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Post by Tim on Aug 8, 2019 12:12:28 GMT
When it became clear my Dad was suffering the effects of dementia I contacted his GP to ask if he would consider recommending my dad lose his licence, perhaps he might contact the DVLA, etc.
He wasn't in the slight bit interested and said if we were concerned it was up to us to do something (which is what I thought I was by contacting him).
Anyway at an opportune moment my Mum simply removed the keys from his possession and I took them away with me to keep them at home and when he asked for them we told him he must've mislaid them.
As far as the DVLA are concerned his licence ran out when he failed to renew it on the usual 3 year anniversary.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2019 16:58:32 GMT
I've been talking to my elderly neighbour about driving for a few months, she was not exactly dangerous but her confidence was much reduced. After the TIA recently she amended her insurance and while she has the car which will not be long, I will do the driving which she has said she now prefers as she does not have to go to the gp surgery etc on her own either. We all have to decide when we are no longer fit for purpose driving wise, unless someone does us a favour and makes us change. Many years ago while I was still in school, we had a bunch of family come round for a visit. One of my uncles could not even stand without assistance and my aunt just poured him into the driving seat and they set off, all over the place. My thought was to call the Plod but, "You can't do that"! was the response. I still say, "Why not"?
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Post by ChrisM on Aug 8, 2019 18:18:34 GMT
Losing your license due to illness must be hard, but what is it with people not dealing with their responsibilities. There is a reason his license was revoked FFS. He could have killed someone. It's sometimes tough.... my late father carried on driving for longer than he should have; he was a very bad passenger and would "panic" my mum with his shouts of "watch out for this" etc if she drove him. He had eyesight issues too and mum would regularly say how he used to strike the kerb with the nearside wheels when he drove. Fortunately he did relent and let mum drive, and tried to keep quiet most of the time when in the car.... Mum, OTH, gave up driving last year when she felt that if anything were to happen, she would be blamed as she was elderly and frail. She was quite capable of driving reasonably well (her judgement when pulling out was apparently not as good as it was), but she felt "better safe than sorry" and was concerned in case she injured someone or herself in an incident, even though in general terms, she was OK behind the wheel. Fortunately she has some good friends around her who take her out when the need arises (mainly to go to the hairdressers) and/or who do her food shopping for her
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Post by Roadsterstu on Aug 8, 2019 20:33:09 GMT
Losing your license due to illness must be hard, but what is it with people not dealing with their responsibilities. There is a reason his license was revoked FFS. He could have killed someone. Had his 3 kids in the car, too...
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Aug 13, 2019 7:15:58 GMT
I'd like to see all drivers subject to a re-test every 10 years, reducing to every 5 years after the age of 70.
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Post by Roadsterstu on Aug 13, 2019 8:41:03 GMT
I'd like to see every driver retested every 5 years regardless of age. That would clear the roads somewhat.
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Post by johnc on Aug 14, 2019 15:15:34 GMT
Heading back to the office on dual/tripple carriageway which goes from 50, to 40 and then 30 after various roundabouts and junctions. I was in the outside lane on the 40mph section doing a cruise control 42mph which is 40mph, with traffic in all lanes and a queue in front of me. A woman in a Mitsubishi SUV (the one smaller than the PHEV) came round the roundabout behind me and floored it, coming up behind me v quickly before jinking to the middle lane, coming up alongside me and then braking hard to prevent her destroying the back of the Corsa which was just ahead of me in the middle lane. She then slowed down and came back out right behind me, leaving about 3 or 4 feet between us.
I had nowhere to go so just continued as I was. When we got to the next junction and the road changed to 30mph, a lot of the cars in the inside two lanes turned left or exited on the slip road immediately after it. Since the inside was clear and Mrs Mitsubishi was still 4ft behind me, I indicated and pulled to the middle lane. The Mitsubishi accelerated hard and I half expected her to disappear at warp speed. No,she got just ahead and suddenly slowed down. She then proceeded to block the outside lane and even slowed down below my cruise control speed but always speeded up as I came alongside her. She even ended up blocking me when I needed to pull to the outside lane 2 miles later to turn right. Stupid cow! The sad part is I don't think she even knew what she was doing.
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Post by Alex on Aug 14, 2019 17:59:32 GMT
Sounds like she did and probably felt rather smug about her little 'victory'.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2019 18:01:22 GMT
I'm a bit torn with this one. I was driving towards this width restriction and there was a Defender coming the other way. He didn't bother stopping, just bumped up onto the grass and drove around with his offside wheels in the cycle track. I can't decide whether it was cool or twattish!
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Post by johnc on Aug 14, 2019 18:03:29 GMT
I'll look for her again then and make sure she stays permanently stuck behind.
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Post by Martin on Aug 14, 2019 18:18:43 GMT
I'm a bit torn with this one. I was driving towards this width restriction and there was a Defender coming the other way. He didn't bother stopping, just bumped up onto the grass and drove around with his offside wheels in the cycle track. I can't decide whether it was cool or twattish! That’s easy. Twattish!
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Post by LandieMark on Aug 14, 2019 19:02:09 GMT
Agreed!
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Post by ChrisM on Aug 14, 2019 19:19:49 GMT
Also agreed !
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2019 20:07:28 GMT
I was swinging that way, I admit. I think it was a well practiced move, as there wasn't a moment's hesitation.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 7:25:44 GMT
Two oafs pulling onto dual yesterday. The first, a supermini, pulled across to overtaking lane and the proceeded to pass the car in front at glacial speed. Several cars got stuck behind, and there was no need for her to have started the move when she did.
And a rock ape in a van who pulled out when there wasn't time, heading straight into the right hand lane and going all dirty diesel sooty. I decided not to slow down, so ended up undertsking him. And lo and behold, he was turning left (as was I) a few hundred yards later. Why pull out when thers's no space, and why into the overtaking lane?
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Post by Roadsterstu on Aug 16, 2019 9:24:20 GMT
I'm a bit torn with this one. I was driving towards this width restriction and there was a Defender coming the other way. He didn't bother stopping, just bumped up onto the grass and drove around with his offside wheels in the cycle track. I can't decide whether it was cool or twattish! Maximum shithead level, that is.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2019 13:21:33 GMT
There wasn't the slightest hesitation so it was a well honed manoeuvre. A real "wish I had a dashcam moment"!
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Post by scouse on Aug 19, 2019 12:58:37 GMT
Mrs Scouse. We've been in Devon for a week, just outside of Exmouth. We didn't want LS11 to know were we were going, so I didn't have the main satnav screen on, just the little one bewteen the dials which doesn't show the distance to the next turn, just the total distance remaining. As such I missed the exit. No bother I think, I'll take the next one, it's only 3 miles and loop back up. Only trouble was, the Northbound M5 was now packed and stop start. By the time I get to the junction, the sat nav is now showing an alternative route and since we are only 27 miles away, I figure what the hell, I'll follow the detour. Bad idea. The detour is going through Exeter. The same Exeter that had been hit by the power cut and subsequently the traffic was a nightmare and what should have taken another 30 minutes took a further 1 & 1/2 hours. I then swore we would not be going back to Exeter. A few days later we went to Torquay for the day and on the way home Mrs Scouse decided she wanted her favourite vegetable crips & flavoured water from Aldi. Which was in bloody Exeter. In bLoody Exeter, in a new business park and re-jigged road system that the Merc's satnav was having a mare with. In the end i eneded up stopping and using the map function to find my own way. nd again swore I was done with Exeter. Until Wednesday, when I got outvoted and we went to Exeter for the day. Again the Merc's satnav was having a mare with the road changes and at one point I was in lane two of four with traffic either side approaching a set of lights with 4 options: Bear Left Go Straight Bear Right Turn Right As I'm a bit wound up to say the least, looking all round for traffic and trying to pick a route, I ask Mrs Scouse which would be our best bet (given that she had more time to read the road signs and didn't have to watch for lights, traffic etc..). What did she come up with?
"That way."
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Post by michael on Aug 19, 2019 13:06:15 GMT
Why was the destination a surprise?
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Post by scouse on Aug 19, 2019 13:12:49 GMT
We do it every time we go away, always have done as a surprise for them. Won't be able too for much longer.
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Post by ChrisM on Aug 19, 2019 21:01:47 GMT
Exeter is best visited by train.....
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Post by Alex on Aug 19, 2019 22:14:42 GMT
I nearly saw two bikers be killed yesterday. I was on a 50mph road with a red mid 00's Transporter ahead who was following a 207 who was doing about 45mph. Not slow but enough to frustrate the van driver. As we approached an uphill section that has an overtaking lane (Bury Hill nr Arundel for those who know it) I notice three super bikes approach from behind at a speed suggesting they were not planning on sticking to 50. Rather then head for the overtakingane I pre empted what would happen next and held back as all three bikers accelerated hard towards the hill and passed me as if I was standing still. The first biker made it past the van moments before he slowly lumbered out into the overtaking lane with no indication (which suggests a glance in his mirrors was also ommitted). The second and third bikers then had to veer into the oncoming traffic to avoid colliding with the van and narrowly missed a car coming down the hill.
To add to the stupidity, biker one, clearly angered slowed down in front of the van bringing him to a stop to remonstrate with him bringing the hill to a stop as the line of traffic behind tried to work out what to do. I got past and found bikers 2 and 3 at the top of the hill, head in hands looking visibly shaken - hopefully, regardless of the van drivers lack of awareness, its taught them an important lesson about the dangers of trying to achieve double the speed limit in busy traffic.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2019 22:40:34 GMT
I once heard bikers referred to as organ donors on one of those 24 hours in A&E type programmes and call them that myself now. The only thing that ever genuinely surprises me these days is seeing a motorbikist not breaking the speed limit.
I go to a pub quiz every Sunday night and the local chapter of leather-clad nobheads have started going in there on a Sunday afternoon. The whole car park is full of bikes when the quiz crowd arrive and everyone has to park in the road now. These bikes are then all roared off at high speed through the village when they decide to fuck off. Landlord reckons they all drink while they're there, too. Here's hoping some natural selection takes place and Mrs Dialysis gets her new kidney...
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Post by Alex on Aug 20, 2019 7:20:10 GMT
Well they do have the attitude that just because they can accelerate quickly to hit speeds that the speed limit should not apply and that 90mph is a perfectly acceptable speed. It’s an attitude that’s bad enough when the road is clear but these guys were doing it with lots of other road users around so they were asking for trouble. I didn’t see all of the van drivers argument but I gather he was as pissed off with the bikers behaviour as they were with his. My Dad was following me a few cars back on biker two almost collided with him too as they passed a traffic Island and he insisted on trying to get through first by swerving around him. Over the top of Bury Hill there’s a biker cafe which has a large car park that fills up on weekends so the run up the hill is always one you have to be careful of as a car driver on a Sunday.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Aug 20, 2019 7:30:53 GMT
I've met very few bikers who don't think they're riding in the TT when they get out on the main roads out of town. I can understand it's intoxicating when you can accelerate that quickly with a twist of your wrist but don't be surprised if that speed then catches other road users out. Perhaps, given the level of fatalities to biker numbers, motorcycles should be the first to employ electronic speed and acceleration limiters.
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Post by ChrisM on Aug 20, 2019 7:47:20 GMT
Over the top of Bury Hill there’s a biker cafe which has a large car park that fills up on weekends so the run up the hill is always one you have to be careful of as a car driver on a Sunday. .... and if you are a car driver new to the area and don't know the layout ?? Do bike riders also presume that everyone on the road is familiar with the layout (as well as "knowing" that speed limits do not apply to bikers)?
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Post by Roadsterstu on Aug 21, 2019 9:42:44 GMT
I had a similar situation with two biker numpties, last week. I was positioned for the overtake of a slowtard doing 37 in a 50 and just waiting for oncoming traffic to clear, which would have been obvious to any switched on driver or rider. But no, this pair came up behind the two cars behind me so fast they probably never noticed. I noticed them, though and whilst part of me thought, "fuck em, I've been waiting for this overtake", I thought I'd better just wait because they wouldn't. And sure enough, they squeezed past at full pelt between me and the last oncoming car before it had even passed us.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2019 10:19:31 GMT
Didn't hold you up in that case!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2019 10:24:03 GMT
I remembered another thing about the Sons of Anarchy at the local. The other week it was pissing down with rain so they all still turned up but in their humdrum cars instead and still wearing their silly leather waistcoats with badges like Vice President sewn on. They still roared off at full pelt afterwards, but quieter because it was in a VW Golf and not on a bike with a cherrybomb exhaust can on it.
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Post by Tim on Aug 21, 2019 14:58:22 GMT
I generally don't mind the Power Rangers but the fat middle-aged men on Harleys with extremely loud exhausts annoy me.
I do get irritated when you have a 1 litre sportsbike sitting 3 inches off your back bumper, filling your mirror though. It's very distracting and I am always conscious that cars are able to outbrake bikes and why the fuck do they need to sit so close when they have that much power anyway? It's not as if they're stupid kids, most are middle-aged but without the Harley gut.
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