Can I recommend that you alter 3 to include people crossing the street?
I’m a little old lady who doesn’t like to drive. My eyes aren’t good so I drive by ear. But those eyes were bad when I was seventeen and got my license. So I am extra careful and for now, continue to drive.
But I do think that older drivers should be retested about the time they start getting Social Security. Their eyes, concentration, and reaction time should be tested. They should also be retested on driving rules.
I’ve seen the pain it causes very independent people to give up driving. But I’ve also known a blind man who saw mostly blurs continue to drive. One of my friends is an excellent driver at 94. Only now a bad fall has made it painful for her to use her feet on the brakes. She has been one of the most intelligent, well-travelled, and independent women I’ve known. It hurts to see her come to terms with never driving again.
I tried to cross the access road in a shopping mall yesterday-a car was across from me, but with no turn signal, so I hesitated since I had no idea whether he was going right, straight or left (in the latter case our paths would have intersected). Was too dark to tell if he had waved me on or not, but eff that, all he needed to do was put his fucking turn signal on so that I didn’t have to read his fucking mind. So after a couple of beats I assume he is going right, step out into the street, and then and only then does the essobee pull out to go left (and try to hit me). I haplessly wave my arms at the asshole as I jump back onto the curb. Bastard.
And don’t get me started on the jerk bicyclists who don’t obey stop signs and assume that they are riding in an alternative universe where traffic laws don’t apply to them (but that’s another thread).
I’ve seen this more than once while walking, too - drivers don’t think they need to signal if it’s just pedestrians around them. Yeah, actually, the pedes need to know what you’re planning to do, too.
As a regular pedestrian, I urge all other pedestrians to never assume anyone is looking out for you - our safety is in our own hands at all times. Walking while texting or talking on the phone is just asking for an oblivious driver to run you down. Parents need to teach their kids to be responsible for their own safety, not to teach them that you can step out and amble across streets in playground zones with impunity.
(bolding mine)
This is extremely comforting to me - knowing that you drive in a completely different part of the world to me.
“I’m sorry Officer - I just didn’t hear him!”
So you admit that you don’t like driving - possibly because knowing you have poor eyesight makes you nervous - and just like a drunk, you think that being “extra careful” makes you a safe driver.
WTF?
Here’s a bulletin for you - there are no hearing tests involved in getting your license.
So yeah, old lady driver - you really SUCK.
Nah, they’ll move.
QFT. Adult children can’t really take away their parent’s driver’s licenses, even when they know it’s high time. It would help to have the government be the bad guy here.
Cars can be modified for hands-only driving. Is there a reason that’s out of the picture for her?
What does “drive by ear” even mean?
The metal-on-metal scraping sound means she’s too close to the parked cars.
With how many kg of pressure? And what was the temperature in degrees Celsius?
I’m pretty sure that cab drivers in NYC drive by echo location. That’s why they are honking their horns so much.
I can get behind this pitting.
I regularly am nearly run off the road on my daily commute and ~90% of the time, it’s an old man in a full sized, older pickup truck (not the same old man, mind you). C’mon, you have side mirrors, for the love of Mike!
After totalling his truck a couple of years ago, my own father was convinced to take a defensive driving class aimed at seniors. It’s helped his skills, but even so, he no longer drives on interstate highways and tends to have someone else do the driving when he goes to the city. He told me at Thanksgiving that if he should be involved in another accident, he would give up driving, inconvenient as it would be living in a very small town.
Cab drivers in NYC do not honk their horns very much at all.
Now every fucking driver in Delhi constantly leaning on their horn? That’s echo location, my friend! NYC was blissfully quiet after I got back from Delhi.
I am a prime advocate of dash cameras. There are so many events on the road which your liability can be protected by having one. In my case last week a fellow zipped his car in front of my work truck in a space just slightly larger than his car in rush hour traffic. I blinked my high beams at him to suggest his actions were not wise.
He responded by hitting his brakes HARD. My 9900lb Suburban was hard pressed to slow down for that.
In a normal world you might expect I would be cited for failing to maintain a safe distance. In reality my camera would show he cut in front of me (by about a foot) then jammed his brakes on less than a second later. I never had time to back off & give him room.
$50 on eBay everyone. A valuable investment.
Do you not get any of those things retested at all where you’re at? I’m 37, I’ve gotten at least my eyesight (both eye chart and peripheral vision tests) the last time I got a renewal. There may have been some written test involved, as well, but I don’t remember that for certain.
It depends on the state. In AZ, the first time you have to get your eyes tested is when renewing your license after you are 60. I think its 60…my license is only good for 30 years because they want to take a new pic because they think that I might look different at 55 than I did at 25.
Not just old people. You’ve described 100% of Chinese drivers. Okay, that’s unfair, but it’s a number that approaches 100% – surely there’s a Chinese who learned to drive properly.
From what I have been told by someone who actually survived driving in China, Americans drive on the right and the Brits drive on the left. Chinese people honor those customs by driving both ways, often in the same block.
Have to assume the other driver is drunk/high/blind/stupid/senile.
My Dad RIP would scare the bejeezus out of me driving his bigazz SUV and blow stop signs.
I would shout, “DAD!! that was a stop!”
His reply:“heheh… Im bigger than they are!”
One elderly lady was brought to the ER in a state of delirium after breezing thru something like 12 stop lights in town and the cops discovered she didnt have a clue where/who/what she was. Driving by herself.
A friend was promptly arrested after asleep at the wheel at a stop/go light for half an hour. Drunk. The cop behind him timed him.
Its not just old folks either. I live in a University town and omg! the beginning of the new academic year you can count on students driving the wrong way up one way streets, ignoring stop signs, being drunk/high and fucking up on a daily basis. No wonder ppl drive Hummers.