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July 25, 2010 3:14 p.m. JoeyM HalfDork

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1297222/Older-drivers-best-After-hi...

Whether dithering at a junction or taking an age to park, the older motorist is often a horn beep away from a confrontation with an angry, younger driver.

But those critics should perhaps take a long look at themselves in the rear-view mirror.

A study shows elderly drivers are more capable than their less experienced counterparts.

Researchers wired up 74 drivers, split into three age categories, to software that simulated driving and tracked responses to hazards, such as cars emerging from blind spots and pedestrians standing on kerbs.

Those in the oldest age category, who had been driving for more than 37 years, were as good at responding to risks as those in the middle age category.

Inexperienced drivers performed the worst, tending to fixate on what was straight ahead, and many failed to respond to cars emerging from the sides of the road.
July 25, 2010 3:22 p.m. 4cylndrfury SuperDork

Inexperienced drivers performed the worst, tending to fixate on what was straight ahead, and many failed to respond to cars emerging from the sides of the road.

I swear, if I see one more 17 year old girl texting while behind the wheel of her daddys Mountaineer or an overloaded riced out civic with 9 chain smoking high school kids cutting off a whole lane of traffic so they can get into the mall parking lot, I am going to go straight up "falling down" on them! AND DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON PISSED OFF SOCCER MOMS IN MINIVANS!!!!!!!1!11
July 25, 2010 4:40 p.m. porksboy Dork

No more texting while driving in Gerogia as of the first of July. Couse good luck to the cops trying to enforce it. I think that a cell phone should be seized and checked to see if any texts were sent or recieved in the 5 minutes before a crash.
July 25, 2010 5:08 p.m. Salanis SuperDork

I don't know. My family is starting to get concerned about my grandfather's driving. He's 84 though. We're not sure what, if anything, we can or should do about it.

He seems to have a much harder time multi-tasking and gets distracted easily. He is frequently unaware of how slow he is driving and floats around a lot in the lane. He's also diabetic and seems to be having more issues maintaining his blood sugar level.

He crashed and wrecked his car a few months back. Says it was caused by hitting a large rock that busted up one of his wheels. But it happened while he was driving away from where he wanted to go because his blood sugar had dropped.

Most people seem to not want to ride with him when he's driving. We don't want him to have an incident where he hurts someone. We're not sure if we're being paranoid, or if we need to do something about it.
July 25, 2010 5:19 p.m. JoeyM HalfDork

I'm sure that there's a point where older drivers have reduced situational awareness....this is probably related to reduced visual, and perhaps mental, ability. The reporter didn't say how the study catagorized the people, if they had to get a vision check as part of the screening process, etc.

I do know that 74 is a pretty small sample size, though.

In general, I don't fear older drivers as much as teenagers. The kids tend to overload their cars with frien...er...distractions that make them act stupid
July 25, 2010 5:36 p.m. Salanis SuperDork

He said: ‘We examined six short video clips and when watching them, the people had to press a button each time they detected a hazard.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1297222/Older-drivers-best-After-hi...

Is that their rubric for how well they recognize hazards? Watching video clips? Driving is nothing like watching a TV screen. Okay, maybe that shows if you can recognize hazards, but it doesn't show if you'll notice them while driving. Seems like you'd need an actually interactive obstacle course to really judge that.

But, yeah, there are certain groups of drivers (usually younger) that worry me most.
July 26, 2010 10:00 a.m. mad_machine SuperDork

all I know.. it is the young kids who keep trying to race my BMW... I never get that from old guys
July 26, 2010 12:13 p.m. Keith SuperDork

In Ontario, you have to get an annual driver's test starting at 80. I think it's a good idea. You no longer have the raging hormones of youth to contend with and you've probably been driving for 65 years, but vision, reflexes and other systems start to fail.

Texting while driving is illegal in Colorado as well, but I think it's just used after the accident.
July 26, 2010 12:26 p.m. mndsm Dork

It's only a secondary offense in MN- so they can't get you for it unless they suspect it's the mitigating factor in a crash or something.
July 26, 2010 12:31 p.m. DILYSI Dave SuperDork

My idea - have to get retested based on your age. Make a bell curve out of the "how often" centered at middle age.

Here is a list of ages, where the length of time between tests increases in increments of 1, up to 8 years, before it begins decreasing again.

16-17-19-22-26-31-37-44-52-59-65-70-74-77-79-80-81-...
July 26, 2010 12:33 p.m. GregTivo HalfDork

mndsm wrote:

It's only a secondary offense in MN- so they can't get you for it unless they suspect it's the mitigating factor in a crash or something.

I think the word you are looking for is "contributing", not "mitigating".

(This has been a friendly message from your local pedant)
July 26, 2010 12:34 p.m. rebelgtp Dork

It took the doctor telling my grandpa he shouldn't drive anymore before he would stop. The man is basically deaf and refuses to turn on his hearing aids, he is on oxygen 24/7 though frequently "forgets" to bring it with him when he left the house, he also would complain that he could not feel the pedals with his foot while driving oh and on at least one occasion that I know of drove on the complete wrong side of the road. I had been on his case about not driving and even refused to get in the car if he was driving. We even tried taking his keys and he had copies hidden.
July 26, 2010 12:34 p.m. GregTivo HalfDork

DILYSI Dave wrote:

My idea - have to get retested based on your age. Make a bell curve out of the "how often" centered at middle age.

Here is a list of ages, where the length of time between tests increases in increments of 1, up to 8 years, before it begins decreasing again.

16-17-19-22-26-31-37-44-52-59-65-70-74-77-79-80-81-...

I'd stretch out those middle years (let's say 25, 35, 45, 55) but otherwise, sounds about right.
July 26, 2010 12:36 p.m. triumph5 Reader

AARP actually has courses for older drivers, to help with situational awareness, other cars.... one of the hardest things we ever had to do was to take the keys away from a grandparent. It means a loss of mobility and a big relization they are on the decline. Most know when it's time to stop driving, but it's so hard to admit. That said, after a certain age (proceed to discuss) or a pattern of infractions, there should be mandatory driver pass/fail testing. Text or talk non-hands-free in Ct is illegal, and there is a large crackdown on it now. Still, see at least two drivers a day doing it. Best was when I lived in LA, commuting to work and watched people BRUSHING THEIR TEETH . Seeing women putting on make up was the norm--and not just at creep and crawl speed, but 70+
July 26, 2010 12:38 p.m. mndsm Dork

GregTivo wrote:

mndsm wrote:

It's only a secondary offense in MN- so they can't get you for it unless they suspect it's the mitigating factor in a crash or something.

I think the word you are looking for is "contributing", not "mitigating".

(This has been a friendly message from your local pedant)

Thanks. I suck at big words lol.
July 26, 2010 2:19 p.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

Salanis wrote:

Is that their rubric for how well they recognize hazards? Watching video clips? Driving is nothing like watching a TV screen.

Hahaha! It was considered far too dangerous to allow them to drive during the test.
July 26, 2010 2:27 p.m. carguy123 SuperDork

Old age and experience will triumph over youthful exuberance every time.

They say with old age comes wisdom but it's not really wisdom, it's experience.

We've had time to see the consequences of actions and therefore have a good idea of ultimate outcomes of many types of behaviors.
July 26, 2010 2:34 p.m. Don49 Reader

I'm 65 in a couple of weeks and still racing SCCA Nationals. 33rd to 18th at the Runoffs last yearin EP. I have a friend who races a FV at Nationals and is about to turn 80. It's all relative. I know people in their 40's who have such poor reflexes and skills that they are a menace.
July 26, 2010 2:55 p.m. Keith SuperDork

I once asked my insurance agent if I would get any discounts on my coverage for taking advanced driving courses. The answer was yes, but only for the AARP one
July 26, 2010 3:56 p.m. cwh SuperDork

Paul Newman did well as a driver in his Elder Years, but he was rather unique in many ways. Wish I was 10% of the man he was.
July 26, 2010 4:27 p.m. Appleseed SuperDork

Nothing is more terrifying than only seeing blue hair and white knuckles in the Caddy next to you.
July 27, 2010 7:41 a.m. GregTivo HalfDork

cwh wrote:

Paul Newman did well as a driver in his Elder Years, but he was rather unique in many ways. Wish I was 10% of the man he was.

Stirling Moss could probably kick all of our asses still at 81.
July 27, 2010 8:00 a.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

Appleseed wrote:

Nothing is more terrifying than only seeing blue hair and white knuckles in the Caddy next to you.

Not true. Seeing him coming in the rear view while you are on a motorcycle, alone at a traffic light is the worst. Especially if its evening... because you know he had a few pops at the local bar.

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