Imagine you`re late for an appointment and two people offer you a lift: one is a blue rinsed old dear planning to visit the garden centre, the other a young lad who`ll drop you off on his way to the football. Do you opt for the implied speed but reality of getting there on time (boy racer). Or do you hop into the passenger seat with the more cautious driver (grandma).
Yes, both ridiculous and insulting generalisations since lots of us will have heard stories of young men who play chicken on the motorway and forgetful old ladies who have reversed through their own front garden.
So who is the safer bet ?
Well if new statistics from insurance companies are to be believed, the answer is a surprising one, since they suggest that elderly women are considered more dangerous behind the wheel than young men. The source of the research relates to the fact that old ladies have to pay higher premiums for their motor insurance than young men.
No one know why this is, though one ridiculous theory is that women are returning to driving `after possibly decades of relying on their husbands for the majority of car journeys.` Frankly I haven`t laughed so much since Gordon Brown tried to get with the youngsters on YouTube.
As most females can testify, being taxi drivers for grumpy other halves is in our DNA. What`s more, since we women also carry the multi-tasking gene, we never forget a skill once we acquire it.
But all knee slapping aside, these new figures raise a serious point : how do we ensure those of advanced age are safe to drive ? And since we are living longer, it`s a question that desperately needs addressing.
With failing eye-sight and perhaps duller reflex actions, it`s inevitable that the ageing process will affect safety behind the wheel. Only last week the Institute for Advanced Motorists called for a new class of licence which would restrict older drivers from roads with a 70mph speed limit. A harsh, one size-fits-all blunderbuss approach that is both impractical to initiate and which would severely limit the independence of older motorists who rely on their car.
But this still raises the issue of whether on the graph of driving capabilities, the older we get the less proficient we are. I mean, who hasn`t sat in suppressed fury behind an octogenarian doing 12 mph in a 30 zone. And there must be plenty of mechanics who have fixed the motors of elderly customers who can`t read the bill.
Of course we can argue that the longer someone has driven the more experience they have. And certainly there should be more provision in driving tests for new motorists to prove their worth on motorways.
But at present, the law only requires drivers over 70 to reapply for a licence - renewable for three years at a time - and to declare their fitness to drive . Understandably infuriating if you happen to be fighting fit. And I know plenty of clapped out, paunchy, beer-flushed coach potatoes who are decades younger and you could run - and drive - rings round.
But the law needs to work from the premise that the older we are, the less fit we might be to drive. Which is why I think that rather than simply filling in a form at 70, drivers of this age and beyond should have an annual health check to confirm their safety on the road - we renew our car tax so why shouldn`t there be some kind of health tax too.
Hopefully such tests will only validate their rights to keep their license, and prove that getting a lift with grandma was the better choice after all..
STOP PRESS: Posh in bunion crisis after being spotted wearing ballet flats at Heathrow airport. Abandoning her usual sky scraper heels suggests Mrs Beckham is paying the price for her years of slavish devotion at the alter of Manolo and Jimmy.
We don`t know whether bringing her feet to ground level is a sign Posh has had her bunions chopped off or is in such discomfort that she needs to go under the surgeon`s knife ("yes, doctor, I did say below the waist this time")
Either way, sincere condolences to Victoria. As plans are announced for a new Spice Girls musical, such sore feet must scupper a tie-in reunion tour. Shame.
`NAME THE DEVIL CHILDREN` screams the headline of a Sunday newspaper, following the jailing of two sadistic boys who tortured their classmates and left them for dead.
Well, all histrionics of front page coverage aside, of course we should. How can we not ? Well, I`ll tell you how not. Because we have a spineless judiciary more intent upon protecting the rights of the offenders than considering the wider implications for society at large.
I don`t, as I`ve said many times, advocate kangaroo justice. And I know these criminals were the product of their background. But there was nothing childish about their gut-wrenching attacks. And I don`t see why they should be protected by anonymity, or why their human rights are so much more valid than their victims.
Yes, try and rehabilitate them during their time in prison with education and counselling. But let them also learn from their crime by linking their names to its brutal reality.
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When an old lady who happens to be a magistrate, causes a death on the road it is seen as a “momentary lapse” of concentration whereas if it is a youth then it is seen as proof that younger drivers are more reckless than their elders.
My sis and a male friend were out in the car commenting on the driving and bad manners of other drivers.Both are 60 and having a grumpy half hour, how you do.She nearly lost control of the car ,when his final ,summing up comment was-'These young ones today wouldnt know what to do with a cow heel if you gave them one!! 'Yes-some of the older generation could do with a test to check their mental processes when driving,and to show they have moved with new times and rules of the road.But it applies equally to both sexes,and should be at around 55yrs.
I dont believe this level of behaviour is as rare as the authorities try to make out.If it happens within families we would maybe never find out.Like sexual abuse of children and paedophile activity most of it happens within families and is hushed up.We are only just seeing the reality of whats been going on across society with regard to sexual offending as victims become adults and report it.I can go back at least 12 yrs to a place I lived and was shocked by the sexually abusive language from children under 10.At the time I thought this area was unique in its problems.Since then Ive seen it in other areas.Like other social problems its a minority,but growing and becoming more open.
On Saturday afternoon I had to go shopping in Market St/Arndale area.I was up and down,in and out of shops in the area for a few hours.I was amazed by the number of young teens in town,shopping or just hanging out with friends,often lads and girls together.So much individuality and fashion.Cute little bufonts.It made me happy and I had to think about the young teens who are outside all this.Wandering the streets or on street corners hating the world and finding no place in it.I imagine whatever happens to the offenders from now on,whether they are named or not will be an improvement on their previous life.As for the victims and their families,their lives are destroyed.However much we consider it the outcome seems unjust.Will this case lead to changes that will protect all these children?From sick adults.
I like a woman that has the hunter gatherer in her DNA.
Some decent topics here Angela, more please....!
ps - any relation to Brian?
Hey Angie, you cheeky beggar, I'm 55 and there's nowt wrong with my driving! I know this for a fact as I'm male, passed my test at 17, refuse to wear glasses to drive in, drive a Landrover Discovery (therefore I DO own the road), never ask for directions and refuse to use a "SatNav".
But seriously, compulsary re-checks of driving skills should be implemented and every driver regardless of age should be re-tested every 5 years. The number of muppets I see on the road, of all ages and sexes, would suggest that it would reduce the number of accidents.
My son, who travels with me most days to and from Manchester University, a) doesnt drive as he sees too many idiots on the road & b) believes I need to be re-tested
Bertie Magroo.Can you tell me why is it that men will drive around for hrs before they will ask for directions?Ive often wondered about this.
Please don't generalise about women drivers.My 73 year old mother passed her test at 17,spent 20+ years teaching police officers to drive,was the wife of a motoring correspondent and racing driver-in the former capacity she helped testdrive 2-4 different vehicles every week and had to drive anything from an Amphicar to a Ferrari as soon as it was dropped off at our house without any instruction.She now works as a volunteer ambulance car driver in Scotland seven days a week which entails ferrying patients in her car from their own homes all over the UK for routine treatments such as dialysis or emergencies such as a transplant organ becoming available at the other end of the country.She isn't paid a wage but the 10p per mile petrol cost she is given allows her to keep her car on the road as she has no other income but would hate to give up driving.She has never had an accident or been in any trouble-the police are happy to let her follow them if they have to blue light her in a hurry to collect an emergency patient.She is as safe as houses and sits the ambulance driver's exam every year from choice although there is no obligation for her to do so.
(But let them also learn from their crime by linking their names to its brutal reality)
Naming them would satisfy your morbid curiosity and you'd have a concrete image which you could curse and wish the devil upon them..the one inside your own imagination. Is that really a good thing? Have you not learnt that it all just becomes a merry go round?
Perhaps you like the idea of them recieving death threats and the idea they should be forever running scared for their lives. Do you think if people know who they are, that will stop them from doing anything in the future? Is that your angle? Do you not have any faith that they can be rehabilitated to a level which would make them confront what they did and stop them doing anything like this as adults without naming them?
You must have no faith whatsoever in any process they will go through from now until they are released back into society, so why don't we just put them to death now and be done with it?
Angie, I love your posts, they always make me smile.
Why do men drive around for hours before we ask directions? Simple, cos we are so bloody arrogant and self important, that if we dont know how to getthere then no-one else will either.
Pathetic isnt it. Well hon, I'm in touch with my feminine side on this, if I cant find it first go, then I stop some poor unsuspecting local and ask.
Trouble is, not always to you get the correct answer. There I was in Liverpool, trying to get to Goodison Park for a City game a few years ago and totally lost. So I asked this really friendly Scouser for directions. Where did I end up? Anfield!! cheeky git! But as Goodison is only the other side of Stanley Park it wasnt too bad.