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Motor Vehicle deaths continue to decline
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mat-ty



Joined: 07 Jul 2007
Posts: 7850

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 7:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If we can find a way to get the old geezers off the road we will be even safer.
Without kidding it is a serious problem no one wants to address.
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techno900



Joined: 28 Mar 2001
Posts: 4161

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 8:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The "old geezers" can be a problem, but for the most part, it's usually small stuff and most commonly in the parking lots and city streets. When I see a short gray head in a car, I just give them room knowing that they are doing their best.

On the other hand, there are many more bad and dangerous drivers out there that simply don't have the skills, knowledge or awareness to be safe drivers & this includes the "texters" as well. It's almost a daily occurance when someone is moving into my lane because they aren't watching the road. I would up the driver testing process for applicants between 25 & 50 before I would deal with the "old geezers". Don't get too hung up on the "25-50" above, just a ballpark guess.
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pueno



Joined: 03 Mar 2007
Posts: 2807

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

techno900 wrote:
The "old geezers" can be a problem, but for the most part, it's usually small stuff and most commonly in the parking lots and city streets. When I see a short gray head in a car, I just give them room knowing that they are doing their best.

On the other hand, there are many more bad and dangerous drivers out there that simply don't have the skills, knowledge or awareness to be safe drivers & this includes the "texters" as well. It's almost a daily occurance when someone is moving into my lane because they aren't watching the road. I would up the driver testing process for applicants between 25 & 50 before I would deal with the "old geezers". Don't get too hung up on the "25-50" above, just a ballpark guess.

For once, we agree.

The "old geezers" are much less of a problem than:
- The "very young geezers" (kids) who have to go 80 mph in the parking lot with the stereo at 1000 dB, and
- The "mid-geezers" who vacillate from 45 mph to 85 mph in the passing lane of the interstate, depending on the incoming text message or the never-ending cell phone conversation with God Almighty.

Next on the list are those who stay stubbornly in the passing lane at 65.00 mph. (Oh, how I wish our super highways were managed like the autobahn)
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DanWeiss



Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Posts: 2296
Location: Connecticut, USA

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

techno900 wrote:
The "old geezers" can be a problem, but for the most part, it's usually small stuff and most commonly in the parking lots and city streets. When I see a short gray head in a car, I just give them room knowing that they are doing their best.

On the other hand, there are many more bad and dangerous drivers out there that simply don't have the skills, knowledge or awareness to be safe drivers & this includes the "texters" as well. It's almost a daily occurance when someone is moving into my lane because they aren't watching the road. I would up the driver testing process for applicants between 25 & 50 before I would deal with the "old geezers". Don't get too hung up on the "25-50" above, just a ballpark guess.


Now that I'm considered old by people who I view as my peers when it comes to music tastes, some clothing and political perspective, I remember with particularity a scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Ferris's father receives a call about shenanigans and Ferris and he race home through the neighborhood, Ferris on foot and Dad in a K-Car. Dad get's caught behind an elderly lady slowly weaving down the side street and, despite his frustration, gives her a nod, smile and wave as he manages to pass.

My mother is far more conservative in her driving style now that she's in her mid-70's than when in her 30s. I remember her expressing frustration at the idiots who hit the brakes on a snowy downhill section only to bog down going up the next hill. She drove rear-wheel drive Oldsmobiles without snow tires all around hilly suburban Philadelphia during some of the worst winters of the past century. She drove on soft sand, over backroad whoop-de-do's. Now, she won't cross the Tobin Bridge on a windy day yet still stops to help other women stuck on the side of a road.

I learned not to get too pissed at elderly drivers. Matt and I share the same pathetically crowded highways and endure a virtual race to each traffic light. Boston area drivers are very aggressive but not at all safely or courteously when compared to the aggressive drivers in Manhattan and Los Angeles. Older folks simply don't play those games, partly out of self preservation and also because they no longer believe getting to a red light 5 seconds earlier holds any influence on when one arrives at the destination.

Annual testing of people over 80 makes some sense, but we need to provide for affordable, alternative transportation for these folks. Most of our society relies on the car for individual transportation. No other choice exists in some communities. Without a way to get around, life becomes depressing and can simply fall into pieces.

I'd rather favor a test that grades reaction time to eliminate sleepy drivers a sleepy driver is more likely to cause an accident than a drunk driver.

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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 1:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

According to a CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report addressing noteworthy public health accomplishments from 2000-2010, the injury rate declined while miles increased 8.5 percent. They attributed the improvement largely to behavioral changes, most notably including:
• Better seat belt laws and enforcement.
• Better laws and better enforcement thereof to protect kids riding in cars, particularly involving safety seats. (By today's standards I was short enough to be required to ride in a safety seat until I was in about the 8th grade.)
• Graduated driver licensing policies for teens.

Gov't regs seem to matter.
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mac



Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17742
Location: Berkeley, California

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Did Iso acknowledge a meaningful role for government? Who prescribed the lithium?
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pueno



Joined: 03 Mar 2007
Posts: 2807

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mac wrote:
Did Iso acknowledge a meaningful role for government? Who prescribed the lithium?

Who does he thinks sends him his Obama administration handout check?
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sailingjoe



Joined: 06 Aug 2008
Posts: 1087

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

mat-ty wrote:
If we can find a way to get the old geezers off the road we will be even safer.
Without kidding it is a serious problem no one wants to address.
The serious problem is that younger drivers don't respect the seniors on the road. Speed Kills, plain and simple, and the complaint that so many have is that the old timers drive too slow. The real reason that traffic fatalities have been declining would be that the population has been aging. The baby boomers are now retiring and slowing down.
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pueno



Joined: 03 Mar 2007
Posts: 2807

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 1:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sailingjoke wrote:
The serious problem is that younger drivers don't respect the seniors on the road. Speed Kills, plain and simple, and the complaint that so many have is that the old timers drive too slow. The real reason that traffic fatalities have been declining would be that the population has been aging. The baby boomers are now retiring and slowing down.

And so you think, in your view of things, that while the population is aging, no new young people are becoming drivers?
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techno900



Joined: 28 Mar 2001
Posts: 4161

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 2:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

While the aging population may be slowing down, things are generally pretty darn fast when traffic allows. In light to moderate traffic on the highways, if you are driving the speed limit, you better be in the right lane or you will piss off the other 75% of the drivers driving 5 to 20 mph over the limit.

Other than the "gray hairs", the only other folks I see driving slow or below the speed limit are Asian females and Hispanics (probably illegal, or no insurance and not wanting to get stopped).

Sorry, but in Texas, it's a reality.

Not all speeding is dangerous, but there are dangerous speeders.
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