every 10 years while you are under 60, then one every 3-5 years after that
I just wish we had functional public transport.
The mistake is applying it only to older people. We’re so used to expecting facilities to decline and not pay attention to seniors limiting themselves but most importantly ignoring the injuries and deaths caused by poor drivers of all ages.
Post-Covid traffic was a real eye opener as so many people seem to have forgotten how to drive. It appears to be back to normal finally but as a frequent pedestrian, I am endangered almost every turn, despite staying on sidewalks and crosswalks and using crossing signals, and living in a place where drivers are better than most and there are few stroads. There’s always someone blowing through a light or ignoring the crossing signal or “stretching” the red, or blasting through a right in red (despite the law saying “after a complete stop”) or driving through the crosswalk, and pedestrians are in danger every time.
Drivers suck. Test them all. Fail those whose bad habits endanger other road users, and make them take remedial driver training.
The real answer is a LOT more good, efficient, and affordable public transit options.
I fully agree but I think we actually do need to take the independence of seniors seriously too. No they shouldn’t be driving but for many there are no good or affordable alternatives. I don’t like the idea of nana and pawpaw rotting away at home waiting for visitors when they had a normal social life. If this is implemented free or low cost public transportation or shuttles should be provided for anyone over say 65.
I don’t like when nana and pawpaw get on the freeway hesitantly at 35 mph AND FUCKING TRY TO KILL US ALL!
Do you live in the States? I went to Michigan for the first time a few years ago and it seemed like so many homes were just separated from stores by so many roads … I wonder if ebikes and scooters and safer travel for those is a solution. I kinda want it more for Canada right now because living in the suburbs I see so many kids.
I upvoted because this IS an unpopular opinion (outside of this bubble)
I agree with the premise but can guarantee I would hate the outcome
With how many psychopaths have licenses - why do we think an even more bloated system is really gonna “catch em all”
…
But not to argue - please carry on
Are you really saying that since so many bad drivers currently have licenses, we shouldn’t even try?
More like I’m not really sure the system in place is well set up to catch the psychotic, selfish, idiots who make the road dangerous. And that by bloating that system further means we will probably get worse results overall and a painful but at the end of day completely ineffective system.
I mean doing what is suggested would require increasing the number of DMV workers and administration by like 5-6x
But yeah a little bit of fatalism is there too
I’ve been saying the same for years. The thing here is that when you put people through re-education, knowledge tends to stick. And other good things can be warned as well. More attention towards cyclists, pedestrians, etc.
At first people say they don’t care, then it gets into their subconscious.
At work I need to take monthly training on computer security and ethics. It’s all basic stuff I’ve heard many times. There’s nothing unique about it. But there are studies verifying that the regular reminders make a huge difference.
Even if all we do is periodic reminders of good habits, even if people already “know”, it does help
This is not unpopular. But guess what demographic consistently votes? That’s right, older people. They’re not going to give themselves less freedom and independence…
There is that, but I’d also argue quite a lot of people would be against this proposal because they don’t want a drivers licence really; they just don’t live in a walkable area but want to get to work and be able to shop and the licence and owning a car is just a means to an end. If you’re a competent driver, having to retake the test would be a pain in the ass and your reward effectively is “You may continue to exist in society.”
Getting the letter that you’re due for a test would be more frustrating than a jury duty summons; jury duty pays.
The elderly resent the prospect of losing their licence for exactly that reason; it puts them at the mercy of family and expensive taxis to be able to feed themselves.
In a sane world, yes we’d all recognise driving can be dangerous and tests are sensible, but in that world you wouldn’t need a car to do basic shit either.
Then don’t just put it on the elderly. Put it on all drivers. Maybe test beginner and elderly drivers more often, but it’s not like adults are exempt from poor driving habits
Yeah this is a good idea. I think I can trust my kids to tell me when I get dangerous driving, they did tell both their grandmas.
Not sure why we don’t, maybe cost? I took my driver’s test 40 years ago, any other license you hold that long requires continuing education.
The problem is that by the time I’m old enough to be a problem by the wheel, I’m more than likely going to be driving alone 100% of the time. I have my kids in the car sometimes now, but they’ll be out of the house and it’ll be just me being a menace to society.
Sometimes when I’m driving home I pretend I’m doing a driving exam and see how far I can get before I fail, and I always seem to fail. My muscle memory for all the discouraged minutae is so strong.
How do you know you failed?
In my country, there are a few things that are instant fail, eg exceeding the speed limit by more than 1km/h, that one usually gets me. Picking up your Mobile phone is an instant fail. Other faults are worth 1 point each, and 6 points is a fail. Things that earn a point are:
- not signalling for 30m or more before turning/changing lanes
- crossing your arms while steering round a corner
- letting the steering wheel slide through your hands while it comes back to centre
- not having both hands on the wheel while steering or otherwise moving forward normally
I add up the points when I notice, and usually end up failing.
I haven’t gotten a speeding ticket or traffic fine in more than 9 years though, so my self-monitoring does work well.
Wow. Do you even get a mile before failing that? I wouldn’t. And I certainly consider myself a safer than average driver (and I’m at the safest tier for insurance)
Interesting, the letting it slide through your hands thing is how i was taught to drive
After I passed my test, my Mum told me word for word “It’s great once you’ve got your licence, you can slip back into your bad habits.”
At least teach people the new rules.
In france bicycles are allowed to go the wrong way in 30-Zones. For example.
I feel like this is one of those things that I can agree to on paper but I can’t support because I feel like it would disproportionately impact those that are already struggling to get by.
I’m surprised to hear that. If someone can pay insurance, parking, fuel, road tax, maintenance, EU checks for a car surely they can pay for a (potentially subsidized) re-certification once in 10 years?
I’m referring to the US because it’s where I’m familiar: Parking isn’t typically a cost outside of cities. Road tax is included in fuel. I’ve never had to get a car safety inspected, I’m sure it’s a thing in some places
Anyway, it’s not just the associated costs but also another generally pointless reason for everyone to have to visit an already over busy DMV and waste hours at best to show they can do something they are likely doing every day? It’s a lot easier for someone like me to go to the DMV and deal with the BS than it is someone who is working multiple jobs, has to actually clock in, and is otherwise hovered over. It’s easy for me to say how easy it is when I’m not struggling through the shit trying to make ends meet. Then what’s the solution, if the DMV decides, nah you can’t drive, does the state start paying their bills or assign them a chauffeur service so they can get where they need to in order to survive?
It’s for public safety, so there definitely shouldn’t be fees. It should be covered with taxes.
Yet driving is a privilege not a right so there are already fees on every exam you take, at least where I come from.
Personally I’m of the opinion that there’s no need to retest healthy working-age adults unless they have traffic violations… But traffic violations should trigger retesting more easily. Right now you gotta fuck up real bad to have your license taken away (after which you can get it back after a while if you pass tests again).
And once you’re in your 60s or 70s, we should start retesting and it should be mandatory. We do have mandatory health exams that go from 10 years to 5 years when you age, but they mostly test the sharpness of your vision and such. They don’t test how you actually react to things in traffic, or how good your peripheral vision is. There’s other stuff they test too, but I’ve forgotten it, been a few years since my last one.
That would mean a drivers license should be covered by taxes because that is also for public safety. Yeah no I don’t agree
I disagree that one means the other. Initial license is s privilege. Testing is for safety and we want to limit incentives to skip it
that sounds an awful lot like communism /s
wut, no, unless ur tests are litarally held in a commune, dumass!
;-)
Also how do you judge a test? Like hey I’ve driven over 140 mph just fine, drifted in the rain, drop shifted to save myself out of an accident. How is checking to see if someone can tap the gas or brake pedal make me feel less like I’m trying to avoid collisions? It’s like wow you can use turn signals… good, you know where the brake pedal is… good, oh you forgot where the gas pedal was since you were watching tictock dance videos. Now add in all the new features like a corolla being able to drive you around with no input.
I think you’re making an assumption that isn’t true:
https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/overview/age-of-driver/
I’d be interested in seeing a percentage based graph taking into account the number of drivers per age group. I would expect there to be fewer drivers in the last two groups, concurrent with an increased percentage of accident drivers.
I’d assume older people drive less (but I might be wrong), so I’d be curious to see accidents per 100000 kilometers driven broken down by age
Anecdotally they do. Every one of my elderly relatives self-limited how frequently they drive, long before they had to give up their licenses
For example they may stop driving at night or long distance or into cities
I am nearing 70 and I have 2 cataracts. I am voluntarily taking myself off the road as I don’t feel right. Selling our vehicle at end of month. I will not be one of those old farts that crashes into people for my own convenience. It sucks but it’s the right thing to do.
My grandpa is 85 this year. He’s only had one eye for the last 55 years, and his good eye is…bad. He has no peripheral vision.
He legally gets his lisence renewed at the local AAA insurance office, because they don’t make you take an eye exam like they do at the DMV. And they just do it, they just look right at this blind man and hand his wife a renewal form to sign for him. Then she gets in the passenger seat and let’s him drive home.
Anyway, thanks for your sacrifice. It’s the right thing to do ♡
Thank you for your kind words. Appreciated.
Bro, as your friendly neighborhood eye doctor, please go get your cataracts fixed. It’s honestly one of the best quality of life improvements you can make. Most surgeries are less than 15 minutes.
I have been to an eye doctor. Unfortunately they are still ripening and not yet ready to be fixed. About 3 months ago he said come back in 6 months. I heard it is not good to work on them until the right time?
I watched my grandpa’s driving deteriorate to where I didn’t feel safe being driven around by him, for myself or for others.
thank you for making that choice. 70 feels early, to me, comparing to when I noticed it in my grandfather and what I am seeing in my father now, so I respect your decision even more
hopefully you live somewhere that you can still get around decently, as my grandfather did. he could still walk or bike all around town, and did
The important point is it’s not age specifically, but health conditions that may become common with age …. And can also happen at younger ages
I don’t think this opinion is as unpopular as you expect. Especially post COVID where everyone clearly forgot the little driving skill they did have.
The problem is who the opinion is unpopular with. About 22% of registered voters are in the AARP, and they’d be most at risk of losing their driving privileges. Any legislator proposing this or voting for it may as well kiss their office goodbye.
for a couple years during covid, they didn’t even do behind-the-wheel driving tests here, even for new drivers
At least in some places well before COVID they didn’t bother with road tests. My first GF got her first license in a tiny little town in GA way back in 1998-99. No driving test was administered
That would all depend on state.
I agree. It’s not that your driving skills might be lost over time, it’s to refresh everyone on laws and regulations. It would also catch people who have had cognitive decline and should not be driving.
Not controversial at all. In fact this is already introduced in the EU
Where?
