[QUOTE=no_really,Jan 17 2007, 06:02 PM]The only statistic I have ever compiled related to this is Saturn drivers.

 

old are annoying

youth are dangerous

 

Both are dangerous, but I'm more afraid of the young kids. The olds are slow and unattentive, but they drive slowly and carefully. The young kids are reckless, period! They speed, race, doing dangerous stunts, etc.

 

In my experience....and most of you will agree...

The elderly CAUSE more accidents
The youngins are IN more accidents.

 

Well said.

 

Tell that to the old guy who ran over like 3 people and killed them doing 25mph...


Both are dangerous no matter how you look at it. Young kids think they can drive but can't. Old people feel that they can drive but suck at driving just as bad. This is not to say all old people or young people are bad drivers either. However, there is a good amount of both.

 

Ive been in many situations where an elderly driver CAUSED accidents (blitzed through a stop sign, the other car swerved, and hit another motorist)....Now, take that accident, and evaluate what happened...

The elderly person, was not IN the accident, so nothing goes on record about him, or his driving group. The guy who swerved ( an 18 year old) smacking into another 20 year old....neither of them are at fault, and now, both of them add to their age group statistic, as well as a record. IMHO, and not to sound like a dick, just like people under 18 are unfit to drive a vehicle, neither are people over a certain age. I think once someone gets past 50, they need to take yearly exams on sight, reaction times, etc etc etc. My grandfather does things in his car that scare me to death sometimes. He is a danger to himself, and others around him, but he has 0 accidents, and not a single ticket.

 

While I hate being behind the geezers because they are often indecisive, confused, and usually painfully slow, you asked who would we be more afraid of. I rarely see geezers driving about 80mph in the rain on a cell with their hat on backwards or sideways leaning over the armrest like a balla. Or doing about 55 in a residential neighborhood with a bunch of kids playing in it. I guess that means I am more of a believer that speed and inexperience kills more than snail slow and indecisive.

Geezers are generally not out driving hammered after high school football games either.

I know several dead old people, none from car accidents, but I can't say the same about 16-18 year olds.


I am all for retesting periodically after age 70 and yanking licenses if necessary. There was a expose in our sunday paper a few years back about an elderly couple that drove an RV around the US. The wife, like many of her generation did not know how to drive, so the husband did but was totally blind. They drove slow, she gave instructions and kept one hand on the wheel.

 

Old drivers drive me crazy (pun intended). Predictably stupid, though - they don't see well, they don't brake well, and they don't turn well. What I can predict, I can avoid.

Young drivers, on the other hand, are unpredictable. I nearly had a guy in a riced out Civic (full body kit, big rear wing, 92" wheels, and a fart can and an auto tranny ) wipe me out the other day on the way home from work. I was in the left lane, passing someone about 5mph faster than they were travelling. He came barrelling up beside me, thought he could make it through, and gunned it. I slammed on my brakes and hit the horn. He missed by about two feet (both of us). He nearly hit me and the other person and if we had made contact, he'd have probably spun into oncoming traffic (at 70 mph). That's a lot more dangerous than most old people, to me.

Bottom line: Young driver's all the way. More of them and they're less predictable.

 

I'd tend to agree. They're both bad for different reasons.