British Expatriate Network

When old people are involved in an accident it's often unbelievable. This one in Florida involving a 93 year old man is typical.
http//www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/21/elderly.driver.ap/index.html

In North America the car is so important, especially to those that live in areas that do not have public transport.

I am fortunate to live in a large city that has a pretty good public transport system. However there are still people here that fight tooth and nail to keep their driving licence.

Would you be able to do your daily tasks without a car? And would you continue to drive even if you knew that you were not competent?

Some time ago I read an article on a group trying to develop an alternative to the breathalyser.
It was a PDA with two 'games' that a suspected drunk driver would be asked to play.

The first wnet something like, there is dot on the screen which wanders around randomly, you had to follow it with the stylus as accurately as possible, every so often a box would appear in one corner , you had to hit the box as quickly as possible then return to following the dot. i forget what the other test was, something similar.

So the tests measure your hand to eye coordination, reaction times and attentiveness, the real skills involved in driving not some arbitary assumption that a certain ammount of alcohol renders you incapable.

the follow on question form this was, if it was proved in court that it was a valid measure of driving competency could it be applied to any driver at any time, i.e the elderly, drivers on other drugs, drowsy drivers etc.
Perhaps at a certain age some type of competency test should become regular, every year or two?

To answer Keiths original question, No, it would not be possible to live dily life without a car. In later years, without children or work it may be possible.

I just took inventory.
The supermarket and the pharmacy will deliver.
The state liquor store and the beer distributor won't deliver.
I would need to visit doctors, dentist and the optician, Public transport wouldn't help because I couldn't walk to and from the stops. Cabs are few in this suburban area and handicap transport is a monstrosity.

I intend to move to a seniors developement that will have facilities for a full time doctor and visiting dentists and eyeguy, and will run a shuttle to the malls. So I might be able to give up my car, but it will be one hell of a wrench to give up the freedom it brings.

A potential problem with using Beest's PDA test is that dementia is often an in-and-out thing in the early stages. I remember my mother crying one day at the dinner table, because she couldn't remember when my birthday was. The next day, again at the dinner table, my daughters were trying to work out my age, and she told them my age, that I was born on Good Friday at 720AM in University College Hospital, and that we lived in Eastbourne Terrace. And she told them that I wouldn't drown because I was born with a caul.

If I lose my license now, I'd go back to where I lived in the UK and get a job there. Both my job and shopping/entertainment were around 10 minutes walk away. I really only used the car for going out with my friends or driving west to see my parents.

I could not cope here in US though, that is for sure.

Between May and November I could walk to a supermarket about 30 minutes away. There are a few other food places - pizza, tim hortons, chinese takeout - that are a little closer. But I drive 20 minutes to work. And I live on an island so poorly designed that you cannot leave by foot half of the year.

So the answer is no. If I had no car I'd think about one of the top pedestrian cities - say Portland or Austin - but seeing as I'd rather not live in a city I'd most likely just leave.

http//www.car-accidents.com/pages/car_accident_picture_2.html

Not being allowed to drive in North America is virtually a death sentence.

It takes me 7 minutes to walk to work. Everything can be delivered to your door. Supermarkets and everything else in plentiful supply. I have a bycycle to get me further afield. So is of you can no longer drive move to New York.

I don't drive. Never Have. But I've always lived in cities with reasonable public transport. I cycle and walk a lot too.

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I don't drive, never have done, just didn't like the idea of it. Back home i used public transport alot or walked, but mostly cycled everywhere. If it would take me longer than an hour to get somewhere then i would consider taking the bus or the train. I've been here ten months. Mrs Servalan does the driving. But then she needs the car to get to and from work.
Where we live at the moment in Newark(DE) is scary, the people drive really fast and there are always accidents. I can cycle to the grocery store, a trip which takes about twenty minutes and involves lifting bicycle over a fence at one point, but can travel nowhere else. There are cycle lanes everywhere but people use them to pass you in and/or abandon their cars. Quite often the cycle lane will vanish into thin air and leave you at the mercy of chelsea tractors and the people on the phone in them who pretend not to see you.(Nobody seems to pay attention to stop signs either)
There are buses here but they only seem to go in one direction, and only run at certain times.
We're leaving for baltimore in a fortnight and thankfully are going to be downtown. It will be nice to be around people again.
At some point i will have to drive, thats inevitable, you can't not drive here. When people learn that i don't they are quite shocked, they ask me how i used to get around in the UK.
I shock them further by telling them i walked everywhere.

Most of the posts here ignore the OPs point, taking the license away from old people. Age is often accompanied by infirmity. It is also accompanied by reduced income so moving into big cities can be prohibitively expensive, unless one is prepared to move to a run-down area.

True but in my mid-30's, I can't approach it as an old person so interpreted it as "what would I do now?", if stupid enough to get caught DUII (or not get caught).

To address the original point of the topic, I recall my dad and aunt gently and then not so gently stopping my grandfather from driving when he was in his mid-70's. He truly had become a disaster area, was in the early to middle stages of what was later diagnosed as Alzheimers. They probably did the local community a huge favour when they took his keys and sold his car but it was very hard for everyone at the time.

A lot of older people with the money to do so are now moving into retirement communities where they have regular bus service and shopping services.  Attached is a health care center so that they can at least see a nurse, if not a doctor during the day.

However, this only really includes the people with the money to do so.

Edited to add, my grandmother stopped driving and gave up her car at 90. For the last five to ten years she only really used it for mile long trips to the local store if it was too cold or wet to walk. As she lived in a rural community, Tintagel in Cornwall it was quite difficult for her. Smaller villages/towns are losing resources as everything becomes more centralized, even in the UK.

That is very true. It may seem as though you would be better off in the UK regarding being without a car, but in both places where our parents live there is virtually no public transport in walking distance. my parents have more than the in-laws. All the in-laws have is one bus each day and nothing at the weekend.

Here, as long as I remain active into my old age I wouldn't need a car to get to where I needed to go. Obviously it would take longer (just like it would in the UK) but then, if I was retired I would have the time. Supermarket, coffee shop, hairdressers etc. are all in walking distance. There are doctors offices within walking distance but ours is a bit further. Also, 5 minutes away there is a bus stop that will take you to the largeish shopping mall where there are connecting buses to just about anywhere you need to go, even to eventually get you to NYC by bus :)

Old people should have to get a doctor to ok them for a driving license every year like they do for truckers.

There is no way I could live where I do without a vehicle.
The closest store of ant kind is 3 miles away. I collect our mail from a mailbox at the end of the road, 1 mile. The closest grocery store is 15 miles and it is all uphill on the way back.
Dentist 12 miles, doctors 23 miles, hairdressers and schools 10 miles.
There is no public transportation here. To take a bus or a train you would have to take a taxi 20 miles each way.

IMHO it's not only the elderly who are dangerous on the roads here. Driving in general is atrocious with a general disregard for anyone and everyone else on the road. I mean you all had to take a driving test, right! You are now qualified to parallel park between two cones in a parking lot!! Oh, and you can whizz in and out of traffic overtaking and undertaking at will... and cross the stop line at a red light before you stand on your brake and come to a halt half-way across the junction. The list is endless isn't it.

I mean, come on, any of your 16-year-olds responsible enough to drive a killing machine? I know mine most certainly weren't.

I especially hate those "SUV Moms" with a vehicle full of other people's kids who seem to think they can talk on their cell phones, put on their makeup, change their pantyhose, feed the baby, tailgate you, and anything else that may come to mind. All this while attempting to transport the most precious cargo in the world around!

I totally agree that the elderly should have medical opinion behind them if they want to drive, but I also feel very strongly that they really need to tighten up on road safety in general, starting with a proper driving test.