Re: Knocked down by an elderly driver

John Kane <jrkrideau@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Feb 1, 5:48 am, "goo...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <goo...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On Feb 1, 8:14 am, Paul Boyd <usenet.is.worse@plusnet> wrote:

This just reinforces my belief that *everyone* should be re-tested at
least every 10 years, preferably every five. Once over 70, a license
should certainly not be able to be renewed simply because a doctor says
so - that's exactly how my grandmother was allowed to continue being a
danger to herself and others for so long.

Yes. I knew someone (now dead) who drove to the eye hospital and was
then registered blind (got a white stick with a red band because he
was deaf as well). Obviously he wasn't completely blind but his
eyesight was sufficiently bad that it counted as though he was
completely blind. Apparently the staff at the hospital were "shocked"
when they realized he'd driven there.

I watched someone (30's probably)come into a licencing office to renew
his driver's licence. A 30 second eye exam and they told him he should
not be on the road and I believe pulled his licence until he got
glasses.

I can still remember the the time a friend was testing out the
kick-down change-down for fast acceleration on his new Jensen
automatic, a seriously powerful sports saloon. I warned him after a
few experimental floorings of the accelerator that he was going rather
conspicuously fast for a built-up area.

"How fast am I going?" he asked.

"Can't you read the speedometer?" I asked.

"Not without my glasses," he said. "Don't worry, I can still see big
things. I only wear my specs if I'm going somewhere new and need to
read the road signs."

We were at the time approaching red traffic lights at 60mph.

"It's got bloody good brakes, hasn't it?" he said admiringly as we
slewed to a stop at the traffic lights.

--
Chris Malcolm cam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

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