[Ozbrum]

I probably would be getting towards the catergory of 'Older' driver at least QBE insurance group seem to think so because they give me a 'Seniors' discount on my annual car insurance premium !

Some older drivers shouldn't be allowed on the roads I agree but by the same token nor should a lot of young cashed up bogan hoons that like to keep their local tyre dealer in business, and at the end of the day most of us like to think we're 'good drivers'.

 That's my two cents worth anyway from an 'Older' auto driver ...  

Cheers    

every one of us on this site will end being in the older driver category one day. most of us will end up being told eventually that its time to hand in the car keys.  

this post above is from 2i30s

I suppose I should have added my age to my above post .... I've just turned 60 in August and to someone of Martin88 age that will seem REALLY old but to someone say in their early fifties it won't seem that old.

 

[Surferdude]

I probably would be getting towards the catergory of 'Older' driver at least QBE insurance group seem to think so because they give me a 'Seniors' discount on my annual car insurance premium !

Some older drivers shouldn't be allowed on the roads I agree but by the same token nor should a lot of young cashed up bogan hoons that like to keep their local tyre dealer in business, and at the end of the day most of us like to think we're 'good drivers'.

 That's my two cents worth anyway from an 'Older' auto driver ...  

Cheers    

every one of us on this site will end being in the older driver category one day. most of us will end up being told eventually that its time to hand in the car keys.  

this post above is from 2i30s

I suppose I should have added my age to my above post .... I've just turned 60 in August and to someone of Martin88 age that will seem REALLY old but to someone say in their early fifties it won't seem that old.

 

Oh to be 60 again. 

[snowcherry]

I totally agree I was stupid to report.

I've done a bit of research and found that the National Standard has such gems to be reported as

Arthritis
High/low blood Pressure
Diabetes
Kidney disease
Hearing loss
Drinking alcohol ( not related to driving )
Pregnancy
Chronic mild depression
HIV/AIDS
Renal failure
Asthma
Sleep apnoea (snoring in your sleep)

I don't include the obvious ones such as elipesy and blindness, but you get the picture.

because one drives when they sleep??  ??? and i'm sure pregnant women would be pleased to know they have a 'condition'. which actually is still called a condition when getting one of those certificates to get maternity leave from work so i found out recently. 

But only if they're likely to affect your driving. 

exactly! 

[rustynutz]

Sleep apnoea (snoring in your sleep)

Sleep Apnoea is actually a sleep disorder characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing during sleep.
Common symptoms include loud snoring, restless sleep, and sleepiness during the daytime.

[2i30s]

Sleep apnoea (snoring in your sleep)

Sleep Apnoea is actually a sleep disorder characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing during sleep.
Common symptoms include loud snoring, restless sleep, and sleepiness during the daytime.

i have had sleep apnoea for over 30 years,i can stop breathing in my sleep for up to 3 minutes sometimes according to my wife. i also suffer from insomnia and usually only get around 3-5 hours sleep each night. if I'm lucky. 

[Dazzler]

and i'm sure pregnant women would be pleased to know they have a 'condition'. which actually is still called a condition when getting one of those certificates to get maternity leave from work so i found out recently. 

Sounds like congratulations are in order...

[2i30s]

and I'm sure pregnant women would be pleased to know they have a 'condition'. which actually is still called a condition when getting one of those certificates to get maternity leave from work so i found out recently. 

Sounds like congratulations are in order...

snows up the duff. 

[snowcherry]

Sleep Apnoea is actually a sleep disorder characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing during sleep.
Common symptoms include loud snoring, restless sleep, and sleepiness during the daytime.

yup, i was tested for sleep apnoea myself. i don't have this but seems i don't fall into REM. and i have insomnia and don't sleep well generally. [should i report this?  ]

Sounds like congratulations are in order...

  cough splutter cough not friggin likely!!   

[Dazzler]

Sounds like congratulations are in order...

  cough splutter cough not friggin likely!!   

  Settle Petal  Your previous post sure sounded like it....

[snowcherry]

Sounds like congratulations are in order...

  cough splutter cough not friggin likely!!   

  Settle Petal  Your previous post sure sounded like it....

lol no the girl who sits next to me at work, i hear more than i want to most days..... 
 some scary weird stuff

[2i30s]

like the sands through an hour glass,these are the days of our lives. 

[Lorian]

sleep apnoea can be assesed objectively by monitoring blood oxygen saturation with a (finger) pulse oximeter.  I know this as I have a family member who had it, and eventually tonsils and adenoids removal cured it.

[rustynutz]

Losing weight can do wonders too......

[asathorny]

The ageist argument comes up with boring regularity, me thinks.   It begs two questions.

1.  which group of drivers are most likely to be involved in fatal accidents.

2.  Oh sh*t, I am too old to remember what the second thing was...

Anyhow, my insurance premiums are really low because I am an older driver which suits me down to the ground   

I have been a driver for 50yrs I have never injured anyone with my car, bus or the trucks I have driven, like most of us oldies I take it easy which means that, in the unlikely event I did crash into something or someone, we'd all walk away from it.

Just wanted to have a little rant, thank you for listening..

asathorny

[eye30]

I concure with what you say as an experience driver of 40+ years.

Recently I was driving down a road and had to take evasive action as a car backed out of a drive way without checking it was clear.

I realised something was a miss as I could see a reflection of white lights, reversing lights, in the window of a house opposite this driveway.

Now I can't say for certain that because of experience etc I noticed it or was it that I checking out the view in the bedroom and thought...................

[Lorian]

Losing weight can do wonders too......

Only if the patient is overweight 

[Dazzler]

I don't think any amout of driving experience will avoid that once in a lifetime freak accident but I am a very defensive driver always looking for potential hazards.. of which there are plenty..

Things not secured properly on a trailer in front of you..

Someone indicating to turn but not slowing down..

People slowing down but not indicating...

Peoples front wheels starting to turn (but no indicators)...

Bottlenecks in the road ahead...

Animals and young kids close to the edge of the road...

It really is a minefield out there...

I've heard of some shocking freak accidents (even here in sparsely populated tassie)

We had a young bloke recently decapitated only 10kms from where I live by a medium sized flat tray truck that slid on the wet roads.. and a few years back a bloke was driving through a small country town and a piece of timber sticking out of a parked utility went straight through the windscreen of his car and killed his wife instantly  

[Surferdude]

Daz, we've probably all had or seen the results of some of those freak accidents. Maybe a specific topic on members' experiences might be usefull and add to the store of experience of us all as a group (especially some of the younger ones).

Or would it be too scary?

[Dazzler]

Guess we could put a warning in the heading (Beware: contains some graphic decriptions)

[JeremyOfPerth]

I'n not quite older driver yet, but I've had just on 40 years experience due to starting driving at 13, and then legally at 15 

The secret of my success in cars (zero accidents, zero tickets) is a few years riding motor-bikes. I had a couple of minor accidents in NZ and one major one where a church organist decided it was a good idea to do a 3 point turn round a blind corner on a very narrow two lane road on the side of a mountain. Result write-off bike and car. I walked away unscathed!

Then I moved to Western Australia and spent a year discovering that all West Australian drivers had a secret plant to kill me on my bike. If nothing else it made me the most cautious rider/driver ever. Anticipation is my second name.

I've also just gone through the agony of teaching my kids to drive.  The techniques I'd learned over the years became verbalised (often very loudly as my foot pressed uselessly on the floorpan)

"Your accellerator is your best brake"
"keep your distance"
"anticipate"
"That guy who just cut you off will slow and turn left very soon"
"Drive away from the most dangerous side - different road position technique for country & city driving"
"Simply because their indicator is on doesn't mean they will turn"
"don't swerve. You've got very good brakes. Use them"
"ALWAYS look left and right before you pull away on the light change"

etc etc.

That's a good list Jeremy and what an enviable driving record.

I offered admittedly a very tenuous possible reason in the OP why older drivers get the pedals confused which causes them to drive into things.

Implicit in this was also that only older drivers do this but given that it's most often the case, anyone want to suggest why, seeing as how my "auto bashing" didn't strike a chord?

[JeremyOfPerth]

Implicit in this was also that only older drivers do this but given that it's most often the case, anyone want to suggest why, seeing as how my "auto bashing" didn't strike a chord?

It may well be due to being older. In that you when think you are doing one thing something else happens and instead of reacting you just keep on doing the same thing.

Perhaps stimulus overload leads to the automatic reaction?

It would be a good topic for some PhD student to develop a test system that can assess your ability to react to unexpected responses. It doesn't seem to be included in any medical examination (re my own experience with compulsory medical examination).

Sort of related, when under extreme duress people switch off various senses - those that are not needed right then. For example in gun massacres. The survivors fall into two categories. Those who heard the gunshots and those who didn't. It turns out that if you can see  the gunman you switch off hearing as you need all your brainpower for looking. At the same time those in hiding clearly heard every shot.

Personally, I heard almost no sound when standing on the running skid of a Huey about to jump off in a helicopter rappell - a long way down to the ground. Yet I could feel the texture on the skid, the fit of the gloves, the tension on the rope and the downwash.

Actually on one of the jumps, one of my co-jumpers got stuck! They had to lower the copter to the ground and free him. What they found had stuck was his hand. He had simply gripped the rope with incredible force - probably unconciously.

So in the car thing, my theory is that when the unexpected happens, the brain switches off to concentrate on pressing as hard as possible on the pedal.

[snowcherry]

I offered admittedly a very tenuous possible reason in the OP why older drivers get the pedals confused which causes them to drive into things.

Implicit in this was also that only older drivers do this but given that it's most often the case, anyone want to suggest why, seeing as how my "auto bashing" didn't strike a chord?

i'm not sure, but my own reply was quite simple, if they get confused they shouldn't drive. but i explicitly left out age. i think a driver of any age should not drive if easily confused. if that relates to older drivers more often, than perhaps they are succumbing sadly to dementia or similar aged issue. these issues can affect younger drivers as well though. if a family member thinks someone is having difficulty driving then their skills should be re-assessed. on the flip side many aged people don't suffer any cognitive or physical determents, so it's difficult to band all aged drivers under one category.

[JeremyOfPerth]

From the internet

[AlanHo]

I suppose some of you would regard me as an older driver at 73 years old. In 1985 I went to work in the Middle East - Originally for just two years - which turned out to last for 12 years. This included a couple of 6 month assignments in the USA. I had never driven an auto car before working abroad but soon got used to it starting with a Mazda 3, then a Hyundai Sonata, two Dodge Intrepids, a Ford Falcon, Toyota Cressida and finally a Lexus. With the exception of the Sonata they were all fine cars of their day.

Upon my return home to the UK I have owned a series of automatic cars - Toyota Corolla, Toyota Avensis, Audi A6, Audi A3 Sportback and Audi A4 Avant until my recent conversion to a manual car in the form of an i30 1.6 CDI Premium.

I lost my wife to lung cancer in 2004 and a couple of years ago met a widow who had also lost her husband with the same disease.  To cut a long and lovely story short we married last year. I tell you this because it has a bearing on why I have an i30.

A few months ago my wife decided to swap her hyundai Amica for a new i10. I went to the dealership with her and waited in the showroom whilst she was off having a test drive (I was not allowed to accompany her because she finds me too judgemental - even though I consider her to be  a good driver and never ever say anything – but she claims to know what I am thinking!!!). To pass the time I took a look at the i35 and i30 and finished up taking the i30 1.6 CDi manual out for a spin. I was very impressed – so much car for so little money compared with an equivalent Audi, road tax £200 less than my A4 Avant and fuel consumption 15 mpg the better. So I ordered one.

I toyed with the idea of the auto version but disliked the 4 speed gearbox, the inferior fuel consumption and the higher road tax band. The auto box never felt like it was in the right gear (in fairness I had been spoilt by previously having Audi DSG and Multitronic autoboxes).

So having owned auto cars for 25 years – I am back to a manual and very comfortable with it.

Over the past 5 years or so I am aware that my driving style has changed. I no longer feel a compulsion to hurtle from A to B as quickly as possible and tend to drive more smoothly, with an eye on fuel saving, safety on ever crowded roads and the comfort of my passenger(s). Despite this – I still seem to get to my destination almost as quickly as before.

[Dazzler]

Thanks for that Alan.. A very interesting and enlightening post 

[Surferdude]

Very well written, Alan.

I suppose some of you would regard me as an older driver at 73 years old.

Jeez yes, you beat me... by 8 years you old bastard.  

Over the past 5 years or so I am aware that my driving style has changed. I no longer feel a compulsion to hurtle from A to B as quickly as possible and tend to drive more smoothly, with an eye on fuel saving, safety on ever crowded roads and the comfort of my passenger(s). Despite this – I still seem to get to my destination almost as quickly as before.

hallelujah... is Alan a saviour? a prophet? the messiah, or just someone that sees the evil in autos?

Or then again, just an old buggar that had forgotten how much fun it is to drive enthusiastically? Nah, I'm going for someone that appreciates the value of being close to the machine. It's not really explainable..

[eye30]

The last few years I've been driving to and from work "outside" the core rush hour.

I find by leaving at 7:40 am rather than 8:10 am and again at 4:10 pm rather than 5:00 pm I find the roads are "empty", no mad rushs between traffic light, a smoother ride and to top it all my MPG has risen substantually.

[Surferdude]

I suppose some of you would regard me as an older driver at 73 years old.

Jeez yes, you beat me... by 8 years you old bastard.  

And me by 10. (and a bit)