Countrymouse Posted November 2018
On My Mind
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Replacing the much lamented 'On My Mind' profile option, this thread is for musings, jottings, whimsies, preoccupations and the rest of the thesaurus for anyone to jot down anything they please.
I can't remember what the maximum character count was before, can anyone else? But anyway it wasn't very many so let's keep to that.
We do have to be cautious about who receives a driver’s license because all of our lives are at stake when we are sharing the same road.
I don’t think my neighbor will be able to drive his truck much longer. He seems to be losing some cognitive function.
I would not mind being tested annually for a driving test.
We go for our doctor appointments twice a year as a way to stay on track. I feel the same way about testing for a driver’s license.
Living in a rural area cannot be the excuse to be driving unsafely.
My brother, who suspected he was having problems, ignored them because he lived alone in Palm Springs where it is crucial to be able to drive. He was in a dreadful accident that changed his life forever, and he was correct in suspecting he has a "problem". That problem was Lewy's Dementia.
He spent his last years thankful he didn't hurt or kill anyone. Luckily he drove his pickup back and forth repetitively from a Palm Tree to a huge garbage recepticle, not two people. Only he was badly hurt with his head smashing through first the front window, then the back, then the front again, and etc.
I am for testing. As to nervousness, we are ALL anxious and nervous when we get testing. That's no excuse to be unsafe on the roads.
I wholeheartedly agree. Everyone deserves to be safe on our streets.
I personally feel that so many accidents could be prevented if testing would be done more often.
I am lucky that my parents did not fight with their doctors or us about no longer being able to drive.
Mom was having seizures and had Parkinson’s disease. My dad had heart issues and had a stroke. Both were told by their doctors to no longer drive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWJFDUg-CkY
You realize the conditions or groups of people named above have MANY times the negative impact (accidents, crimes, and deaths) that older drivers do.
Sorry for going to the numbers guys, but after a lifetime working as a data analyst I can't help myself from using actual data in my responses - just like I read all the study papers that publish the info - and even dig into the actual numbers the studies are based on. The FBI (though they only correlate data submitted from the states) and insurance companies are two of my favorite sources...
Eyesight is a major component in accidents. Not being able to see at night causes issues too.
My godmother had macular degeneration. She didn’t have to be convinced not to drive because she never had a driver’s license. She did go blind in her later years and went into a nursing home.
My godfather drove and my godmother relied on him to drive everywhere. He died fairly young and she still didn’t learn how to drive. She walked or took public transportation.
Licenses are suspended. They must attend driver’s education classes.
They pay high fines and in some cases they also go to jail. Many are required to do community service.
Sometimes vehicles are modified with an ignition interlock system.
Their insurance company can deny coverage.
Similarly, young drivers having collision insurance on their car loans and wanting their insurance to cover repairs for every scratch are also involved in a number of incidents involving a fence or a post or a garage door a single vehicle collided with. They also have more "incidents" with law enforcement where they pay a fine for speeding, tail lights not functioning, drunk driving, etc.
Ask for the numbers where a death results or there is a medical injury (cost) or 2 or more vehicles involved or a determination of fault and compare the age based numbers. You may be surprised. Insurance companies do not offer reduced rates for drivers in a higher risk group but politicians wanting to justify actions (including moneys from increased ticketing and testing) do. It's also possible the data is not comparing cost and age as insurance companies do.
I would be happy to see raw numbers which would show Canada has a differing experience with older drivers than most of the USA.
I realize that there are bad drivers in all age groups. Everyone should be held accountable for their actions regardless of age.
All I am saying is, if someone isn’t safe to drive they shouldn’t be driving, especially since they are placing others in danger too.
Very true! In today’s world we don’t necessarily have to drive. There are delivery options.
Bad weather is another cause for concern. So many things are responsible for accidents and many of them are completely avoidable.
Everyone should be aware about when it isn’t safe to drive.
If we are a caregiver, we should educate our family members that we are living in a new world with many options available for us.
No one has to get behind the wheel of a car and endanger themselves and others who are sharing the road.
We need to make public transportation more accessible for everyone for people who want to remain as independent as possible. Our city added more streetcar lines a while back.
It’s tough for people who don’t have access to public transportation.
It boggles my mind to think about pioneers who traveled from far away to attain a better life. Many died along the way. I admire them and am certainly grateful to them for blazing a trail for others to follow.
Both previous classes were difficult at times. I was also under the weather during a lot of them. But I not only passed, I have around 98% for both of them! That's not just an "A," that's a "you are crushing this, Ali" kind of A.
So... I'm doubling up. I'm taking Measurements, and, Ethics this next term. I just registered for the second class, and both start tomorrow.
It was a gut-check moment. Am I sure I can do this..? It won't be easy, but I can adjust my work schedule. I'm so fortunate to have flexible work right now.
Wish me luck. I have some dread because I know it will be non-stop reading and writing for the next 12 weeks, but I think I'll be fine once I get in the groove. And there's a Christmas break in the middle of the class, which means I will get a halfway-mark pit stop. I got this. 💪
I remember my grandmother's neighbor telling me a story about how GM had gotten into a situation where she was on the wrong side of the road, and her car blocked traffic. She was so independent for so long, but she had to stop driving at some point. Macular degeneration claimed her eyesight, too, Need.
Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s easy to take life for granted. We never know what is in store for our future.
12 weeks isn't so bad and you are going to rock your new classes too!
I love tenacious old people that somehow just make things work and quit when they don't.
My grandpa had a close call with a very young child crossing the highway by themselves and he decided to give up driving because he knew he wouldn't have been able to live with harming another because his reflexes had slowed down. (For anyone being critical that he was allowed to drive to long, this little kid was obviously being neglected and was crossing a 6 lane highway outside of a crosswalk by themselves, it would NOT have been grandpa's fault. Praise God that he missed. I wouldn't have encouraged him quitting but, I supported his choice and got on the rotation to be his ride.)
The cat loves it . She’s on the window seat chasing snowflakes .
This means I really have to get going on Christmas , wrapping , sending cards , holiday decorating , at some point baking ……..
DH had a small child dash out from a parked car after a moving van slowly passed the parked car.
Probably seemed very slow to the child. DH was behind the van. Raining. Windshield wipers on. Residential street. No one was speeding. The little boy seemed inches away to DH. He pulled up to the boy and told him Go home and tell your parents you almost got killed playing in the rain. I told DH the little boy probably told his parents an old man yelled at him if he told them anything. I asked DH what did the boy do after he was yelled at. Splashed in the water and took off running across the lawns. Obviously feeling very much alive while DH was spent with the drama of it all.
DH aunt, trying to be helpful, backed her car out of her driveway to allow for departing guests to back into her garage to load their bags more easily. Problem was, aunt backed across the street and into across the street neighbors drive which she had done many times over the years. But this time, she forgot the part where you apply the brakes and instead hit their garage door. She said to the neighbor. I’ll be right back with my check book.
What a lovely mental image I'm picturing of a cat in a window seat chasing snowflakes. Get a picture of that if you can because I think that would make a splendid holiday card.
@Geaton
I wish I was out in rural North Dakota. I'm so tired of wall-to-wall people and traffic of a city. I hope your relative has a plan to move in a caregiver so they never have to move.
You were very blessed that she decided to be safe vs. the alternative.