Being driven round the S bend

[fragger]

A leading insurance company is proposing that all drivers over the age of 85 be required to display "S" plates on the back and front of their cars, i.e. small white plastic signs with a big red S on them. Along with the plates, there would be restrictions on where and when a senior citizen can drive, and a "black box" installed in every senior's car would monitor and assess their driving habits.

The company proposing this nanny-state nonsense claims that older drivers pose a greater risk to other, and I guess younger, road users.

What a complete load of bollocks that is. Consider the following stats (Source: Roads and Traffic Authority 2007).

- Injury is the single biggest killer of Australian youth; more than all other causes combined
- 45 per cent of all young Australian injury deaths are due to road traffic crashes
- Of all hospitalisations of young Australians, almost half are drivers involved in a road traffic crash and another quarter are passengers
- Young drivers (17 – 25 years) represent one-quarter of all Australian road deaths, but are only 10 – 15% of the licensed driver population
- A 17 year old driver with a P1 licence is four times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than a driver over 26 years
- The biggest killer of young drivers is speeding and around 80 per cent of those killed are male
- One-third of all speeding drivers and riders in fatal crashes are males aged 17 – 25; 6 per cent are females aged 17 – 25

Clearly, this company is targeting the wrong age demographic.

Personally, I'd rather share the road with senior citizens who have had decades of driving experience and aren't in any blazing rush to get anywhere than with the impatient young petrol-headed ratbags I encounter almost every time I venture out onto the road. Whenever I witness these testosterone-fueled twits and their acts of arrogant ratbaggery I see a statistic in the making - it's only a matter of time. I can only hope that when the time comes, they only take themselves out and not some other more level-headed older person who has the sense and the patience to drive responsibly. I think older people are more likely to place a higher value on their hides and not risk needlessly chucking away what time they have left. I know I do (he says after riding motorcycles until he was 50 :-() But I rode responsibly).

My father is now 88 years old and is one of the most competent drivers I know. Mentally he is as sharp as a tack, has reflexes like a fighter pilot, and is as fit as a fiddle (just this afternoon he has pruned back a mulberry tree, whipper-snipped and mowed his front and back lawns, and taken the dog for a walk whilst barely cracking a sweat). When it comes to handling a motor vehicle he runs rings around half the numbskulls I see who can barely keep within a lane and have the peripheral vision of a blinkered Clydesdale, yet if this cockamamie system is implemented it will greatly impact Dad's motoring freedom, his quality of life, and whatever regard and consideration other people may show towards him on the road. They'll see an S-plate and their instinctive reaction will be "doddering old fool ahead" and will contemptuously monster him or take stupid chances to try and get past him, potentially putting him, themselves, and others at even greater risk.

This is just a proposal at this stage - hopefully that'll be all it is. Apparently some online poll showed that 68% of those responding were in favour of it. I believe this result is more indicative of which age group is more likely to be on the net than any kind of accurate public opinion cross-section.

I guess the fools who want to implement this system think they won't ever get old themselves. If they drive the way that some I've seen do, they probably won't. And they're more likely to be tagged by some reckless young hoon in a souped-up muscle car than they are by a careful law-abiding silverhead driving a Hyundai Getz. Rotten drivers come in all ages, but older rotten drivers tend to be rotten at much lower velocities. This is just out-and-out age discrimination.

Since when do insurance companies dictate the road rules anyway? That's not their flipping call.

[PZ]

Sounds like a poorly thought out plan.  I wonder what would happen if an 85+ year old was simply borrowing their childs car? Maybe they should shave all 85+ year old people bald and tattoo a big red "S" on their forehead and back of the head. Then of course, they would need to legislate punishment for old folks letting their hair grow to hide the "S".  Also, older drivers need to be told that they cannot turn their heads because the person behind might not see the "S".  Oh, one more thing - they cannot have tinted windows either.

Just goes to show how stupid people are.

[mandru]

Agree 100%.

Discrimination against Seniors is evil to the core and anyone getting their insurance through that company would do well to find another policy carrier hast pronto.  Vote with the Aus$ by walking away in mass and giving them a good firsthand taste of being singled out and excluded into oblivion.


Could it be that there is something more going on since the stats you presented show the idiocy of this insurance company's intent?

To me it looks a planned initiative to isolation and removal seniors from society.  :-\\

**Before I go any further let me first say "Present Company Excluded."  Through long exposure you've all passed the acid test and are known good eggs and it is not my intent to insult anyone here.  :) **

I don't know how health care is set up in Australia but here in the U.S. there is a strong Progressive push going on to nationalize single payer which means the Government running and administrating the whole shebang.  The first step of implementing this plan was getting Obama Care (Prezzie Obama called it Obama care himself when they were still trying to install this crap so I intend to call it that especially in light of all the lies required to force it into being installed) passed as law which has been stuffed down out throats without a single damn one of us getting to vote on it.  And when the topic of Death Panels was brought up we were promised (among many other lies concerning this farce) that there was no such thing.

Much like the age cutoff point of 85 for drivers you refer to fragger it has been leaked that our now established insurance Death Panels have determined that people over the age of 60 and under the age of 18 who are no longer part of the core population can expect to receive highly reduced levels of medical treatment as it is deemed too expensive to waste precious funds and resources on anyone outside of the valuable core population ages 19 - 59.  There are other criteria specifically defining individual types within that preferred age range who are also deemed as disposable baggage.  So run right out and get your now available DNA testing so the results highlighting your known potential future genetic health risks can be reported to the (Govt. hand picked) insurance companies (those who supported bringing Obama Care online) so it can be decided what level of medical care you can expect to receive...  Or not.

But hey!  Look on the bright side.  If you find yourself within one of the less preferred undesirable groups know that Voluntary Self-selected suicide is really starting to catch on so you don't have to suffer unnecessarily when you're turned down for life extending procedures or denied expensive medicine to manage your condition or control pain.



  :-D

Purely skippable personal rant but I'm on a roll

My personal observation (and opinion for what that's worth) is that people of that age demographic (here in the U.S.) politicians have decided that it's necessary to weed them out of the voting process primarily because they have roots in and personally remember life at a time when the hard core Leftists (Liberal) and Progressives (Freaking One World Order, America Hating Nut Jobs who have entrenched themselves in both Democratic and Republican positions of power) were at least held in check by equally powerful political opponents on the Right (Conservatives) that had the guts to punch the hell back.

For too long now the professional politicians have all come out of the same collages having taken the same courses in Political Science being taught by a high percentage of (Self-Professing) Communist Professors who are still angry and seeking vengeance for the 1950's Black List butt kicking dealt them through Senate hearings because of the Cold War sentiment.  How the hell can we expect to select anyone to lead who still holds something resembling an admiration for the ideals of a polite society.  And I'm not talking about a politeness enforced through political brute force and mandatory group think.

What we get now days are freaking incestual connections most obviously represented in the case of President Bill Clinton (Democrat) and his successor George Bush the 2nd (Republican) who even though they were political opposites (in theory) not only attended and graduated from the same collage but were fraternity brothers.  Even after graduation they continue to chum around sharing many family vacations celebrating their friendship and shared successes as established power brokers.

Now Bill's wife and the last Bush's younger brother both fully expect there to be a coronation so one or the other can step into their rightful place as the royal ascendent.  The U.S. is a Republic so I simply cannot grasp why anyone in America is putting up with this stinking vaudevillian emulation the Windsor/Tudor infighting soap opera?  :D

[Art Blade]

first off, thanks for the amusing read, gents. :)

Then, to both mandru and fragger: That insurance company. None of you have questioned the amount of people in those groups of 85-year-olds and, say, 18 to 26-year-olds.

I am throwing this in because I think there is more behind it than just old people.

Spoiler

erm.. there are old people behind it? Really? Well, I think they're more likely against it.. quite a silly choice of words I admit :-()

I'm not an expert but I still think that IF you guys were experiencing the same problem that we are over here in Germany, then you'd find yourselves in a demographic situation of fewer and fewer young people but more and more old people, a graph they love to show to demonstrate the effect usually looks like an inverted pyramid, as in bottom up, top down. So here we'd have, say, an enormous amount of old people but comparatively few young ones.

Like in the US, here health insurances focus on people who are still capable of working (as in earning money) to get those people into their system so the money flow goes the right direction. Other than in the US, all of the people insured with our mandatory health insurance system, run by our government, keep receiving highly reduced levels of medical treatment. Reduced every year. While at the same time the insurances keep rising their monthly rates. We do have a private sector but that is currently getting hammered and it is not important for this discussion.

So if you guys only had very few "young" people whom you'd need to get their money in order to run the insurance.. a whole bloody enormous lot of "older" people wreaking havoc out there, you might find yourselves in a slightly different dimension. Hordes of elderly people bumping into one another and every obstacle they could possibly hit, moving or stationary. And there comes a handful of youngsters about to get pounded..

I know it was a tad over the top, I might even have exaggerated a bit, but you'll have to admit that without being able to see the relation, the dimensions, without knowing actual numbers, the whole list of injuries killing youths is worthless.


We don't know the most important facts. We can't compare anything and therefore the whole setting is nonsense.


Just my two cents  :-()

[fragger]

- Young drivers (17 – 25 years) represent one-quarter of all Australian road deaths, but are only 10 – 15% of the licensed driver population

There are good young drivers and bad young drivers, just as there are among any "age group". But drivers under the age of 25 are way over-represented in the accident rates. In the case of the above statistic, considering the fact that yes, there are far more older drivers than younger ones on the road, then this stat indicates just how over-represented younger drivers are. It's not a question of total numbers of one age group compared to another, it's a question of overall proportionality.

But stats aside, what angers me is this blanket condemnation of a group of people whilst scorning any notion of individual assessment. I should have mentioned this in my initial post, but drivers over the age of 85 in Oz already have to take a driving test every two years, and once over 75 you must undergo a medical examination every year to continue holding a license. These are not proposals, these are enacted laws and have been in place since 2011. So this S plate proposal for drivers over 85 is essentially branding them as incompetent even if they have proven themselves competent.

What's the point of having to prove your driving ability every two years if you're simply going to be publicly denigrated out of hand just because you're of a certain age? It's discriminatory and it totally negates the existing evaluation procedures.

[mandru]

From what I've heard in the TV news is that the age demographic in Germany is being abruptly changed with this sudden influx of immigrants and refugees among whom the average age is 26 year old as well as being male.

Apparently the town of Sumte (a small slice examining the impact of this migration) which has been reported as having an established population of 100 was initially required to accept an additional 1000 people but that number was reduced to 500 and will eventually expanded to 700 or 750.

I don't know if there are open elections and voting for civic concerns in Germany but if there is I don't see how the original long established residents of Sumte will ever make their voices heard again.  For some reason the phrase "Atlantis sank beneath the waves" keeps going through my head as I hear updates on these reports.

[Art Blade]

I don't know if there are open elections and voting for civic concerns in Germany

I don't think there are any. Just elections to choose from what's left on the bottom of the gene pool (politicians)

[mandru]

 :-D

[fragger]

 :-D

I guess they're the same everywhere  - a waste of space ::)

[nexor]

Then you guys should come visit us, oh, before you do that.....   
just arrange so your tank lands here before you do, you will need that kind of protection    >:D
Traffic lights are just a nuisance, why must I sit at a red traffic light wasting time if there are no cars crossing the intersection    :D
Oh darn it, I forgot something at the shop, no problem, just make a u turn in the face of oncoming traffic, those cars "will" give you right of way.
When there's a traffic jam in a one, two or three lane road we just make another one over the solid line into the oncoming traffics lane   ::)
You cannot get a drivers licence without getting training from a registered learner driver training school, or you can bribe the owner of a un-registered learner driver "school" to buy a licence for you, especially if you (failed) a number of times.   >:((
Oh what the hell !!!!!!  Who needs a licence, drive without it, you can always bribe the traffic officer when you get caught  >:D

[Art Blade]

sounds pretty wild..  :-D

[fragger]

 :o

Is it anything like this? (video quality is crummy, but you'll get the gist).

The real fun starts at around 1:00:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ec3ie8Ja90

[mandru]

Two wrongs don't make a right but three rights do equal a left.

I've finally ingrained on Mrs. mandru the defensive driving concept that when approaching a typically over busy intersection that's not equipped with a left turn light (remember that we drive on the right side of the road here) that it is safest to go a block beyond where she wants to turn left and circle the block making three rights so that she has the light and right of way when crossing through that questionable intersection.


Just last week she had a three day civic event where she and her assistant were standing duty at an educational booth promoting Safety Precautions that would benefit senior citizens or anyone else that's not an immortal.  Typically they would have traveled to the event from the office together in our car since Mrs. mandru is eligible to receive reimbursement for business related mileage.

But on one of the days the assistant had some personal business to attend to beforehand so she was due to arrive in her own care before the doors opened.  That didn't happen.  It turned out that the assistant was delayed because she was involved in a fairly serious accident (at least for her car, the seat belt spared her of anything beyond being rattled and bruises) on her way to the event.

The first thing Mrs. mandru's assistant said when calling to explain her being late was "I'm sorry.  In rushing to get there I forgot your motto of three rights make a left and my cars been totaled."

[Art Blade]

 ???

[nexor]

Although it looks a mess fragger, there's a distinct pattern those people are following, you could say order in the disorder.
What we have here is something totally different, remove all those cyclists and the scooters and replace them with unroadworthy Toyota Hi-Ace 12 seater mini buses carrying up to 25 passengers with drivers having suspect drivers licences.

This is just a sample of what we have, remember we drive on the left-hand side of the road
NOTE: The first clip, see if you can count how many got into the vehicle,
remember it's a 12 seater
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebVsEvDMCis     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSWys-5IBvA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2BSdkEImf4&list=PLlymoviEH0fhod14q3PBWkAOqJyNx_93H

[fragger]

You are right, nex. A mate of mine went to Indonesia some years back and the way he described the traffic in and around Jakarta sounded like it would have looked just like that clip from India. Yet there seemed to be very few accidents. The locals have become accustomed to a traffic system which looks chaotic to someone from overseas but actually has method to it, which to the locals makes sense and is simply the norm.

Regarding those clips you linked to:

Clip 1: Holey moley! There was about two dozen people cramming onto that minibus. As they were squeezing in I was watching the cab getting lower and lower to the ground on its suspension :-()

Clip 2: Now that's road rage! What got me was not only the extreme behaviour exhibited by the driver, but the way the onlookers didn't lift a finger to help the victim even after the van had driven off.

Clip 3: Words fail me.

[Art Blade]

crikey cor blimey ???

[nexor]

What is shown in the clips is only a drop in the bucket.
Some years ago traffic cops pulled off one of these mini busses during a routine check-up,
This was on a Monday end of an Easter weekend, about 40 KM outside a town called Polokwane, not far outside this town is the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) the largest African initiated church in Southern Africa, with millions of members.
On Monday a few of these millions are returning home from the Church grounds to Johannesburg, during Easter weekend this road is the busiest in the country, about 3000 vehicles per hour one way.
Ok, to get back to the cops pulling off this Mini bus taxi, the cops found the driver using a
vise grip for a steering wheel, there were no seats in the vehicle but a lot of people flat on the floor squeezed in like sardines in a can about three deep, the cops emptied the taxi and the head count came to 35, excluding the driver and two passengers who was sitting in the front with him.   

[Art Blade]

that must have been the record for the most efficient use of one taxi. :-D

[fragger]

 :-D

[nexor]

You guys won't believe in what "roadworthy" condition some of these vehicles are, and the problem,  potential passengers are too scared to complain because there are no other form of transport from within the townships where they live to the workplace or, they might just get what the guy in the clip got for getting up the nose of the taxi drivers

[Art Blade]

 :(

[mandru]

Mechanic: "I couldn't fix your brakes... So I made your horn louder."  :) :-X

[Art Blade]

heh heh heh :-D

[fragger]