Ask an elderly person not to ever drive.

[Groggy]

Now this one does sound scarey

Might find a truck driver with slow reactions one day.

I used to car pool with a guy who took it as his personal responsibility to slow the world down. 70kph in westbound traffic on the Westgate bridge, 90kph in the 100 zone - always in the right lane and would not move, in peak hour.

I lasted three trips.

[RETIRED]

I used to car pool with a guy who took it as his personal responsibility to slow the world down. 70kph in westbound traffic on the Westgate bridge, 90kph in the 100 zone - always in the right lane and would not move, in peak hour.

I lasted three trips.

I have followed that bloke frequently.

[Barry_White]

Absolutely.

I reckon that licence tests should be a lot longer than the drive round the block that it is. A short drive like that doesn't test the concentration.

Alex

The test lasts at least 20 minutes and they try to cover as many situations as possible. My wife who has been driving for a few years but hasn't got her license yet and is a reasonable driver has been failed 3 times mostly on signaling. I think if they made the test any longer you would be waiting 12 months to get an appointment. She has had a couple of lessons from a professional driving instructor.

From a few people I know they have now made the test much harder and more people are failing especially on their first attempt. The fact they have to do 120 hours of learner driving now should make them a bit more proficient.

I have a few relatives both men and women that have been driving for years and will drive around the block a half dozen times until they can find a parking spot they can drive into because they can't reverse park.

One of the ridiculous things with the RTA when they are testing you, you aren't allowed to use your mirrors when you reverse park but you have to screw your neck about to see where you are going. The thing is when you get your license you are allowed to drive a small truck and if it has an enclosed body on it there is no way that you can reverse park without using your mirrors yet learner drivers are not taught how to drive in reverse using their mirrors.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[astrid]

my in laws are in their 80's and being ex country folk are used to driving long distances,
however a few years ago my father in law told us that mother in law fell asleep at the wheel on the great ocean road and he still drives 5hr trips on a regular basis at the max speed allowed in all weather and in the dark.
They want to take my kids with them and i said no.
this caused a major rucus, me being the un controlled woman as usual.
how do you tell people like this that even if they think they are safe they only have their own, or an innocent strangers, life to loose.
however If we test older peolpe and cancell there licences who takes them shopping", this country is too big to provide public transport everywhere.
local councils would have to increase rates to provide this service, but I am willing to fund it (it would free up parking near the local bridge club and shopping centre for one)

astrid
mayme we should have a poll on this.
Should drivers over 70 have regular tests?

[rgum]

Testing is good. For all drivers. I'll do it. I've just turned 43.

I'm one of those drivers who is slow. I'm in the left lane doing 9o in 1oo spot and so on.
Never had a Bracks, Kirner, Brumby action driving photo. Never , ever will contribute to the revenue state ecconomy.
Never a fine.

How's my spelling? ha he.

Oh and also....Spelling. Licence. Grab your wallet girls and boys.

Please put your spell check on " The rest of the world English" in options. Not American. Sincerely no offence to any.

Just looked up the difference in country, Re: spelling. Canada, England and Yanks have 6 variations between them. Gawwwd. Please. Stick with what we learnt when we were younger. Sincerely no offence.

Yep. I'm going to chat to my elderly friend in Geelong. Not good.
Don't feel good either.

Toe Knee.

[wheelinround]

mine was on every time I spelt it LICENCE it makes it wrong just like has the word spelt not spelled b$%% American speller things and I choose UK every time.

no offence

I have always said that testing should be done every few 2 to 5 yrs

Astrid is correct about transport services bus companies and council services don't provide what hey used to its the governments that cut it back and manage what they can do.

Families hate having to be there to take over it breaks into their lives.


during my training to drive coaches I was taught that a good driver never spills a drop to which the fellow teaching filled a bowl of water and sat it on the dash I had to drive and only in extreme situations would it be acceptable to have it all over the floor

[Poppa]

I'm going to be even more contentious here and suggest that there are many people driving on our roads that do not have adequate skills to be driving - regardless of their age. If a person is not fit enough or coordinated enough to undertake mild physical exercise, like throwing and catching a ball one-handed, how are they physically qualified to drive? Driving requires quite sophisticated hand-eye coordination to do it well, and it also requires the ability to concentrate for the entire time behind the wheel. There are a lot of people in our society that do not have both of those skills, and quite a few that do not have either. Yet we allow them to drive, provided they can pass a very simple test. They then go out and 'accidentally' kill someone when they have an accident. Hmmmm....

I believe that we treat having a driving licence as a 'right' in this country, when it should be a 'privilege'. I firmly believe that about 30% of those currently with licences should not be allowed to drive, because they do not have the requisite physical or mental skills to drive safely.

When I did my motorcycle training, the 'L' licence training was a two day course that you had to pass before I could get an 'L' plate and ride on the roads. Then I had to do an 8 hour 'P' plate course, and pass a quite difficult test to move to a 'P' licence (3 of the 6 people on the course I did failed, all of them more experienced riders than I - but not safer riders!). This type of rider training for motorcycles has reduced the fatality rate for new riders dramatically wherever it has been introduced.

Instead of talking about reduced speed limits, and more draconian measures for new drivers, why not train them better and reduce the number that are allowed to drive on the road to those that can actually drive well? I realise that there would be a cost associated with this, but would this cost be higher than that we pay in lives each year? When will the authorities realise that the solution is staring them in the face? In the short term it will be expensive and unpopular, but it will save an enormous quantity of lives, and will lead to safer driving conditions for all (and with more people not allowed to drive we should also have a very good reason to improve the woeful public transport systems we currently put up with).

My $0.02 worth....

[Master Splinter]

I think that there should be more skills tested than just driving skills - there should be some sort of "here's the tools, here's the oil, here's the filter - now change the oil" type testing.

If you don't have a reasonable idea of how it works and how to fix it, you don't get to use it.

[astrid]

hey MS,
Is this a sneaky way to get us ladies off the road?
Oh my hands and nails!!

Astrid