed is a joke.

Took her 4 tries to pass the licensing test......  Which are also a joke. 

[giant_mtb]

If it takes you 4+ tries to pass the test, you have issues and probably should not be driving.  Obviously.

[TurboDan]

License tests are easy. Around here they don't even make you drive on the road. My driving test was at a local airport. One of the old runways that they don't use anymore is leased by the state and they set up a few cones and test new drivers. The only reason anyone fails is because they test parallel parking in NJ, which is something most kids can't do for some reason.

After you pass the test, they give you a piece of paper and you have to go to one of the DMV offices and get your actual license. Although now the kids have to get graduated licenses which means they can't drive after midnight or with more than one other person under 21 in the car (or something like that). However, whenever I'm driving near a high school it would appear nobody follows the law anyway. And teens still gather at all the local hangouts after midnight with their cars.

There is one proposal in NJ that's gaining steam which would require all teen drivers to display a "teen" sticker somewhere on their car. I'm sure the child molesters will love that one. There's no way in hell I'd ever let me kid drive around with something like that on their vehicle.

[AutobahnSHO]

If it takes you 4+ tries to pass the test, you have issues and probably should not be driving.  Obviously.

Obviously. I say anything more than 2 requires you retake driver's ed.

AND driver's ed should be more like Germany: something like 40-80hrs ON THE ROAD, with half being at night and/or Autobahn.