Things that shouldn't be allowed....

[secretrugbyfan]

Following on from the petrol price thread (and in true Victor Meldrew style) what do you think shouldn't be allowed......I'll kick off with the following.

Petrol should be the same price from a retailer no matter where you buy it from

Nothing should ever be double taxed (Petrol again....Fuel Duty and VAT!!!)

All displayed prices for anything should be inclusive of VAT

A Council should not be able to get away with paying for damage caused by potholes by saying 'We are aware and it's due to be fixed'

Electricity and Gas prices should be easy to understand

The same goes for Water (who last bought a cubic metre of water from a shop when they wanted a drink?)

If someone is sentenced to life for murder, this should mean for the rest of their life, not to be released after 10, 15, 20 years etc....

There's plenty of people who I could say this about who are well below the age of 65.

I completely agree!

The driving issue should be easily solved because of the slowing of reaction time as we age. You could easily retest on that basis post 70, because that is an objective standard, those over that age who drive regularly are likely to pass. A positive danger who only drives occasionally won't.

Personally I think everyone needs re-testing. Maybe every 10 years for those under 50, then every 5 years for 51-75, and every 1 or 2 years for over 75s. I wouldn't have the same test as when you are a learner, but a briefer "competence" test of the basics, but including reaction times and eyesight.

I think they already do this, don't they? Standard driving licences are valid until your 70th birthday, then you have to re-apply for them every year or so (maybe every 3) and confirm your health is still good, with them able to ask your GP if there are any queries or potential issues.

I don't think it would be fair to expect them to pass a standard learner's test - that test is based on people having no previous experience and beginners' judgment, so they have to do everything by the book. When you've been driving for a long time, you learn which aspects are important to do strictly and which ones you don't need with experience - such as having to keep applying your handbrake at every stage when doing a 3-point turn, and being able to be confident that a side road is empty and safe to reverse into at speed, without needing to hug the kerb as you do it.

Well not to divert from the thread, but it would actually be discriminatory in law to test drivers differently based on age, so a retest would be done to the same standard.

That is what happens for those that lose their licence in other contexts.

You can't say, hey, you are old, retest. That would be unfair. But if you could not pass a reasonable reaction time in a medical test, then that is reasonable grounds for a retest.

Also the GP system does not work because it is voluntary. If you do not go, lie or pressure your GP (this happens) then licence remains.

A reaction test is medical and hard to argue with in law. Its objective and cannot be argued with!

Yes re the GP system of "policing" driving licences.

I've known a couple of people who have deliberately avoided seeing their GP about specific health problems because they think the GP would warn/report to the DVLA and they'd rather not be diagnosed/treated if it means they'd lose their licence! So basically, they've kept quiet about certain symptoms on the grounds that there was "nothing to report" to the DVLA! They prefer to do that than get diagnosed and take the choice of either telling the DVLA and losing their licence or not telling the DVLA and risking prosecution if they continue to drive without notification of a notifiable illness, or having an accident where they can play the "I didn't know I had condition xyz" card.

It’s hard enough for learners to get tests, there’s no way everyone can be retested periodically.
And many people are still working at 65, so that’s unrealistic.

Also the GP system does not work because it is voluntary. If you do not go, lie or pressure your GP (this happens) then licence remains.

I know the system is far from perfect - but maybe that's an argument for fixing the system rather than vainly trying to swap it for another one.

Definitely this!

I think every driver over the age of 65 should have to retake their test regularly. I see so much unsafe driving from older people it's just ridiculous that they're allowed on the roads without any oversight

Actually your average 65 year old probably has better reaction times than your 18 year old driver, because they have more experience and are anticipating things in ways an inexperienced driver does not.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll - it would easily to do this post 70. The obvious justification is road safety if reaction times decline with age.

Incidentally, my proposal still means that a 70 year can pass a reaction test. Driving regularly and safely means that most would. The unsafe would likely not. That is fair. GP declaration does not work.

There are other methods. It would be simple to mandate certain medical tests to obtain a similarly objective result

Team building exercises and being ‘expected’ to attend social bashes hosted by work outside of work hours.

Oh yes, I can definitely get on board with this!

100000%

Dogs off leads in parks
second jobs for mps
escooters ( no consequence for riding them on pavements or train platforms)
kids driving at 17

Pushy parents should be kept away from the school and teachers

Those car parks manned by private car parking companies thieves. I’m looking at you Parking Eye and the like.

They give ridiculous fines for things like overstaying for 13 seconds when you were queuing to get out of the car park and someone was already in your space aka no loss of revenue to them. Another favourite (which they’re aware of and my son got caught out by) is ‘double dipping’. You go in one evening and the ANPR camera flashes you. You stay for a
short period of time (in his case a wee in a service station). The camera doesn’t flash you leaving. The next day, you go back and the camera doesn’t pick you up entering yet it picks you up leaving and the demand for payment says you’ve been there 14 hours!! Cowboys!! 😡 😡

Definitely plastic lawns. No one likes lawn mowing (and some people can't do it for reasons of ill health or are unable to pay others to do it) but it's like cloaking the soil with an extra thick plastic sheet. It kills all wild life beneath and that impacts birds etc. Then there's the problem of microplastics entering the soil and leeching into the water supplies. What happens re disposal of it once it fades and degrades? You can recycle bottle tops, but there's an ominous silence about recycling fake lawns. Please - if you can avoid using swathes of grotty fake grass then do so. It really is an affront to humanity (she says, falling off ger soapbox)

Being beaten up for wanting to talk about your rights.