To wonder how on earth they will sentence a 96 year old?!

[dreamer24]

news.sky.com/story/woman-96-admits-causing-death-of-pedestrian-after-she-panicked-and-mounted-the-kerb-13204265

A 96 year old woman killed a woman in her 70s after she lost control of her car. Due to be sentenced on Monday, apparently. It's obviously completely tragic that a woman has died, but I can't imagine a woman who is almost 100 will get a custodial sentence?

I am not a driver, but someone on this thread said that one of the most common reasons for accidents when the driver is elderly is confusion between the accelerator and the brake. In this case the car was examined afterwards and there was nothing wrong with it mechanically. The driver may have felt the accelerator 'had dropped', whatever that means, but surely by far the likeliest explanation for what happened is that she made a mistake and couldn't react quickly enough to prevent the tragedy happening.

What was different about the eye test?

I firmly believe eye tests, is an achievable way of weeding out people who aren't fit to drive.
Firstly being able to see, And secondly I'm sure opticians will notice if someone is in mental decline mixing up letters, or have forgotten the letter names.

We don't appear to have a shortage of opticians and it wouldn't take long to set up.
You prove you have a current prescription and glasses which meet the legal requirements. Send that off along with the licence renewal, easy and achievable.

Unlike any sort of driving test or simulatiator tests it wouldn't cost much to set up.

You don’t need an optician’s eye test. The sight requirement for a driving licence is the ability to read a number plate from a specified distance.

@BIossomtoes I know that but I believe 'self certification' on 'yes I can see' and 'yes I'm fit to drive' is quite frankly the wrong approach. I bet lots of people don't even know how far 20m is (approx 4 car lenghts)

It's bonkers an middle aged car needs to be checked, indicators, breaks, tyres but the old fart driving gets to tick a box and all good to go.

Some sort of reaction test or simulator would be wonderful but that would take a lot of time and money to set up.

Up to date Eye test, including the peripheral vision element, hit the button when you see a light.
Would be very easy to implement and could be implemented by the beginning of next month.

A GP certificate would also be good but currently we don't have enough GPs so putting more burden onto them isn't the answer.

Old fart? Really?

As I mentioned hundreds of posts ago both the optician and the GP told my Dad he was fine to drive. I watched him covering one eye with his hand to see the TV more clearly, and struggling to walk to the end of the road, and felt differently.

OK elderly people. Get to tick the box.

We do you think it's appropriate that cars are actually tested but drivers aren't?

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g surely the opticians would know if he was legal for driving or not?

You'd think so. He had macular degeneration but at an early stage. He seemed fine on the very short local drives he did latterly but I worried about it.

The first time I reported him, they just sent him to the GP who (according to Dad) simply asked him "Are you fit to drive?"

The second time I stressed how his eyesight had deteriorated and gave examples. He was immediately sent for an eye test (I wasn't there) and he was told on the spot that he should no longer drive and they were recommending the revocation of his licence.

In one German state those who voluntarily surrender their licence get free Deutschlandtickets

All people of pension age in the U.K. get free bus travel after the morning peak. In some cities this includes trains/trams.

And that’s wonderful if you live somewhere with a decent bus service, unfortunately most of the UK hasn’t.

Yep, and the number plate test is carried out as part of the driving test. My uncle actually failed his test on this. Was told to rebook after getting glasses.

Which for many can be decades ago.

There is a legal requirement to have a cars lights, windows and wipers checked
But not a legal requirement for the eyes who are using them to be checked.

Yes I think that's probably exactly what happened, but my point was it's perfectly possible for that to have been the first time it's ever happened so I don't see why people are saying she should've known she wasn't fit to drive. We know the fault was hers, it's whether she knew she was unsafe to drive before that day or not. I just don't see any evidence for that but maybe I've missed it.

That pilot in Shoreham killed 11 men and he was found not guilty basically because a technicality meant it couldn't be proven he hadn't been affected by g-forces. Despite the fact he had started the manoeuvre way too low and had form for dangerous flying. Now that verdict I don't agree with. He's shamelessly trying to get his licence back too-where is the outrage over that?! The families of those men have NEVER got justice.

@VickyEadieofThigh
I've been tempted to do this. Thankfully a minor incident meant the police reported DD to DVLA who sent him for a medical and an eye test. DVLA let him keep his licence. We couldn't believe it. His driving us dreadful
He has cataracts and can barely get off a chair. Can't walk more than a metre without falling. Insists he's fine to drive. Poor DM can't cope and refuses to get in the car.
Recently sent for another eye test to see how urgent his cataract op should be and thankfully optician told him not to drive.

Licence is due to expire this month to so fingers crossed the op isn't for months because he really really shouldn't be on the road.

I don’t understand that @whoscoatsthatjacket2012. I had cataract surgery a few years ago and it was blatantly obvious to me that I wasn’t fit to drive so I stopped until six weeks after it was done. I wonder if it’s a male ego thing?

@BIossomtoes oh for sure. He won't admit it. Pride stubbornness and total denial.
I haven't let DD go in the car with him for years. I haven't been a passenger with him for about 20 years for a good reason.

I reckon that a lot of people lose their common sense 'chip' as they age. My dad definitely began doing things - even before he showed signs of dementia - he'd never have done when he was younger.

My df was 88 when his car got written off.
He wasn’t actually at fault, a van had pulled out of a side road.
However I saw an opportunity to get him to give up driving as I felt he drove a bit erratically.
I asked him If that had been a child on a bike coming out of the side road would you have stopped in time?
I also said that if he did decide to buy a new car he should have a few sessions with an instructor before doing so to check he was safe.
Fortunately he reluctantly agreed to stop driving, he’s 93 now and really still misses driving.
I think we should have cars like the French sans permis for old people, the top speed is 45kmph.