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...

I think we should all have to take our test every 10 years even though I bet I would need lessons and possibly fail.
I assume it would be possible to take the test before the end of the ten years so if I failed I could do some lessons and resit. If I keep failing the roads would be safer without me. I have to resit a test to drive a minibus every 4 years

As long as we have a public transport system which is totally inadequate, and a belief system that the only need for a person in their 70s is to get to a shop and the doctors, we'll have people tempted to carry on driving longer than they should.

Yep. People drive to see friends and family. This is such a strong motivator that it overrides a lot. On any of the "plane journeys are so bad for carbon emissions" threads you rarely see "but my sun holiday" or even "but my job". The thing you see a lot is "but my family, but my friend's wedding". People who do their recycling and avoid plastic and turn vegetarian still get in a plane to see family and friends. It is such a strong motivator.

I can say with confidence I am capable of passing.

I can say with confidence that, unless you passed your test last week, you have no idea whether or not you’d pass. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t.

@Alsohuman I can say with confidence my eyesight and hearing is perfect, my reactions are sharp and I’m confident behind the wheel. Probably won’t be able to say the same when I’m 80. Therefore I’ll trade my car keys for a bus pass.

YANBU.
Some do need to retake their test.
Considering driving tests were only introduced 84 odd years ago and very very different to what they are now I agree that some should retake their test. Especially the ones who are older than 84 and never had to take a test.

I can hear one of my neighbours coming a mile off. Can't find grind it seems to be her moto.

Can't find it*

I was taught that a speed limit was not a target to aim for.

You drive to the conditions at the time ie weather type of road, well lite no lights, country roads , poor visibility etc

Re test at 65 then every 5 yrs.

@drinkygin, I can truthfully say all those things too. I can also say with complete and utter confidence that I have no idea whether or not I’d pass a driving test now. Because I’m not arrogant and full of myself.

I think a re-test for all should be done.

As for the " retest every 10 years". Why ten? My dad went from being a good, capable driver as able as me or anyone else on this thread of passing a test, to a bit crap at direction finding and a slight loss of mental agility, to unsafe to drive, through a gradual loss of function to unable to dress himself, in a nursing home, unable to walk, then barely able to speak, then dead from dementia in about 7 years. He went from probably test- passing to borderline passing but still safe to actually unsafe and unfit to drive in about a year and a half. Eyesight, arthritis limiting neck movement and other age related issues can easily progress at a similar rate.

A bit like any NHS screening test designed to save lives, you need to consider the logistics and cost of testing along with the frequency of testing for it to "catch" enough people to be worthwhile (probably every year after 70- this still wouldn't have caught my dad who had long stopped driving and couldn't dress himself or pour a bowl of cornflakes by 70), the "false positives" (people who fail through exam nerves who are actually safe) and "false negatives" (people who concentrate like mad to hide dementia and pass the test but are significantly less capable when not putting on a show) and the human cost of limiting freedom if you err on the side of pulling licences if in doubt; balanced against lives saved/human and financial cost of serious injury avoided, and work time and money saved through avoiding minor injury and cars pranged, by catching and removing unfit drivers through the screening test mechanism.

Not arrogant but confident I’m a safe driver. Absolutely gobsmacked at the amount of people who feel they’re not to be honest quite worrying really!

Sex demographics and social norms re: gender roles are likely to play a part too. The average married couple has a husband 2 or 3 years older than his wife, and thus a couple of years closer to debility. But who also does the lion's share of the driving including most of the "difficult bits" *NAMALT. Also statistically more likely to overestimate his abilities compared to his wife- who is herself knocking on in years and a bit less confident than she used to be, through age and not getting as much "use it or lose it" practice as her husband. Perhaps he grits his teeth and keeps doing the difficult bits rather than lose face. It takes a lot for his wife to break the habit of a lifetime in the passenger seat to pipe up, tell him to pull over and move over so she can strap herself into the driver's seat.

Not all couples are like that- my mum confidently drove long distances alone for work at night in the winter rain almost till she reached the palliative care ward for cancer at 72 and my FIL I think has much better awareness of his limitations than many men; but definitely a fair chunk of relationships could be like this.

Not arrogant but confident I’m a safe driver. Absolutely gobsmacked at the amount of people who feel they’re not to be honestquite worrying really!

Hang on a minute, there's a difference between "might fail the test if I sat it tomorrow" and "unsafe driver".

I couldn't tell you how many feet at x mph is the safe stopping distance but I know and observe the two second rule- doubled in the wet, at least quadrupled on ice, add a wee bit if the driver in front or behind appears to be unpredictable or an arsehole.

I could do you a very good three point turn, probably make a decent fist of reversing around a corner and pass that, always been a little bit shit at reverse parallel park and might fail that (do they still make you do two out of these three?).

I had to step in and surrender my mother's driving license and sell her car, she would not have made the decision herself. She would have killed someone and I could not have sat back and let that happen

Hang on a minute, there's a difference between "might fail the test if I sat it tomorrow" and "unsafe driver".

This.

If you were nowhere near him and had plenty of time to stop in a controlled manner, then the cars behind you will be able to do the same, it was a non event (unless you are too close). If you are so anxious when driving less than 30 miles an hour, with a controlled stop, due to your pregnancy maybe you should consider another form of transport as this makes you a danger on the roads.

Sounding your horn at the other driver was completely inappropriate and aggressive. You are kidding us and yourself if you believe sounding your horn was to and would have alerted the driver to their slow speed was danger, if anything it was clearly due to frustration and likely to make them more nervous.

@Alyic thank goodness, finally a responsible person with some common sense!

Maybe there should be some form of assessment or "refresher" to bring people up to date but not the full test. Perhaps test the tangibles (eyesight, reaction times etc) as suggested above. Or perhaps something similar to the speed awareness courses which are very useful and tailored to older drivers (YOUR VEHICLE CAN DO SPEEDS OTHER THAN 40 MPH!).

I think I'm a good driver. DH thinks I am. But due to nerves I failed my test four times - never on the same thing though. I just couldn't go through the test again.

I think you were tailgating and need to chill.
Drive to the conditions of the road and that includes adjusting to other drivers’ speed.

@LolaSmiles thank you. Yeah I could just see it in my head what if it was slippy on the road or the car behind me had accelerated too much and wasn't paying attention? Doesn't bare thinking about! I wonder how many accidents happen like that and the person in my situation ends up with the blame, poor buggers.

@BrokenWing
I don't think it's very nice I've got people like you telling me I shouldn't be driving because I'm pregnant though tbh! Bit of a stretch to assume anything after I've explained the situation/circumstances MULTIPLE times. I am not nor have I ever been a danger on the roads thank you very much! Clean license, many years no claims & no scrapes or near misses caused by myself. Not that I have to explain that to you.
Seriously I'm not allowed to be concerned about my baby's wellbeing when I get in the car and have things like this happen? I am not anxious when driving I am aware of being safe there is a difference, I don't drive any less safe than usual so don't really know what you're trying to accuse me of? I'm not going to start getting the bus because other people can't drive safely and I had a problem with it...

It's not like I ploughed into the back of them in a fit or rage or got out the car screaming and shouting is it 🙄 which I've seen happen a lot when someone has done something similar to this. Even had a bloke get out and start screaming at me when I alerted him his lights weren't on in the pitch black... crazy people on the roads there are!

The other driver acted dangerously. If you are lost and take the wrong exit off a roundabout you get safely away from it, find a place to pull in, check your mirrors, indicate and pull in. You don't just slap the anchors on 20 feet from the exit in the middle of the road.

I reckon he was trying to claim or more likely- given the two bumper stickers- trying to "teach you a lesson" and would have hopped out in a lather of self righteous rage if you had gone into the back of him. Which failed because you were observing a safe stopping distance. Quite often it takes two to make an accident.

I hope the next person he tries to "teach a lesson" by pulling this crap on is a cop in an unmarked car.

@Autumntoowet please RTFT I was nowhere near him as I've said several times. I've also explained what I was doing.

@lonelyonee I never said said you shouldn't drive because you are pregnant, most women including me do with no problems, I said you shouldn't drive if driving while pregnant makes you so anxious driving that you are overreacting, feeling unsafe and sounding your horn inappropriately. You are the one emphasising over and over your pregnancy and feeling unsafe during this not unusual, non event of a driving situation.

lonelyonee
If you've left enough distance and someone behind went into you, you wouldn't be deemed at fault. If the person behind you shunted you into the elderly careless driver then you're also not at fault.

You're right in principle though in that accidents can be cause by a chain of events prompted by someone driving dangerously into roundabouts etc .