Should Senior Drivers be banned from the road??

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

They need to do road tests...not just some stupid written exam and an eye test.

My Grandfather is 92. They keep renewing his license over and over. He gets in little fender benders, can't see at night, doesn't use good judgment while driving, etc. etc. He should NOT be on the road, period.

He also can refuse the eye exam as long as his optometrist writes him a note stating his vision is fine for driving..and of course, the optometrist is going to continue to sign these notes or he would lose a paying customer. It's sad.

After 75 I think there should be a required road test to get their license renewed.

[Sylvia_n_Joseph 3]

I think people who drive with a small ####### are as bad as old drivers because they feel like they have to make up for it by being an idiot

It only because they have the wrong stick in their hand when they are trying to shift

[eric&gen 0]

Now that i have less teeth i can gum it.

[Scott & Lai 12]

I think women drivers are just as bad as old drivers . I had a few incidents in my area with women drivers and a few road rage flip off contests lol. Women love to tailgate and drive up so close to your bumper you cant move when theres another car in front of you.

Out of the countless times I've had some idiot run up my tailpipe, only one that I can recall was a woman...

[Marilyn. 340]

Why is there brail at drive-up atm's?

Mass production.

some people do use the drive up ATM's that aren't driving a car...

[chri'stina 190]

I haven't read every page so I am sorry if I am repeating anything.

This is a big problem in Florida, at least where I live. There are elderly people driving on the wrong side of a big busy road often. When they turn left or right, they will miss the real way to go and go into oncoming traffic.

They need to be tested annually at least, it actually would be better every 6 months though that'd be unrealistic and would cause the only DMV drive testing site in our county to be insanely crowded more than it already is.

A problem is that in places where there isn't reliable public transportation, they will end up not being able to go anywhere like the grocery store. So that is another big problem and why they drive for as long as possible.

[almaty 19]

no, my dad is in his 80s and drives well, and not had an accident in 40 years,....teens should be banned....

[eric&gen 0]

Teens and illegals need to be banned.

[Teacher Mark 53]

Why is there brail at drive-up atm's?

Mass production.

some people do use the drive up ATM's that aren't driving a car...

I stand corrected:

Dear Cecil:

A question gnaws at me. We've all used those drive-up teller machines at banks. Why are the buttons identified with braille? --Vox Populi, Baltimore

Cecil replies:

Congratulations, Vox, you are the one millionth person to ask this question! Please send us your address so we can burn down your house.

Hey, just kidding! Although if you ask ever why we park on the driveway and drive on the parkway, you won't get lucky twice.

Anyway, you asked a question, and by God you are going to get an answer. Drive-up ATM buttons are marked with braille because federal regulations require it. To be specific, section 4.34.4 of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (Appendix to Part 1191, 36 CFR Chapter XI, issued pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) says, "Instructions and all information for use [of an automated teller machine] shall be made accessible to and independently usable by persons with vision impairments." Drive-up ATMs, unlike the walk-up variety, don't need to be wheelchair accessible, but the rules make no exception regarding accessibility by the blind.

You're now thinking: boy, those federal bureaucrats sure are stupid. Don't they realize a blind person isn't going to be able to drive to a drive-up ATM? Cecil reserves judgment on the stupidity question, but even if the feds weren't smart enough to notice this little problem on their own, there were plenty of poeple who pointed it out for them before the rule was finalized. The American Bankers Association, for one, asked that drive-up machines be exempt from the visually-impaired requirement, arguing that a blind person using a drive-up ATM would have to be a passenger and that the driver of the vehicle could help with the transaction.

No dice, said the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, reasoning that driver assistance "would not allow the [blind] individual to use the ATM independently." This may sound like one of those absurd points of principle, but ATM manufacturers say a fair number of blind people do take cabs to drive-up ATMs, and nobody wants to ask a total stranger to help with a financial transaction.

Your question does point to a more serious problem, which other readers have also raised: how the hell is a blind person supposed to use any kind of ATM? Whether the keypad numbers are identified with braille or not, there isn't any braille translation of the on-screen instructions, without which the machine is useless. Maybe, you're thinking, the problem isn't the brainless bureaucrats, it's the brainless (or cynical) bankers and ATM builders, who figure a pretense of accessibility will get them off the hook.

But that isn't it either. At the time the accessibility rules were written, and to a great extent still today, there was no agreement on the best way to make ATMs accessible to the blind. More than 50 ideas have been proposed, including a "talking machine," detailed braille instructions, an automated "bank-by-phone" setup with a telephone handset and a keypad, and so on. (Sample problem: if you use a "voice guided" ATM, how do you keep others from overhearing?) Another difficulty was retrofitting the thousands of machines already installed.

The bankers and ATM builders argued that the best thing to do was leave the federal rules vague until the industry figured out a practical approach. The not-entirely-satisfactory solution in the interim has been to (1) mark ATM keypads, input and output slots, etc., with braille, and (2) send braille ATM instruction brochures or audio cassettes to blind bank patrons requesting them. The theory is that while ATM operation varies from machine to machine, people conduct most of their transactions at just a few locations, the operating sequences for which they can memorize. The drawback of this approach is that you have to know that the special instructions are available and you can only use the machines you have instructions for.

Happily, the banks and ATM builders have been reasonably diligent in trying to come up with more accessible equipment, some of which is starting to show up in the marketplace now. About time, say some advocacy groups. "We don't want to see information technology [e.g., ATMs] become the new curb," says Elga Joffee of the American Foundation for the Blind. "There's certainly no reason to squelch evolving technology. I just wish they'd hurry up and evolve it."

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_010.html

[almaty 19]

Teens and illegals need to be banned.

\just teens, i am fine with illegals driving as long as they are not teen-agers

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

Teens and illegals need to be banned.

\just teens, i am fine with illegals driving as long as they are not teen-agers

you'll think that when one runs into you

[Marilyn. 340]

I don't want anybody running into me.. illegal or otherwise

[palilover 1]

Teens and illegals need to be banned.

\just teens, i am fine with illegals driving as long as they are not teen-agers

you'll think that when one runs into you

well ok with that logic....I've nearly been plowed down on two occasions by women driving SUV's....should we ban women or SUV's?

[mawilson 2,133]

Teens and illegals need to be banned.

\just teens, i am fine with illegals driving as long as they are not teen-agers

you'll think that when one runs into you

well ok with that logic....I've nearly been plowed down on two occasions by women driving SUV's....should we ban women or SUV's?

If two's a pattern, let's ban all Pali lovers

[palilover 1]

Teens and illegals need to be banned.

\just teens, i am fine with illegals driving as long as they are not teen-agers

you'll think that when one runs into you

well ok with that logic....I've nearly been plowed down on two occasions by women driving SUV's....should we ban women or SUV's?

If two's a pattern, let's ban all Pali lovers

lol well, I nearly got hit in Ohio, not Palestine:)

But this does remind me of a story of how wrecks are dealt with over there. Unless there is a casualty, I guess nothing is done about them. we were in ramallah in the back of a taxi. Keep in mind that Ramallah is a typical middle eastern city...people, cars everywhere and no room to breathe. Someone plowed into the back of our taxi. the taxi driver asked if we were k and we were thank God and he went back to see if the others were ok in the other car. Thankfully they were. And low and behold, everyone goes theri seperate ways. Police not called, nothing. Then in front of my husband's house, someone-dont know who-plowed into the back of a car driven by an Israeli arab. My husband called out to check to see if the guy was ok and thankfully he was. But the guy who hit him did not even have the courtesy or compassion to see if he was ok before driving off:(

So looks like unless you need to be taken to the hospital or a morgue...they do nothing over there about accidents. How about that ? lol