my friend talin was hospitalized friday because of a duma$$ 59 yr old woman who cant see 3 kids in a crosswalk! my friends jake,talin and sterling were walking in a crosswalk and she was supposed to stop, but she didnt. She was going about 50 and wasnt paying attention so she smacked jake with her left mirror and severely injured my friend Talin. You might have seen the articles if you live in tucson , or you could see some things here:one of the articles in the paper. he has been in a coma since they airlifted him out during school hours. he got hit, hit the windshield and flew about 30 feet, 10 feet in the air. I didnt see it, but my friends sterling and jake witnessed it firsthand. jake was about 1 foot away from talin, and almost got hit. i was at the hospital today, trying to visit him, i waited about 3 hours, then he had to have a MRI done, so we couldnt see him. what really aggravates me is that all the old lady could say once she got out was that her Dang windshield was broken! she has glasses that are about 1/2 inch thick(about the thickness of a reed spacer). so, i think that for citizens over 60 should have to test for their license again. i know that there are many older drivers that are better than us youngins, but lets face it.... its all downhill at 40...
plz tell me wat you think, and please pray that Talin makes it!!

-rem

 

Really sorry to hear about what happened and hope your friend makes it through. As for your comment about revoking driver licenses after 60 I’ll have to disagree. I think you will find the accident rate among young drivers (say under 24) tends to be much higher. There tends to be a lot more recklessness associated with the younger set (lack of experience, distractions caused by music or passengers, alcohol, speeding, street racing, etc.). I believe statistics improve as the driver gets older (up to a point that is). I’m sure the stats begin to trend in the downward direction as the years go by, but I believe the age of concern is a lot higher than 60 (for instance I have an uncle that had his license revoked at age 85 but it probably should have been done a few years sooner than that. His driving scared me and I opted to drive whenever we were going someplace together). However I’m sure there are exceptions in any age group (good and bad).

Another matter to consider is the art of being defensive. This includes pedestrians too. For instance never assume just because you are walking in a cross walk that the approaching driver is going to stop (even though it would be against the law not to stop). It’s probably a good idea to assume that the driver in an approaching vehicle does not see you and do not put yourself in harms way until you are certain that the vehicle is avoiding you and is definitely coming to a stop before walking into it’s path.

I’ve noted while driving my kids to school in recent history that the younger set today is a lot less respectful of autos as pedestrians than when my group was of that age. I’ve seen so many kids just casually stroll out into the street without even looking, and walking slow to boot not caring at all about what is going on around them. I guess they are making the assumption that everything on the road will automatically stop for them (and assume everybody sees them and will react accordingly). This is a bad assumption because even a good driver can be suddenly overcome with a medical emergency or some other unusual distraction that may end up costing a careless pedestrian their life (even if it was the fault of the driver).

When I was growing up we always “looked both ways” and crossed only when the coast was clear, and if suddenly surprised by an oncoming car that we didn’t see we didn’t ignore it and stroll leisurely across it’s path, we’d put it in high gear and run the rest of the way across the street (unless the circumstances warranted stopping or retreating).

As for your "It's all downhill after 40" comment I think you will eat those words when you get there yourself. As for me, I'm a little closer to 60 than I am to 40, and I consider myself a safer driver now than I was many years ago.

I’m not criticizing you or saying you were doing something wrong, however perhaps if your friend was a little more defensive he wouldn’t be where he is now. Being defensive has been important to me, as a motorcyclist (for about 35 years now) it is a matter of survival...

 

I certainly hate too hear of your friends and hope they are OK. However, I don't understand why a person sees a vehicle coming at you at a high rate of speed, realize it's not slowing down, and continue walking. The crosswalk is the correct place for crossing the street, but it does not mean the person in the automobile WILL STOP. A small child, I could buy that, but a teenager? You can't make people stop driving after a certain age and you can't do anything about the 16 year old thats paying more attention too his / her cd player and trying too drive too. 2TV makes some goood points about being defensive. Again, I hope your friends come outta this fine. I feel for their families.
Gary

 

the only one who didnt notice that the car wasnt slowing down was talin

 

Unfortunately most of the idiots that drive today(not just new drivers) drive badly and they dont know what the heck they're doing. Im sorry for what happened to your freinds and I hope they get better. They will be in my prayers that they get better.

 

id say find that old lady and beat the $hit outta her and break her legs so she can never drive again...

 

talin is still in icu right now still in critical condition, we are waiting for the results from his mri, hopefulyl theres no brain damage. he is still in a coma, and cannot breathe on his own

 

at least press charges of viechular (sp?) manslaughter against her....seeing as how bad condition hes in now

 

I am very sorry to hear about your friends, but I'm going to have to DISAGREE with you, My Dad was 84 and hardly even had a speeding ticket his entire life, he was driving fine right up until he was taken ill and died in the hospital. Yes, there are dangerous drivers out there, impaired by age, or by drugs and alcohol, or just plain stupid. I can count on one hand how many times I have had close calls with older drivers, while I have lost track of all the terrible driving I have seen younger drivers do, just missing me on the street, and laughing about it, or slouched down below the steering wheel with the bass drivers rattling windows on the next block, worried more about what's ' cool ' than what's safe. And yes, there are very safe, courteous younger drivers as well as death on wheels older ones, there is no set time when someone is deemed unsafe to drive, we are all different in our abilties, and should be ranked that way. Cancel license at 60 ???, how about no licence until you get out of school, to keep the young lead foots off the streets ???? would you consider that fair ? This issue has no quick or easy answer, it is more of a case by case situation.

 

Rem

First off I understand your anger and frustration about your friends injuries. He will be in our prayers for sure. Be patient and let the Doctors and Nurses do their magic. Modern medicine often works wonders.

Your comment about revoking licences after age 60 hits home with me. Since I am 63 and soon to have another birthday I would consider it very unfair to loose my privilage of driving. This would mean I would have to be totaly dependent on others for any visiting, shopping or recreation I would want to do. I guess this would also mean I could no longer "drive" my ATV. I got my first drivers license at the age of 14, an agricultural license to allow me to drive trucks for farm business, and have been on the road ever since. I have no idea how many miles I have driven over the years but it has been a bunch. In all this time I have never been involved in a single, that is just one vehicle, car, or truck, accident. I have been hit from behind a few times when stopped and had a fellow kill himself when he went thru a red light and drove into the rear duels on a trailer I was pulling. My skill and ability to drive now is better in some ways and worse in others than when I was younger. Since my reaction time is slower now than when I was in my prime I make allowences for this. You will see older drivers going slower than other traffic as they attempt to leave a longer "reaction area" between their car and the vehicle ahead of them. When we do this most often someone will pull into this open area and negate what we are trying to do. The only option to drive safely is to slow down and and require a shorter stopping area. This is just one of the problems with growing older.

Eyesight, hearing and reaction time all are important when driving but experiance and individual skill count for a lot as well. The lady that hit your friend may have been a good or poor driver in the past. Since we do not know what her driving abilities have been in the past it would seem unfair to condem her because of her age or eyesight. Perhaps with her "thick glasses" her eyesight is corrected to an acceptable or even superior level.

I would suggest you reserve judgment until you know what the causes of the accident were. It may have been the first time this woman has ever had a problem with her driving or she may have been involved in any number of incidents. She probably feels very badly about what has happened regardless of her past history.

I guess, Rem, what I am trying to tell you more than anything else is be careful about judging any group by a single occurance. This can easily lead to getting into the habit of looking at only one side of an issue which makes for a biggoted and predjudical viewpoint. A real "case in point" of this is the way many people believe all ATV's are bad because of the bad habits of a small percentage of those of us who enjoy the sport.

I really hope things work out well for your friend, it is hard to see someone you care about being hurt and not being able to do anything about it. Just continue to be his friend and remember his family, they will need all the support you can give.