No one wants to come up with your mythical 'smug new name' for an accident. When there is a crash, it ISN'T an accident and to call it so reduces the culpability of the person who caused it. Even the police don't reduce the severity by calling them 'accidents' anymore. They aren't as there is almost always a causative factor.
should old people be allowed to drive?
- Thread starter gavroche
- Start date
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No one wants to come up with your mythical 'smug new name' for an accident. When there is a crash, it ISN'T an accident and to call it so reduces the culpability of the person who caused it. Even the police don't reduce the severity by calling them 'accidents' anymore. They aren't as there is almost always a causative factor.
david1701
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Bude, Cornwall
I think this might be a regional thing? A lot of the anti young drivers comments are coming from people in urban areas, I live out in the country and haven't had an issue with poor attitudes, but older drivers not noticing me/looking happens quite often. I knew a guy with parkinsons who drove everywhere - nothing is scarier than watching someone take 10 minutes to climb into the drivers seat
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
It's strange but my perception is that boy-racers are much more of a rural phenomenon than an urban one. Maybe that's because very few young people can afford to insure a car in London and the public transport system here is pretty good.
Maz
Guru
And those same young people that won the Battle of Britain are now our old drivers!
pawl
Legendary Member
- Location
- Desford Leicestershire
I am 71 never had and as far as i am aware never caused an accident.perhaps you feel that anyone over 70 should not be cycling either.
david1701
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Bude, Cornwall
I kinda see them as a suburban thing, kids wi a bit of money, not much sense and no real direction. Round here I've known a lot more modded landrovers than Renault 5s
I think EVERYONE of all ages should take a yearly eye sight test and some sort of reaction test. I've watched an elderly lady drive right into the front window of a take away and then come back a month later and do the same again. But I've also seen an 18 yr old smash his mophead head first into a lamp post who then admitted his eye sight was so bad he hadn't seen the thing until it was too late.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
There is a degree of uncertainty there which is quite worrying ...!
(Only joking - I know it was a figure of speech. You haven't caused any accidents. 
)No reasonable person would put an upper age limit on driving (or cycling!) but I think it is realistic to accept that eventually, most people's abilities do suffer as part of the ageing process. There therefore ought to be some assessment of whether that has happened to a significant extent. If it hasn't - carry on driving; if it has, it's time to stop.
My dad loved driving, and his hips were so bad that without the car he was pretty much house-bound, but the time came when we had to force him to stop driving. He frightened me on a couple of occasions when he was 79 or 80, making mistakes that he would never have made before that. I spoke to my sister and she said that she was also worried about his driving. He was really upset about it but we had no choice - somebody was going to get badly hurt or killed if he carried on. He flatly denied that there was a problem, even when he pulled out from a side road directly into the path of a car doing about 50 mph - he'd forgotten to check in that direction ...
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
I kinda see them as a suburban thing, kids wi a bit of money, not much sense and no real direction. Round here I've known a lot more modded landrovers than Renault 5s
Good point. I'm afraid that my view is largely coloured by my coming closest to death when a boy-racer came screaming round a blind bend on the wrong side of the road....on the A39 just outside Truro. Utter maniacs, those Cornishmen.
Vapin' Joe
Formerly known as Smokin Joe
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
So define an accident then. Every accident from dropping a plate to slicing your finger off with a chisel could be prevented, they were all caused by the carelessness of the person involved but we still refer to them as accidents because they were unintended.
Changing the name is nothing more than meaningless PC rubbish, something the police force (sorry, "Service", to be right-on) is no more immune from than anyone else these days. It hasn't altered either the number of RTAs or peoples perceptions of them.
Keeping the name only reduces the likelyhood of having the numbers go down. And no one is asking to 'change the name', only to have it identified for what it is. And 'accident' is very rarely an accurate description of what occurred. And the term 'RTA' is no longer used. And no longer used for a very good reason.
david1701
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Bude, Cornwall
@slowmotion hahaha maybe my default tolerance for craziness is set higher, I caught myself drafting a tractor up a big hill the other day. Between the rear wheels :O
Vapin' Joe
Formerly known as Smokin Joe
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
RTA is no longer used because somebody with too much time on their hands decided we needed something more fashionable.
asterix
Comrade Member
- Location
- Limoges or York
People don't like the word "accident" simply because it implies that there was no blame. Do you really find that hard to comprehend?
Vapin' Joe
Formerly known as Smokin Joe
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
"Accident" means non-intentional. Do you really find that hard to understand?
