{"id":8546,"date":"2012-03-13T22:17:57","date_gmt":"2012-03-13T22:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=8546"},"modified":"2012-03-13T22:17:57","modified_gmt":"2012-03-13T22:17:57","slug":"baby-boomers-now-an-increased-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=8546","title":{"rendered":"Baby-Boomers Now An Increased Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just for information, the term baby-boomers refers to people who were born post-war between about 1946 and 1964. That would make them between 47 and 66 as of today.<\/p>\n

This story, submitted by a reader<\/a>, reports that the UK population is getting older and an increasing number of cars are being driven by the over-65s. At the moment, around 15% of the population is over 65, but this is predicted to rise to around 25% by 2050.<\/p>\n

A parliamentary committee is suggesting in a report that older drivers could be sent on courses.<\/p>\n

Frighteningly, in 1975 only 15% of the over-70s had driving licences. In 2010 it stood at 60%. The story adds:<\/p>\n

Older drivers are over-represented in multi-vehicle crashes, suggesting that they have difficulty interacting with other road users. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is almost the exact wording used in that Young Drivers Risk & Rurality report I mentioned recently. It would seem that if you select the appropriate reports, every single person in the UK Is \u201cover-represented\u201d one way or another when it comes to crap driving!<\/p>\n

Young drivers often think they know it all, when simple logic clearly dictates that they don\u2019t \u2013 because they simply cannot, due to lack of experience. Older drivers might be a lot closer to knowing it all, but whether they can recall it at the right time or not is another matter entirely.<\/p>\n

Amusingly, the story mentions that over-70s just have to fill a form in saying they\u2019re safe to drive and bingo! \u2013 here\u2019s a new licence. The parliamentary report\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026says there needs to be urgent research into whether this is working\u2026 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course it isn\u2019t bloody working! You\u2019d have to be an idiot to think that self-certification isn\u2019t going to be abused the second you let it loose.<\/p>\n

The AA believes that any extra training should be voluntary and not mandatory. I disagree with that. The AA says:<\/p>\n

If there was a compulsory course or testing people might worry unnecessarily and be unwilling to go through it, so they would lose their mobility.<\/p>\n

OK. So let them carry on lying just to retain their \u201cmobility\u201d \u2013 and don\u2019t worry too much when things like this happen<\/a> (Cassie\u2019s Law still needs signatures, by the way). By all means put greater value on an old person\u2019s wheels than on the life of a teenager \u2013 but close the door on your way out!<\/p>\n

There should be mandatory testing of ANY at-risk group or individual.<\/p>\n

As people are fond of saying, a driving licence is a privilege, not a right. But it would appear that this doesn\u2019t apply to old people, for whom a driving licence is increasingly turning into an absolute right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just for information, the term baby-boomers refers to people who were born post-war between about 1946 and 1964. That would make them between 47 and 66 as of today. This story, submitted by a reader, reports that the UK population is getting older and an increasing number of cars are being driven by the over-65s. […]<\/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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80,87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adi-related","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t