{"id":20084,"date":"2016-09-11T08:56:48","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T07:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=20084"},"modified":"2016-09-11T08:56:48","modified_gmt":"2016-09-11T07:56:48","slug":"older-drivers-are-not-dangerous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=20084","title":{"rendered":"Older Drivers are &ldquo;Not Dangerous&rdquo;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I saw an amazing piece of nonsensical gobbledegook <a title=\"Older drivers are 'not dangerous'\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/science-environment-37292951\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in this BBC science story<\/a>, which is in turn based on the amazingly biased writings of a \u201cprofessor\u201d of extremely soft subjects at a university which has incredibly low entry standards, and which comes 45th in the current University League Table. Apparently, \u201cnew research\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s layman\u2019s science-speak for \u201cwe put some easily obtainable data into a spreadsheet and pressed a button\u201d \u2013 shows that drivers aged 70+ are involved in 3-4 times fewer accidents than 17-21 year olds.<\/p>\n<p>The fun part is that the \u201cresearch\u201d was done by a \u201cprofessor of gerontology\u201d at Swansea University\u2019s \u201cCentre for Innovative Ageing\u201d, and was presented at the \u201cBritish Science Festival\u201d (<a title=\"British Science Festival\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britishsciencefestival.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">with a very poor website<\/a>), which is being held in\u2026 yes, you guessed it. Swansea. Oh, and \u201cgerontology\u201d means:<img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Definition - gerontology\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 524px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 524\/128;border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Definition - gerontology\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/gerontology.jpg\" width=\"524\" align=\"left\" height=\"128\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\"><\/p>\n<p>So there\u2019s no bias, then. Reading between the lines, it would appear that the \u201cconclusions\u201d were made by a guy who specialises in philanthropic studies relating to old people in order to prove that said old people were not a risk on the road. Somehow, the following disconnected conclusions were drawn, but portrayed as being inherently related to each other:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>older people are not dangerous drivers <\/li>\n<li>drivers aged 70+ have fewer accidents than 17-21 year old men (see what they did there?) <\/li>\n<li>older drivers make most mistakes when turning right and overtaking <\/li>\n<li>young men drive too fast and lose control whereas older drivers drive more slowly (see, what they did again?) <\/li>\n<li>dangerous driving \u201cis not generally an issue for older people\u201d <\/li>\n<li>older drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents than the safest 40-50 year olds <\/li>\n<li>older drivers are \u201cless likely than very young drivers to be involved in accidents\u201d <\/li>\n<li>older drivers make mistakes when they felt under pressure from other road users <\/li>\n<li>17-21 year old men are the most accident prone <\/li>\n<li>17-21 year old men are 3-4 times more likely to have an accident than 70 year olds <\/li>\n<li>those over 75 show an increase in accident involvement due to failing faculties <\/li>\n<li>older and younger drivers are involved in different types of accidents <\/li>\n<li>young men are most likely to be involved in single vehicle accidents (i.e. lose control, hit a tree) <\/li>\n<li>older drivers have smaller impact collisions (i.e. fence, wall, kerb, other peoples\u2019 cars) <\/li>\n<li>older women are more likely to have \u201csmall accidents\u201d when doing tight manoeuvres (so, just like younger women, then) <\/li>\n<li>older people are most likely to be involved in accidents involving other older drivers <\/li>\n<li>older drivers compensate for declining skills by driving slower, leaving bigger gaps, and only going out when it is quieter (i.e. weekends) <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unbelievably, this muddled up tosh was presented at a so-called science festival. I suspect delegates then split into groups, and went away to make models out of papier m\u00e2ch\u00e9, dried macaroni, and glitter sprinkles to represent what they had learnt.<img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Child playing with paint\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 524px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 524\/158;border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Child playing with paint\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/child_painting2.jpg\" width=\"524\" align=\"left\" height=\"158\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\"><\/p>\n<p>We already know \u2013 and have known for many years &#8211; that the 17-24 year old male group has more accidents. It\u2019s why their insurance is so high. We also already know that this is down to lack of experience and lack of various biologically-controlled emotional restraints which only become fully matured in the mid-20s. We know that this male age group generally likes to drive fast and show off, and that they are therefore more likely to lose control. We could get colloquial and add that it is because they are generally arseholes. And we might also add that \u2013 in spite of not mentioning it one way or the other in the \u201cresearch\u201d \u2013 plenty of young females are at least as bad. <strong>And this has absolutely zero bearing on whether or not older drivers are \u201csafe\u201d drivers.<\/strong> The two issues are not connected in any way whatsoever. Both details might be true, but they are completely independent of each other. No one has ever\u2026 EVER\u2026 claimed that older people purposely drive like maniacs, whereas that\u2019s the precise accusation levelled at younger drivers.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cresearch\u201d is therefore absolutely right that older drivers don\u2019t drive like younger ones. It might also have told us that fire is hot, and water is wet. However, it seems to deliberately avoid the far more serious issue of older drivers tending to drive badly because they can\u2019t do it any other way.<\/p>\n<p>Something that <strong>is<\/strong> apparent is that there isn\u2019t much breathing space between supposedly \u201csafe\u201d 70 year olds and 75 year olds, who the research admits <strong>do<\/strong> have more accidents simply due to their age. It naively ventures into very dangerous non-PC territory by identifying older female drivers as being poor at manoeuvres (you\u2019re only supposed to say good things about women by default, then recommend that they be given executive jobs in large corporations or in government).<\/p>\n<p>The article then brings out the usual emotional claptrap about independence, freedom, and mobility \u2013 and the obvious inference that risking other people\u2019s lives means less than risking the loss of an old person\u2019s ability to drive. The comedian \u2013 sorry, the \u201cprofessor\u201d \u2013 who has come up with all this suggests that in order to deal with older drivers\u2019 inability to turn right properly (i.e. their poor judgement skills), there should be dedicated filter lanes or wider roads to help them! Or, in other words, he wants to fix a problem he has just done \u201cresearch\u201d on and concluded doesn\u2019t exist. <\/p>\n<p>British science is dead. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>The same \u201cscience festival\u201d <a title=\"Smartphone study on weather and pain reveals early data\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/science-environment-37301579\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has also included feedback on a \u201cstudy\u201d on the effects of weather on chronic pain<\/a>. It seems that \u201cresearchers\u201d have been using a smartphone app to collect \u201cdata\u201d about how people experience pain under different weather conditions. <\/p>\n<p>Just imagine this, for a moment \u2013 and try to think about it objectively. You give a phone app to a group of people who suffer pain as a result of some ailment so they can provide feedback about how they feel at any given moment. Talking about their aches and pains is quite probably their favourite (and only) discussion subject. Many of them will be the type where if you say to them \u201cI\u2019ve got a cold, and feel terrible\u201d will immediately inform you that they feel worse. Or, if you foolishly ask them how they feel, will tell you about things they wouldn\u2019t have otherwise deemed worth mentioning because they\u2019re incapable of setting a personal baseline.<\/p>\n<p>Give these people a brightly-coloured app \u2013 I saw it on the news, and it <strong>is<\/strong> brightly-coloured and simplistic \u2013 and ask them to tell you how they feel after the slightest twinge, and you have created the most biased and subjective bank of data imaginable. <\/p>\n<p>RIP, British science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I saw an amazing piece of nonsensical gobbledegook in this BBC science story, which is in turn based on the amazingly biased writings of a \u201cprofessor\u201d of extremely soft subjects at a university which has incredibly low entry standards, and which comes 45th in the current University League Table. Apparently, \u201cnew research\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s layman\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20084\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}