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RoSPA launches website to keep older drivers safe on the roads

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:28 am
by akirk

Re: RoSPA launches website to keep older drivers safe on the roads

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 9:06 am
by ancient
It's a way that people by and large, naturally segment themselves. It's a growing segment of the population, some will be looking for advice tat they believe is relevant specifically because of their age. Some of the advice and information is relevant to other groups (mobility issues for example) and dealt with by linking to an appropriate authority; other advice is targeted (eyesight deterioration is more common with age, the law has specific age requirements and again, some health conditions that require notification are more common with age). My conclusion is yes, this is a valid way of assembling information and advice where people will find it because many will be looking for this under the 'tag' of age-related changes.

Re: RoSPA launches website to keep older drivers safe on the roads

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 10:03 am
by Mr Cholmondeley-Warner
We had Rob Heard come to our RoSPA group to give a presentation a year or two ago. He made a very good case for having resources available for older drivers, and he was instrumental in setting up their first web presence at Older Drivers Forum. Older drivers get a lot of stick from younger people with draconian ideas like "take them off the roads when they get to 70" (or earlier) and jokes about old men in hats etc. Many older drivers have a lifetime of experience to counter the arguments that they are too slow, hold people up, don't have lightning-fast reactions, etc., and want to drive as safely as possible within those parameters. They're also keenly aware of their own fallibility, something the impatient youngster behind may not be so good at. The forum was set up for them as a place where they could talk, get advice, learn the legal aspects of driving at over 70 years of age, find places to get driver assessments and remedial training, and so forth.

What could be bad about that?

Re: RoSPA launches website to keep older drivers safe on the roads

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 11:41 am
by martine
I was talking to one of our very experienced examiners recently and he has decided not to do any more 'Mature Drivers Assessments'. This is a one-off, no-test assessment offered by the IAM and only done by examiners. Reason? He's had too many near misses and one collision while 'assessing'. Without dual controls he didn't feel safe.

Re: RoSPA launches website to keep older drivers safe on the roads

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 2:49 pm
by chriskay
I'm pleased (and surprised) to see that neither of the older drivers' forums has been infiltrated by Brake: still, give it time...

Re: RoSPA launches website to keep older drivers safe on the roads

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 6:49 pm
by fungus
I currently have a young pupil who's powers of concentration absolutely appaling due to having no interest whatsoever in any activity that involves a practical skill. My understanding is that the family think that he should drive before going on to university. If he passes his test, only if I think he is fit, which at the present I don't, I shudder to think what he'll be like when he has no-one to allert him to a developing hazard.

Incidently, he has passed the Hazard Perception Test. :o

Re: RoSPA launches website to keep older drivers safe on the roads

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 7:03 pm
by Playtent

Re: RoSPA launches website to keep older drivers safe on the roads

Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 4:45 pm
by exportmanuk
fungus wrote:
Incidently, he has passed the Hazard Perception Test. :o


Its a computer game :!:

Re: RoSPA launches website to keep older drivers safe on the roads

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 12:17 pm
by Matt1962
martine wrote:I was talking to one of our very experienced examiners recently and he has decided not to do any more 'Mature Drivers Assessments'. This is a one-off, no-test assessment offered by the IAM and only done by examiners. Reason? He's had too many near misses and one collision while 'assessing'. Without dual controls he didn't feel safe.


This is probably because the only reason for an 'Assessment' to take place would be because someone already believes the 'Mature Driver' to be unsafe? Hopefully it is not a reflection on driving standards amongst the elderly in general.

Re: RoSPA launches website to keep older drivers safe on the roads

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:06 pm
by WhoseGeneration
Rubbish young and rubbish middle aged drivers become rubbish older and then old drivers.
Internalising Roadcraft and the AD approach removed my rubbish.