Would you...
 

Would you admit your driving abilities have diminished with age?

When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did–in his sleep. Not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car.”

Not yet for sure.

Yes, if my vision gets bad or reactions get slow. I will be at the autocross this weekend and after 40 years of autocrossing there is little doubt I am a better driver now than when I was a teenager.

I am hopeful that by the time I am ready to quit driving the fully autonomous car will be commonplace.

I think when the day comes I can tell it is time to quit driving.

What if you consider knowing one's limitations as a skill?

Hells yes! My eyesight isn't what it was and I don't think my reaction time is as quick. My Valentine used to be my speed limit, but I sold it two years ago. I flirted with speeding tickets for years, and collected 3 or 4, but no more. I'm at or under the speed limit and driving defensively all the time. I had a Mercedes C-280 that I flogged without mercy. Now I drive a Volt.

I used to make regular trips to southern Illinois. It was 380 miles. Even in bad weather it took 5 hrs. On a good day it was 4 1/2.

I once drove from Sterling, Colorado to Lincoln, Nebraska (370 miles) in 4 hrs.

I thought the OP meant driving on public roads. AutoX and track are totally different that street and highway driving. I'm probably better at those now than I was 20 years ago when I had good eyesight.

I went (well still on-going) through this with my Dad. He is angry that we took the keys and that the DMV took his license. We had to take the keys cause he was going to drive regardless of what the DMV did. He struggles with mild dementia and Type 1 diabetes and was dangerous behind the wheel. That was almost 18 months ago, still an open sore for him.

So to the question, I already acknowledge my DD skills are not what they used to be. I am more easily distracted these days and my eyesight not as keen. My 39 years of driving experience is the saving factor here. At some point if I don't hand over the keys voluntarily then I hope someone will take them.

+1 on the autonomous car. That would be great to have in 20 or so years.

We went through this with my dad... riding with him was like "Mr Toad's wild ride" (if you don't get the reference then GET OFF MY LAWN!")
Lots of close encounters, lots of unexplained dings and scratches, fortunately after a few calls to the DMV he gave up before anyone got hurt.
And yes we hid the keys (he had new ones made) we disabled the car (he had AAA come out and fix or tow it ti a mechanic).

All that to say when my time comes I will give up the keys.
Planing retirement in a one lever house walking distance to shopping.
In a small town we can get around in a golf cart.

Hell I have the best skills on the road....everyone else has their hands full with wild kids, makeup, shaving, texting, and rage.

Loaded poll. I will admit, that at age 72, my reflexes have diminished. I also consider myself a better street and highway driver than when I was younger. Can't remember my last ticket...maybe 15 years ago? No dings & scrapes on any of the cars and pickups I drive. More into defensive driving than when I was in my early 20's. In good health for my age, so I should quit driving when? The poll as posted doesn't allow for this...so, no answer from me.

57. Not quite as good as I was, but I've made up for it by being slightly more sensibile and driving more defensively.

can you edit the first poll choice to read: The older I get, the better I was. (?)

just a thought. :cool:

55 here. Given that my job requires me to drive cars (different cars) all day long, I stay sharp. No diminished skills here. (not yet, knock on wood)

I'm not a bad enough driver yet that I need to sell the 911's and get a mustang...

Abilities down, surely @ 60.

Risk to other drivers is less than when I had testosterone. Even then, with a raging stiffy, I was a pussy.

I keep the farking car a safe distance from the one in front of me. I triple check lane changes.

What's the downside of this?

Wandering here........

I just batched at an African American male at an expressway exit when stopped waiting for the lights to change. Windows were open. I said "Dude, you are a tailgater and you can't drive for MF shiet" His response was "Effin batch, you are driving a POS car (2007 RAV 4), I am 22 and am driving a whizz bang SUV. You suck."

GFY, I say, with a finger telling him he was number one. Oh, I was a badass.:D

That said, I can't imagine where the driving skill/abilities query can even get a foothold. Jeebus. Akron. No real traffic and it's a war zone. I have white knuckled the 405 with eyes as big as saucers. Seven years on the Eisenhower two days a week in Chicago. I can't imagine what you'd see on those freeways over time.

I find at 74 that I am a lot more relaxed & laid back than I was at younger ages. Maybe it's because I seldom have time demands or restraints. I find I give other drivers room and passage compared to younger years. Sometimes I do wonder how much longer I will continue riding my motorcycle. I don't take chances, ride too fast, & don't lay it over as much as I used to. Funny thing is I don't feel like my riding has deteriorated, which might be a dangerous thing if it has & I don't perceive it.

The older I get: THE FASTER I WAS..............

This is where I'm at. I'm 66 and my driving is more measured. My eye sight isn't what is was when I was younger. I have more patience too.

Before I started autocrossing I was a great driver (on public roadways). My first autocross I got 2nd...from the slowest time. Over the next 2 years I went from 2nd from the slowest to the one to beat very often setting FTD. I would say my driving skills of being a great driver was made even better (yes even on public roadways).

With my increased age I don't think anyone except for me would notice my skills have diminished at all. But being an honest person I would say they have diminished slightly, mostly in situational awareness of where the car is as in speed/traction/direction and the resulting slower reaction to make the car go where I want. Where I used to just go into the zone and drive, now I have to think about what I am doing.

Tough to answer. I'm 40. By the time it's an age-related issue for me we'll probably have cars driving us around so it won't matter anymore.

I have not had a ticket at all since sometime in the late 1970s. Well, I got a parking ticket once but I paid the $1 fine that day. I bet parking tickets cost more now.

I have not had an accident that was my fault since I was 16. The mini skirts in the early 70s were SHORT. A lady ran a stop sign in the mid 1970s and hit me in the door since I was stupid enough to think she was going to stop at the big red sign that said STOP. So no tickets or wrecks since the 1970s. I have driven my 911 to California three times, just recently up to Bar Harbor Maine and Canada. Savannah, GA and all the way to the Michigan upper peninsula and many other trips. After 20 year in the 911, no tickets. 25 years and over 300,000 miles in the El Camino, no tickets.

I love driving, always have...
@ 59 I'm no where near thinking of giving it up.
But as I said once you live through a parent that won't give up the keys it has an impact on you.

I should add to my above statement about moving to a place (small town) walking distance to food and shopping another possibility would be a city with good public transportation.

If we did move to a small town near some nice low traffic roads I might keep a Boxster (or something similar) in the garage for Sunday drives.

Flawed poll

I am a better driver than I was 10 years ago

My Mom at 80 got breast cancer. After a horrible surgeon butchered her and removed way to much to get rid of one very small lump they put her on a medication that is supposed to keep the cancer from returning. It did that, however the medication caused two strokes and the following post stroke dementia (very similar to altzheimer's) before I could get her off of it.

I became her full time care taker. As her faculties declined with the post stroke demential I tried to keep her car available to her as long as possible. She was aware enough to realize when she wasn't capable of driving and didn't attempt it. BUT having the car around, specifically knowing she could drive it if she really needed to and having familiar things around helped to slow her mental decline. She would try to re-learn things with the goal of being able to drive her car again.

My family was not any help either. As an example I let Mom handle her own finances, but I watched over them. Sometimes it took her two or three days to balance her checkbook. She would get frustrated, but felt like she had accomplished something great when she finally got it balanced. Well, one day while she was trying to add the numbers up my brother came to visit. He saw the trouble she was having and took her checkbook and took over managing her finances. It wasn't long after this that Mom started getting lost driving. Not really lost but could not find some of the places she wanted to go. She still drive well, but just couldn't find places.

My sister came in to visit from out of town and had not visited for a year. Mom hadn't even attempted to drive in that year because she "did not feel she was up to it." My sister convinced my brother to take her car and sell it. She left anddidn't come back to visit for another year so she didn't see the effect it had on Mom. The result of this was Mom got really depressed about her situation, not the car in particular and declined a huge amount in a very short time. She basically gave up trying to improve herself.

My sister came to visit on other occasions and treated Mom like she was already dead, going through her stuff and getting rid of things she thought Mom didn't need anymore. After every time Mom declined further and lost more of her drive to fight losing her mental abilities. Mom even made the comment that some of her things were disappearing.

The last time my sister came to visit, about a year before Mom passed and tried to "clean out" more of Mom's collectibles and nik naks. I took my sister aside and told her she could visit, but was not allowed to go thru, clean up, and specifically to not take or get rid of anything. My sister got pissed, went home a week early, and stopped visiting. Just couldn't make her understand that by removing the familiar objects from Mom's surroundings she was killing her mentally.

I know that circumstances are different for each person, but in my Mom's case it was devastating to take away her perceived option to drive her car. Especially since Mom was trying to improve herself enough to drive again. The last time she drove, she did fine driving. The problem was she couldn't find the store she was wanting to go to. She got upset about not being able to find the store and went to visit a friend instead. Which she didn't have any trouble finding despite driving all over the city looking for that one store that she hadn't been to in a while.

I've seen a couple of other friends go through similar situations with one of their parents. They both were forced to removed their parents from their long time residence and familiar surroundings and put them in a care center or home. While I understand the why and where fors, I also noticed their parents go thru a much quicker decline and pass away within a year or two of being put in a "home." Mom lived for 13 years after her faculties started declining.

If she would have attempted to drive when she wasn't capable of being safe I would have put a secret kill switch on the battery I so I could decide when she could drive and have her have me "charge" the battery if she wanted to go somewhere.

I was doing pretty good till that 2nd stroke.
I've had to give up autocrossing.....it don't work no more. I am more conscious of the acts of driving.....they work, but not as well as a year ago.

The effects of the stroke are (apparently) long lasting. I won't go into all the shyte that happens, but they show only a marginal improvement over time.....a few steps back don't help.

I am still vertical (Most of the time) & fighting. This may be as good as it gets.