I just had a call from my old mum this evening. Dead calm and matter of fact she beat around the bush then said, oh and by the way I have smashed my car up again. WHAT, ARE YOU OK,WHEN, HOW I said....On Saturday she said, they had closed the road in the village for the fete but forgot to put a sign up so I drove up the road and got stuck, so I reversed back into something with a bang, panicked put it in drive to move forward and the wheels started to spin and I drove into the side of a parked car, tried to reverse and panicked again crashing into another car on other side of the road. Are you sure your ok I said, oh yes the village doctor took me home and checked my over, and the man over the road arranged for the garage to take my car away on a lorry. Bearing in mind she is a little old lady who struggles to walk across the room but has a2010 Volvo C30 T5 turbo R design. I am thinking its about time she hung up her driving gloves and took a taxi, but am I brave enough to say so, not really but its a conversation we are going to have to have before she kills someone.
Surely she has an inkling in herself that its about time to call it a day? My mum had to have the same conversation with my grandad... driving the family in his car, he completely failed to register a roundabout... straight over the top, through the flower beds, out the other side, carried on down the road as if nothing had happened!
as i drive 9hrs a day 5 days a week i get to see quite a lot of this, now some oap's are still perfectly safe drivers but it has to be said some of them really do need to just stop because they are a danger to them selves and more important other road users / pedestrians. freedom i understand just how hard that conversation will be but i think you know its for the best, this country needs to bring in a re - test when you reach 65/70, i think this should be more of a training course to check their driving is still safe, not a fail and we take your license away job.
