Petem95

How did he manage to roll it while reversing?! Quite impressive that!

_RIP_

Well I'm now a convert of fast prayers."Dear God, Heaven above", wtf

"It was a miracle I got out alive and I put it down to the power of prayer and God looking after me.

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

92 .. maybe there is a god !

pslewis

Most of you 'kiddies' will have had an accident already

It has taken him 76 years ..... have some respect

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

I wonder if you will have the same feeling if you reach that age and are still driving?

Have to respect the owner of the garage in not taking the opportunity in slagging the old boy off.

j

Suresh

Compulsory re-test @ 65 and every 5 years thereafter. Driving is a privilege and not a right! I'm sure there are many sprightly seniors who won't have the slightest problem even @ 80+

That said I think the sweet old duffer in the story wasn't really fit to drive though

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

why have you given up driving?

dpb

Good on him ,think of all the wonger hes handed over for insurance in that time - im glad he got some of it back

The Zohan

Yup, could not agree more, having been the victim of an older driver who nearly killed me due to very poor judgement and driving.

Ghetto Dude3

the family has just taken my granddads car off him, as at 84 years old, they decided he was not really fit to drive any more.

they at first took the keys from him, but reports from people in the village where half my family live, said he was going for secret drives in the middle of the night as he still loved driving

in the end they sold his car to my little sister, 30k miles Citroen Ax, bought brand new from the dealer on an N plate, bodywork battered to death LOL

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Must be harsh on him.. I know hes not safe to drive but still being told what to do by his kids

dpb

Im sure its a dreadful affront to ones sense of independence if youve driven all your life from 14 to 91 like my grandma - she had a a couple of scraps from driving too close to bollards in the last years but other than that and in view of the fact she always drove faster than the rest of the family (scare the life out us ) she never had a crash.
And despite the fact she couldnt remember something from one moment to the next im pretty sure shed be driving now ( except she dead of course )

Ghetto Dude3

better then the family sitting back and letting something happen, when it should not, if more family's did this, the UK would not be such a ****e tip IMO

but yea, it did bother him a bit, but he agrees that he should be driving anymore, he is getting on and is either playing dumb for comedy value, or is losing the plot, 84 is a good innings regardless.

when i was 17 i blew the engine up in one of my cars and gramps was sent to tow me home, stopping at a set of lights sharply i had no choose to stamp on the breaks and left a large section of slack in the tow rope, lights go green and he ****ed off, rope snapped.

he forgot all about me and drove away PMSL


i had to get out and push the car

pushed it down the street by myself and jumped in so i could roll down the very steep hill, i was quite lucky in that most of the journey how was down hill, so i`m rolling down this steep hill, hazards on, and i see grams pulled over looking at the snapped tow rope, i roll past beeping my horn, he never saw me, i managed to get the car round the back of the house and i was sitting on the door step with a cupper 15 mins later and he pulled up.

"ohh you managed to get it started again then"

the pistons were hanging outside the engine block

that was nearly 13 years ago

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

I've never had the pleasure of a Granddad ... well I'm sure there was one at some point but not during my life time .. and none of my elderly rels can drive ... my dad is 63 and drives for a living still so maybe we'll get some comedy out of him soon

Ghetto Dude3

He told me a cracking story a few years ago, he was a gunner in the navy and shot down 5 planes in the war, i was proud of him, until he told me they were all friendlies

apparently his commanding officer was kicking off with everybody and shouted at him " ANY, AND U MEAN ANY ****ING PLANES COME THIS WAY YOU TAKE THEM DOWN "

he said a lot of serious **** happened after that, but he was just following orders.

not sure if its true or not, but knowing him, i would think its possible LOL

he said he thought the enemy? (i think he said japs) were painting planes to make them look non jap (might have been them suicide bombers?)

wrxsti280

iTrader: (6)

anyone over the age of 70 should not be allowed on the road full stop, if they cant control their bladder they shouldnt be allowed to control a potentially dangerous weapon/car

Odds on

Going down the slip road to join the A13 last week, a car 2 in front of me slowed to 20mph to check the traffic right at the end of the slip road.

Watching lorry's and cars swerving round us as we joined was pretty scary, especially being at the back of this little que, with my daughter in the back.

Sure enough, as I overtook him, it was a old man in his 80-90's.

That could have been a massive accident if everyone else on the road at that moment wasn't so aware. He definitely should be off the road!

BTW, My licence expires when I'm 70. Looks like the DVLA know that older drivers are a problem, but can't do anything about the one's who've had there licence's for so long.

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Rubbish !!

Test them.. dont ban them !

You wait til (if) you reach that age and see if your mind changes

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

I bet he's had a bump or two in the past it's just at his age he cant remember them

Torquemada

When my gran was alive she used to only know where she was on the road by following the pavements as she was so blind that was as far as she could see. Traffic lights meant nothing to her and she was adamant that she was fine for the road. Craziness!! Eventually she was taken off the road by some other relatives who had been scared to death enough!

Certainly the story highlights the need for frequent testing and retesting of persons once they reach a certain age. All of us must see poeple on the roads driving like loonies on a daily basis. The number of old folks I've watched go the wrong way round roundabouts, drive down the road like they are drunk as skunks weaving towards oncoming traffic or into the adjacent lane, actually drive drunk after leaving the pub (having spent the whole avo down there) absolutely sozzled - is unbelievable, I have no idea how or why they are not pulled over and banned or ordered to take a retest!

This guy may not have had an accident in 70yrs plus but I bet there were quite a few times where he has pottered along without noticing the trail of destruction left behind.

Just the other day I was sat next to an old fella in a little hatchback who got within a few inches of bashing into me as he veered across the lanes at a round about, and that was after he finally noticed me in the other lane (this was at incredible speeds of between 15 and 30mph!).

Sorry, older drivers who are past the stage of being able to drive carefully really get on my nerves. There are plenty of decent older drivers out there but legislation has to be passed as this country becomes more super-aged as the years go by, there are more and more old peeps on the road and therefore more and more accidents waiting to happen imho.

Leslie

It is disappointing to see the ageism on this thread. As Pete said, it is his first accident in 76 years which is a lot more than a large number of young drivers could say. He has decided to stop driving anyway.

Those of you who want to see older drivers banned should think on to when you get older and although you can still drive safely you get automatically taken off the road because you keep shouting for it now. You wont feel so happy then believe me.

It really is not so difficult to make allowances for an older driver-all it takes is a little patience.

Do you think that young drivers should also be banned because they can't be trusted to obey the rules of the road and because they have accidents too?

Les

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

What a ridiculous comment

Do you actually know any 70 year olds? It really isn't that old, you wait until you get there, you'll still feel like a young man despite having a few creaks! My Dad is 70 next year and has just bought his 4th Scoob, an 08 STi. The only thing stopping him driving like he did 30 years ago are the speed cameras. He is still in full control of his bladder too.

Odds on

Younger drivers are only allowed 6 points, to make banning them easier though Les.

Torquemada

I really hope that was not pointed at me, I am not being ageist, simply telling the facts of what I have seen. Yep, we see lots on kids driving like fools too, however that is not due to the slowing of their reactions of bad vision or senility. Yep the young drivers need to continue to be monitored by the cops, and duly reprimanded or punished when they take the mick. The problem is that as I previously said, the numbers of persons in this country over say 60 is increasing loads due to people living longer and we are a superaged country pretty much. There appears to be nothing decent in place to look after this issue. There are cruddy drivers of all ages and I'm not sure how some get their licenses but the issue of drivers who may be unfit to drive due to age related issues (or due to the law having changed so much since they passed) does need attention. I wasn't making up the oldies driving the wrong way round roundabouts, I watched one guy do it whilst there was a cop car coming the other way who was trying to stop the old fella and had his blues'n'twos on but he was oblivious and kept on going, I really do see this sort of thing all the time, and I don't even do that many miles!

No not all old peeps should be banned, that's just dumb. There are plenty of the older generation who drive very well, as there are also plenty of young drivers who drive well.

Something I touched on briefly was the problem of the older generation drink driving, I also see this pretty much every week by lots of different culprits in the pubs I go to, and it appears to matter less to those over retirement age (also there is still the problem of young people doing it too). I've watched many of them sit in a pub from lunchtime until 7 in the evening and then hop in the car and weave their way down the road home. It seems as though the police are less willing to pull over the old boys/dears and give them a telling too for fear of them having a heart attack or something