Opinion's on OAP driver's.?

[bob23]

just had a thought though...

if you had ONLY 75+ year olds on the roads for a year

and the next year had ONLY -25 year olds on the road for the following year

hypothetically of course, it would be interesting to compare the statistics

which age group would have the most fatal accidents
which age group would have the most high speed crashes
which age group would drive down a dual carriageway the wrong way most
which age group would have the most car park scrapes
which age group would have the most drink drive incidents (interesting one that)

overall with which age group would the roads be safer?

 

You wouldn't need to do that, just look at the insurance statistics, and even though there are more young people that crash each year than old people there are a lot more younger drivers, old people have less crashes as there are less of them.

The percentage of 17/25 year olds that crash, hit a car in the carpark, reverse into a bollard when parking is lower than 65+ (at least this is what my landlord tells me who works in insurance dealing with claims)

[clipperjay]

I actually think the 50+ are dangerous where I live they all own big cars and think they own the road!
Its like a 3/4 life crisis they go through where anyone under the age of 25 should be behind them or when they pull out on you its your fault for not seeing him pull out on you 
Its more attitude towards me I find frustrating not the age!
I'm happy to drive exactly 29MPH because the old gal in front can only feel safe sticking to speed limits.
TBH my feelings change when I see who is driving for instance if an old person is driving and made a mistake should I honk my horn and shout abuse? I've seen this as counter productive as they get more scared.
Does it mean they should be on the road even now, proberly not!
I've seen much older drivers, drive better than 17yr olds even today.
My father has stopped driving, due to my bank telling to stop paying off his minor fracuses as he used to called them
Funny thing about driving, you could be the best driver on the planet. But when you loose control, you loose control period big time!     
 

[stealthwolf]

As above, age doesn't make you a better or worse driver. Experience determines that. Round where I work, the majority of people over 60/65 are as fit as a fiddle. No health problems, they can control their vehicles really well.

I agree you have mid-life crises where 50 year olds drive large cars and who deem themselves to be "Kings of the Road". Really annoys me.

Completely agree about signs and it's not just OAPs. I've seen countless people drive through a 40mph sone at 40mph but when the sign becomes a NSL, they just seem to ignore it and drive at 40mph. It's me who gets the honks and flashes when I overtake safely. They then continue to do 40mph when the road turns into a 30mph zone. Far more dangerous IMO.

Track testing is a complete waste of time and irrelevant to most people. Completely different set of problems and expectations. A retest would be a good idea but would 10 mins be enough? Surely you'd want to test night time driving, rain, fog (stops those idiots putting on foglights when there's light mist)? What about a similator test? Theoretically cheaper and easier to run.

Also agree with stricter driving standards but this should be applied to all age groups, not just learner drivers.