• Vinegar@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    All too often I think the discussion misses the fact that there is no alternative to driving for the vast majority of US citizens. Busses, trains, walking, biking, etc are not viable options because US infrastructure & city planning overwhelmingly neglects everything but the automobile.

    It is supposedly a personal moral failing every time someone drives too old, too tired, or too impaired, but if trains, busses, & walking were the default ways to get around then this chronic societal problem would diminish dramatically. Incompetent driving is rooted in systemic failures, not personal moral ones.

    • VeganPizza69 Ⓥ@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      The moral failing is that of personally encouraging, supporting or defending car dependency, along with the other more failing of not trying anything to reverse it.

  • knfrmity@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    In Germany drivers licenses issued before 2013 do not expire, meaning basically every senior would have to give up their license of their own accord. Spoiler: they generally keep driving, even when it’s abundantly clear that they shouldn’t.

  • tissek@ttrpg.network
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    1 year ago

    Heck, I’d support regular testing for everyone. Laws change, best practices change and regular testing is a good way to keep most up to date. It would cost, be a hassle and extremely unpopular. But if it saves lives and/or make traffic softer it is worth it.

  • Retiring@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I recently saw some numbers, published by an automobile club, that suggested drivers over the age of 70 are involved in only 13% of crashes. My first thought was, that number is only that low because every other driver is already very cautious around old people in cars. And they usually drive rather slow. Still no reason to defend older people in death machines.

  • starlinguk@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    What are they going to do instead. Apparate?

    In the Netherlands you are tested every 5 years after the age of 70. So many people lose their licence and end up stuck in the middle of nowhere because there is no public transport and most affordable retirement homes have been shut down. So my dad, who is in his eighties and has passed his tests so far, drives around looking after them.

    • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Them not driving is a small inconvenience compared to the risk of killing themselves or someone else. Driving is not a right, it’s a privilege with real and dangerous consequences. The ability to do it safely needs to remain the most important factor when distributing licenses.

        • Pablo M.U. :vericol:@col.social
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          1 year ago

          @Zana @RGB3x3 It’s quite funny how the whole premise of this sub/community is “it’s insane that driving cars is the main option for transportation in many places, we should strive for our cities/countries to build other, better, more sane options” but there’s always a comment in every post reminding us that there “aren’t any other options.”

      • Smaller towns tend to have public transit, but it would be something like “hourly buses between 9 and 5 except on Saturdays, Sundays, and bank holidays” with possibly a few kilometers of walking distance to the closest bus stop.

        The more populated your area is, the better your public transit will be, but if you can’t walk to the bus stop you’ll have to rely on external services (that are available but not exactly cheap or easy). This is especially bad in the more remote areas (i.e. old people living on a farm, not willing to sell their house for a much smaller appartement close to the services they need).