Every time I read this my heart breaks for the families. Of course the driver was in his seventies. Of course the police will never question if he took meds forbidding him to operate heavy machinery.
Edit: took it down. Did not see someone fast faster than I I
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I think the difference is that young people are inexperienced and reckless, not physically incapable of the task. Their shortfalls are also based on their age but it’s not something that we don’t have a system in place to handle.
Older drivers are more experienced, generally not in as much of a hurry, and less reckless but if they can’t see, hear, react as quickly, or be aware of their surroundings then the debate is legitimate.
Younger drivers need to be held accountable for reckless behavior and preventable accidents. There’s a system in place for this, it’s civil/criminal law. There’s no such system in place to control the effects of aging, which is a problem.
I’m not going to dive into the stats you posted so I’ll take it on faith that they’re correct and you’ve accurately represented their conclusion, that younger drivers as a general rule are more dangerous on the road. But I disagree that elderly get too much flak for driving poorly because that’s a real problem that hasn’t been solved (because it is really complicated and has lots of other negative externalities associated with revocation of driving privileges, continual testing past _____ age, etc)
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We cannot stop youth, only put controls in place that dissuade young people from being reckless. Traffic enforcement is huge - pulling people over for moving violations is the greatest deterrent in society but no, it will never solve the problem fully. The only thing that can help is more traffic enforcement and raising driving ages, but the latter again has other negative externalities that I personally don’t think are worth it but I think it could be solidly argued for
People driving when they’re too old is also a safety issue, with no deterrents or controls at all. The rate compared to another demographic isn’t necessarily the point, it’s still a problem and one is being mitigated and the other is not. Your point is whataboutism.
I grew up in a tourist heavy area with tons of people driving motorhomes visiting, and it was primarily older men driving because they’re the ones with the time and wealth to do so. It’s fucking TERRIFYING to have stubborn old men driving fucking buildings on wheels when they are too old to drive and are unfamiliar with the roads. Yes, it’s a problem and it’s not being addressed, whereas young drivers ARE being addressed in the best ways we currently have.
They’re not the same.
Per capita? Can you show me the stats?
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From your link “Except for drivers 80 years and older, per mile driven, young drivers are more involved in fatal crashes than older drivers.” and the stat “5.4 for drivers 80+”.
Those stats also was about drivers involved in a fatal crash. It doesn’t mention if the driver killed themselves or a pedestrian.
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I think you got that backwards. My theory which I have no stats for is that young drivers are more likely to kill themselves and older drivers are more likely to kill pedestrians and crash into buildings.