OT: Woman drives INTO the DMV to renew her license

[RAMd®d]

why would someone 80 years old drive a car?

Not a student of human nature, are you.

Most people lose objectivity with respect to their driving, as they age. (Some never had it, at any age, but I digress...)

Driving is a demonstration of independence. Taking away someone's keys is taking away that independence, their liberty. By the time almost ANYbody gets to be 70+, they tend to forget that driving is a privilege. (And again, some folk have always thought it was their right, but I digress...)

Few people want to admit that they now have to rely on others for very basic, simple tasks such as driving to the store.

I say that there should be a maximum driving age- 65. The end. NObody should be allowed to drive after that age. We just send them to Renewal.

If we can declare a minimum driving age, we can and should declare a maximum driving age. Teach people early on that one day, a day they can *plan* on, they will have to give up their keys.

A driver's license should cost, say, $500 a year. This would help cover yearly written and driving testing costs. And of course, would reveal that some drivers will have to surrender the car keys long before age 65.

Various categories of vehicles would demand escalating fees. Bigger heavier vehicles would be $1000 and up.

Fines for traffic violations should triple. Violation of the HOV lane in CA will exceed $580 or so in CA starting 1 July. About time.

First time DUIs go to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, do not get diversion in lieu of jail. Past due, started 1 January.

The additional moneys from fees and fines would help pay for Draconian traffic enforcement. We could actually get better drivers, out of fear, if not out of respect for others.

More and more arrests are made for people "driving while suspended" instead of just writing tickets. Good to see that.

I believe there should be object lessons that teach people the difference between privilege and right.

And education costs money.

[yeoman]

BGR asks if I'm kidding, and thinks it's sad if I'm not. Well, I'm not kidding. And not to be defensive let me say thats what he wants and needs, having lived on his farm all his life. He's mentally sharp, he uses a cell phone when working outside clearing brush, digging a new well, putting up Xmas lights on the second story eves, plowing the drive after heavy snow, installing a new back axle on his tractor. Yes, really, no kidding. He doesn't want anything else, and as far as his d/l, his eyes were tested, and I'd rather be on the road with him in rural Minnesota than with aggressive tailgaters on they're cell phones here in Florida. If he wasn't licensed to drive he 'd have to live in an apartment somewhere in town, and that would really be sad.

[blooz]

[quote RAMd®d]why would someone 80 years old drive a car?
When you are 65 and still in possession of all your faculties, and in good health, I think you will have a change of opinion about this.

[Fritz]

well, it was Florida

[RAMd®d]

blooz, when you show a quote, have the courtesy to get the attributes correct.

You probably glossed over my post, or you would have read my response to the remark made by space-time (and attributed to me) and realized that the 65 remark was sarcasm.

I *am* a fan of having a finite age to *end* driving, just as we have a finite age to begin driving. I will not change my opinion about that, as I am one of those who is absolutely aware of the fact that driving is a privilege, not a right. I actually understand that where for so many others it's just lip service.

As people age, their reflexes deteriorate, as does hearing and eyesight, not to mention concentration. This is a generalization, similar to, but far more accurate than those made here about SUVs and soccer moms, etc.

The problem of elderly drivers becoming dangerous is currently being treated like DUI was years ago- it's no big deal unless you kill somebody important, or a lot of somebodies. And even then, once the 15 seconds of ire are up, it again becomes no big deal.

Just as there is a beginning, there has to be an end, and I prefer it to be sooner rather than some innocent party getting hurt or killed.

[yeoman]

RAMd, I know that driving is a privilege not a right. but why is that? Seriously, I'd like to know the legalities of this. Does this apply to riding a horse on public roads? I don't think setting a finite age to revoke a persons privilege to drive is a good answer. Perhaps this is appropriate for, say, a bus driver, but why should this be a unilateral limitation for all drivers. Slightly off topic, I know for a fact of cases where commercial aircraft certification and pilot verification is performed by persons not elibible to fly passengers because of age limitations. Why do you think that is? It's because age affects people in different ways. And while on the subject of concentration, I presume you're in favour of making it illegal to use your cell phone while driving, even if hands-free, and not granting d/l to anyone who is partially deaf, or has lost the sight from one eye, or suffers from depression, or is easily frightened, or can't handle stress, or has taken cold medication, or....where do you draw the line and on what basis?

[RAMd®d]

I presume you're in favour of making it illegal...

You are the second person to presume what I think or am "in favor of..." And I'll repeat- please don't as you're not any good at it.

As to drawing the line, it's done *constantly*, though it may have escaped your attention.

Aging *does* affect some people differently than others, but there are accurate generalizations, and there are exceptions to the rules.

There are probably 13-15 yo's who have more driving experience than some young adults, yet the minimum age is 16 for a CDL. Voting age is 18, used to be 21, drinking age in CA (and maybe the US proper) is 21. There are many, many lines drawn.

No matter where they are drawn, someone will always be pissed.

And a new flash- though there is some loss of depth perception when having "lost the sight from one eye", one *good* eye is still superior to two bad ones. I included hearing as a general victim of aging, but am aware that many drivers who are hearing impaired operate motor vehicles safely.

You may not agree with me; that's irrelevant. But please don't be stupid enough to use stupid, absurd extrapolations and attribute to or represent them as any part of my belief system.