To think that maybe elderly drivers need to re take their driving test?

[lonelyonee]

Title is to grab attention although not far off my point. (Long post sorry!).
My AIBU is AIBU to think that if you are driving on the roads which are mostly 30 mph that you should be indeed doing or at the very least near to the speed limit?
I'm sure it is still classed as a minor on your driving test if you are going too slow in a particular speed zone right?

Driving on my way home just, I was stuck behind a car who was being driven by an elderly male. That's fine if he can drive safely (I've seen 100 year old drivers & am aware some are fantastic!). My issue is he was driving EXTREMELY slow, sporadically 25mph then slowing down to around 10mph at points where there was no need to slow down or go that slow. So as this is happening I'm obviously having to slow right down almost to a stop with tonnes of traffic behind me. That's fine, annoying but it's not forever as long as the person behind me is paying attention.
What really made me angry (and made me alert them to being dangerous with my horn) was that he sped up quite a lot on the approach and to go around a very small roundabout with very high visibility to then whack his breaks on as soon as he got around it (not indicating to turn into anywhere or pull over). Obviously I then had to also do the same, and so did the cars behind me.
Now I'm not being funny but it's very dangerous for me to be doing stops like that as I am currently pregnant and it worries me driving with the seatbelt being across my bump area (I do tuck it as far down as possible but it's still a worry for me).
I was not going excessively fast, in fact I was going fairly slow as I was now used to him also going very slowly & was taken aback when he sped up.
The response I had from him and what I presume was his wife was her waving her hand at me as though I was in the wrong.
I have a feeling he was purposely brake checking me here.

Now being pregnant and hormonal I'm aware I may be being unreasonable (hence this post) but to just pop the icing on the cake they had to little stickers in their back window. One read: "I hope your insurance is as good as your brakes" and the other something regarding tailgating.
Makes me wonder if he is a serial slow driver and often gets people alerting him to his dangerous driving? Or they do this for fun in rush hour traffic?

Final question off the back of this to stimulate debate, should pensioners have to re take their test when they reach a certain age? After experiencing this I believe they do indeed.
Thanks for reading. I look forward to your responses/thoughts etc...

(Also as I've said I'm more conscious of these things now I'm pregnant, I'd like to keep us both safe!) He was going 25-30 mph as long as you were well enough back he wasn't a danger

Also as I've said I'm more conscious of these things now I'm pregnant, I'd like to keep us both safe!) He was going 25-30 mph as long as you were well enough back he wasn't a danger

Exactly.

There are measures such as high insurance costs and lower points maximums levied on high-risk young drivers. Measures such as curfews and passenger restrictions have been debated.

Some young drivers will mature with experience into decent drivers long term. With elderly drivers, some will always have been poor drivers, the same as any demographic. Some will have been good but the physical and mental processes have resulted in deterioration of their capabilities. Sometimes that can come on fairly abruptly.

Minimal checking of health and relying on self assessment does not work in ensuring safe standards of driving in an age group that is high risk for declining abilities.

The modus operandi of struggling elderly drivers may result in slower speeds and minor shunts and near-misses, rather than catastrophic collisions of faster, over-ambitious young drivers, but that doesn't mean that dawdling on in your own world, oblivious to other road users and conditions is safe, good driving. Although ending up on the wrong side of motorways/ dual carriageways/ roundabouts seems to be predominantly the domain of elderly drivers struggling to process their surroundings. Fortunately fairly unusual, but often catastophic to anyone caught up in the incident. Often incidents are avoided purely due to the observations and reactions of other road users.

Of course Not All Elderly People Are Like That. I hope that I will get as far as being old. I hope I can be a good driver into my older years. I hope that if my driving standard deteriorates, I have the sense to cease. Hopefully I'll be living in a situation where I am not wholly dependent on my car to be independent. My friend's parent is in the early stages of dementia and one of the early signs was the appearance of bumps and scrapes on the previously immaculate car. They live up the back end of nowhere and the other parent has never driven. Some hard decisions will have to be made at some point...

It is niave to pretend that deterioration of faculties isn't a hazard that doesn't affect a significant proportion of people at some point at they go through old age.

was going 25-30 mph as long as you were well enough back he wasn't a danger
It is if his actions trigger an accident.
The OP may well have given enough room and driven appropriately to stop, but if she has to pull an emergency stop due to the erratic driving of an elderly driver and the people behind go into her, then she is still part of an accident.
Of course the people behind would be at fault for their braking distances, but the root cause was a driver who wasn't fit to drive driving unpredictably and not in line with conditions.

We see it a lot on roundabouts in some places near me, older drivers with fluctuations in speed, driving up to an empty roundabout at speed and then slamming brakes on half over the line just to check what's coming. If there was something coming then there would have been an accident or near miss because they couldn't see enough to assess the roundabout. If there wasn't anything coming then they've just emergency stopped half way across a roundabout and caused mutliple other cars to do similar.

There's one set of lights where people routinely have to toot to get the driver in front to go on the green filter arrow. Another junction has a left filter lane and I've had to emergency stop because an older driver has abruptly stopped in the middle of the lane because there were lights for a different junction in the distance.

I drive safely and anticipate idiots, but that's neither here nor there to me if I'm in an accident prompted by the unsafe driving of someone else.

@Alsohuman of course it's also completely unlikely a pregnant woman would worry unnecessarily about having a bump at 20mph! Come on now. Women on this site ask if they're ok having supermarket brie in their final week of pregnancy.

Also, OP might have left plenty of space but it doesn't mean everyone behind her has. She could still be part of a collision if they're following too closely even if she isn't.

Agree, but I'd have everyone sit the far more stringent new test, and then test reflexes/ response time/ eye sight every 5yrs, more often after age 70.

I once overtook an elderly couple in a village, I didn't need to go faster than the 20mph which is a suitable speed for that particular stretch. The 500yr old driver didn't possess the skills to acknowledge the existence of his accelerator pedal as an aid to driving, but was alert enough to share a barrage of abuse about my maniacal speeding, being a stupid young girl etc and much fist waving. Without any concept that he wouldn't have had chance to share his views if I'd actually been speeding.

Japan probably has more elderly drivers than anywhere else and it is becoming a real problem: www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191025-how-japan-is-handling-more-ageing-drivers

In my own experience, it is possible for elderly people to hold on to their licences for a long time after when they are safe to drive, because apart from basic eye tests, the current system relies on either them or their doctors reporting any conditions that could affect driving ability, and there are no tests of (for example) reaction times, distractibility or muscle strength affecting emergency braking times.

My father is 82 and has been a wheelchair user with extremely limited strength in his legs for more than 15 years (as well as having diabetes, heart disease, poor hearing, chronic insomnia and numerous other conditions), but has always been able to renew his licence. Luckily he has not actually tried to drive in that time (he kept the licence as a form of ID) but it is scary to think that there was nothing legal to stop him, as there was no way he would be safe. He has now decided not to renew the licence this time round.

@drinkygin bit late for that, getting told I'm the bad driver for not causing an accident and having the audacity to be angry they could have caused one 😂
I reckon if they'd done this to someone with a short tempter they'd have either been plowed into or given a mouthful at the very least. (As we've discussed other people being very erratic and aggressive on the roads these days).
@KanelbulleKing as long as he's being safe and not causing potential danger then he's all good, but maybe does need to relax a little behind the wheel (driving isn't second nature for everyone, and I've known some very nervous drivers bless them).

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor @Alsohuman nope, as I said he sped up (over the speed limit I would guess) towards and over the roundabout which was strange, then came to a stop just over the roundabout. I still had to stop in a precarious position just over a roundabout. Not sure what you don't understand there. Yes I am fine but it could have been very different if myself and other road users weren't paying full attention. Thankfully I was watching him carefully and giving him a load of room after following him on several different roads (and was already suspicious he may be an accident claimer or whatever you would call the people who do this on purpose to get pay outs).
I guess I just think of every outcome and don't just think oh well in these situations.

I think everyone should retake their test every few years.
I have refused to get in the car with my mother in law since she was mid 40’s and I certainly wouldn’t class that as elderly!

@LolaSmiles @ActualHornist I'm glad you can understand what the situation was from my posts, and yes everything is a big deal in pregnancy, and safety of me and baby I think absolutely should be important. Even if I'm being over cautious. (Although I'm not going to ask silly questions regarding cheese choices don't worry! 😂).

I only really used the elderly in the title to get traffic and a proper conversation going as it got me thinking about the topic as I've said. Of course the stats for drink driving/drugs/ inexperienced drivers outweigh the elderly but my evenings narrative involved an elderly man so that's why it was mentioned.
So I expect those who do not RRFT/ post to remark only on the title and that's fine, but myself and others will defiantly elaborate 🙂

@exexpat sorry to hear about your dads health concerns, hope he's doing well. Glad he made the right decision to not renew, I don't think many people realise that they're also endangering themselves by driving with issues as they're so worried about not having the independence. There definitely should be something in place to monitor it or at least ensure people declare things.
Interesting about Japan, I've seen a lot of "funny" videos from there showing shocking driving/parking which people have made as entertainment but could cause serious harm to people. Then again I bet you could type into google bad drivers and you'd get thousands of videos from the U.K. also! (At least they're trying to do something about it and prevent the dangerous driving).

Also this:
I drive safely and anticipate idiots, but that's neither here nor there to me if I'm in an accident prompted by the unsafe driving of someone else. @LolaSmiles 👏🏻

We do what we can to be safe as that's what we can control. I cannot on the other hand control what other people are doing in their cars 🤷🏼‍♀️

I can worry about it though!!!! 😥😂

You need to drive to weather conditions so 10% below speed limit for instance isn't always appropriate. It's tricky though, because we have all been stuck behind them, but taking away their licence can leave them housebound. I wish they would tighten the site requirements though

I once followed a neighbour for approximately one mile home from the shops. Speed limit 30 but she was doing 20 to 25 at best all the way home. She was about 40 years old not elderly , but the most annoying thing was that she braked every time a car approached her on the other side of the road. Mind boggling!

@stucknoue true but if everyone had to retest at certain times/ages whichever would be more appropriate we'd (hopefully) have safer roads for everyone.
@Ken1976 that is annoying but not necessarily dangerous unless someone was paying zero attention and came like a bat out of nowhere behind you or them and caused an accident. Although it is very mind boggling I agree!
I'd love to know what the driver in my case was playing at but since I can't ask him we shall never know! (I'm still convinced he was doing it on purpose!).

Yanbu

I see so much dangerous driving from elderly drivers. Less so the young, perhaps because black boxes have been introduced.

The current process is that elderly drivers self certify every couple of years to the DVLA
They can reduce their risk by regular health checks, regular eye checks, not driving at night, not driving on unfamiliar roads

Non driving can take away some independence

There are good & bad drivers, old & young

It's also not just driving, it's other things that occur whilst driving like; animals in the road, accidents, weather, people doing unexpected things etc

I thought a re test was required every three years once you hit 70. I guess I must have dreamt that!

Definitely not !

Self certification

Absolutely, I know they have to reapply every 3 years at the age of 70. Whilst some as you say are very good the natural ageing process means their reflexes aren’t as good neither is their eyesight. Trouble is to a lot of them it is other people and they don’t acknowledge it.
My mother was a nightmare and getting her to stop caused bad feeling but got there in the end.

I don't think you could make a law on this as it would be ageist, especially as the stats don't back it up.
There was mention yesterday of the huge numbers using recreational drugs because you can buy it online now. Then there is all the people on sedatives or antipsychotic drugs who we hope take the correct amount and the young and reckless who have the worst stats.
I doubt it is just old people who are the problem - what about mums with screaming kids in the back??

In Ontario, drivers must pass a vision and written test at 80, with a driving test if the examiner thinks it is necessary.

You might be exasperated by this story: an 84 year old man, legally blind, was driving regularly, despite having had his license revoked 15 years ago; he ended up killing a young woman in an accident.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-meaghan-brown-parents-criminal-negligence-driving-1.5310408?cmp=rss

Why can no one who starts a driving thread, ever spell "brakes".