Driving home today, going 40 in a 45 in the middle lane of a 3 lane my direction past a local major food store. I'm in the middle lane and slower than normal for 1 simple reason, the fing idiots that drive out of the food store. So, I'm about to get past the last exit of the store and some ancient crone in a white buick pulls out with me in 3rd and not 15 feet away from her. I stomp on the breaks, very good response from them by the way, ABS and TCS kick in and the rear end minorly tries to come out from behind. I manage to stop about 3 inches from her rear driver side door and she NEVER EVEN NOTICES ME.

STAY AT HOME GRANDMA! :bang: :bang: :bang:

Brakes even, not breaks. I keep having visions of my car smashed.

 

Had the same situation about a week ago. I was driving on a two lane road and was in the left lane. A guy makes a right onto the road and instead of staying in the right lane, his Lexus starts drifting into my lane with no signal, I had to slam on my brakes, with one hand on the horn and one on the wheel. I missed an accident by inches, like in your case.

Being a defensive driver is the only way to drive these days, you gotta assume the other person is going to do a stupid maneuver and you have to be able to react to it. Getting a license should be harder

 

Keeping your liscense past a certain age should require driving tests.

 

Uuuuuugh Happened to me TWICE today!!! Once on the interstate some bozo in a Grand Cherokee starts drifting into my lane. Then when I was driving past a shopping center like you, some bozo starts drifting in my lane again. :bang: Ha maybe people can't just see me since my car is black? Then when I stopped at another shopping center that day I was just sitting in my car when I looked up and saw someone backing out and another just sitting there waiting to get their place and the bozo that was backing out kept on backing out and ran into the person that was at a complete stop. People these days CAN NOT DRIVE!

 

here in ontario, every year after 80 you have to go take an "oral" exam to keep your liscesnce

 

Well I am not sure what that "oral" exam consists of, but obviously a lot of them are better at that exam than they are at driving a car.

 

The Senior Driver Renewal Program requires that senior drivers, aged 80 years and over, pay the applicable licensing fee, complete a vision test and a knowledge test and take part in a group education session every two years. A small number of drivers may also be asked to take a road test to have their in-car skills assessed. Source
I agree with you though. Most of the bad ones probally slip though at the "education session." There seems to be a lot of crappy old drivers out there. Several times this summer I was almost hit by elderly drivers, either biking or walking.

 

The thing to remember, one of these days, you will be the old driver people complain about.

 

Come to MA and see how people drive here: I forecast that the Army will soon begin training their humvee drivers on these roads. Why? Besides the fact that we have potholes of planetary size, the average driver around here seems to be bent on some holy war against every other driver. For that, I feel it could be a good course for everyone that will have to go to Iraq and drive some vehicle there...
If you'd like to hear some horror stories from around here, I have plenty, just grab some popcorn and I will entertain you...


Jokes apart (I am not gonna write everything that happened to me...just one), here's one that I didn't appreciate at all:
It was a summer afternoon. I Live in a nice suburban area and I was coming home that day, so I was driving on this side street, all alone. I am about to get to an intersection where I have a stop sign and I get this strange feeling, paranormal style (you may laugh, but this is really what I felt), that something is about to happen. So, instead of stopping at the stop sign (where by the way I need to take a right turn), I stopped about two/three car lenghts away from it. At the same time, from the opposite traffic lane (where of course there is another stop sign for whoever is on that lane), there's a huge Chevrolet Avalanche, driven by a young kid, I would say 16 or 17, with a girl of the same age as a passenger.
At the same time from the road I need to take arrives a smaller white truck and I see that the kid in the white truck waves to the kid in the Avalanche (saying hi and then waving him to go) and what does the kid in the Avalanche do ? He puts a big smile on his face, stomps REAL HARD on the gas (that Avalanche leaped forward) and goes forward 1/4-mile acceleration style, while STILL looking at his buddy in the white truck, smiling like a moron. Unfortunately, the kid doesn't take into consideration that the road curves a bit and therefore he goes completely in the OPPOSITE lane where I am standing with my Mustang.
I horned immediately and at the LAST possible moment the kid was able to steer back into his lane. If I had been stopped at the stop sign, my car and myself would have been completely crushed by that monster of a truck driven by a stupid kid. All of this happened in a few seconds, but it wasn't a good moment.
I just wish I could have had a few words with that kid...what an idiot.

 

I will agree that both inexperienced and non-attentive younger drivers are a threat, sometimes more so than elderly.

And I can't leave out soccer moms in H2's when they can't even see over the steering wheel, eating, talking on the cell phone, doing their makeup and yelling at the kids in the back seat while driving with their knees.

There are bad drivers on all ends of the spectrum.

And no, when I become of an age where I am not fit to operate a motor vehicle, I will not be driving one and I will definately not be driving an enourmous Buick or Cadillac. By that time, I just hope there is some sort of annual driving test for people over a certain age, so someone can tell me I can't darn well drive anymore.

 

Glad to hear that you missed - good reaction time!

I wonder how many of the incidents we all manage to avoid (and some that we can't) are caused by the other idiot drivers having a cel phone stuck in their ear?

And I agree 100% with tougher licensing standards....for all ages.

 

Nice. That should entitle them to "talk about driving"!

 

Ugh, I hate how slow they drive!

 

This is what happens when you can't stop

 

That picture makes me sick. Sorry to see your baby in that sorta shape Donkey.

 

That was not a good day. All better now though, good as new...again.
http://forums.bradbarnett.net/index....opic=23409&hl=

 

Yup...I assume all the other drivers on the roads are idiots. That's the only way to go.

And another person here that agrees with tougher license renewals/tests. You gotta remember that ALOT of the "older" generation never took a driving test. They were defaulted their license because they were driving before such tests were mandatory. I'm all for test as people get older. Vision goes, reflexes goes, memory goes. Stats show that the elderly have a higher accident rate than teenagers!!!
...too bad the AARP has such a huge lobby though.

 

I found out at a Boy Scout expo this weekend that there is a group called Safe America http://www.safeamerica.org/ They have a driving simulator (Ranger console and pedals with PC monitor). They test reaction times and I took it. Found out that at 42 I was .2 seconds slower than the average teen ager. I wonder what would happen if seniors took this test.

 

Unfortunately, elderly and inexperienced drivers don't have the market on poor driving cornered. I see horrible driving habits from people of all ages.

I definitely agree that licensing requirements need to be improved for all drivers and should include defensive driving courses.

 

If I'm a danger to others on the road when I'm that old, then I hope they take my license away. I may not like it but it'll be the best for everyone.