Elderly Driver Who Killed 10 To Be Sentenced

[yogib37 3]

Seriously, for the life of me I can't even grasp the severity of killing 10 people and injuring 73. It's all well and good that his daughter is in court fighting for him, but where the ** was she when her father needed to go to the fcking farmer's market?

HI Lisa.

I am sorry what happen to you. I am in your conner about elderly drivers. I think they are more dangerous then a teen driver. I think their should be some kind of yearly testing like Gary said but not after 60 maybe 70. If they are in a car crash and if they are at fault then make it bi yearly.

My Mom is 82 now.. she has a hard time driving. she bumps others cars but nothing serious. cost dad some money.. My father is a good driver also and he is old also..but I notice his skills are slipping also.

You have every right to be outradged by this. it is close to your heart and your a victim of a Elderly person that should of never been behind the wheel.

I also think if they failed the writen and road test. No retakes.. They have to surrender the License.

Yogi

[aussiewench 9]

They should be ageist against under 21s as well, or more ageist than they already are

I agree. I was astounded by the lack of restrictions on the young when it comes to driving here in the US. In Australia most states have restrictions for young drivers under the age of 25, with some applying to new drivers over that age. Some states also have tougher restrictions in the pipeline to be introduced 2007. One should have to crawl before walking for the safety of all concerned.

[Mags 112]

The UK can be as bad in some areas, although the majority of our rural towns have some sort of public transport system, so we are not as reliant on cars.

When I was growing up we had an elderly neighbour. He must have been in his 80's. His driving (because of bad eyesight) was so bad he used to park at least a foot away from the kerb...

He had many minor accidents over the years yet still retained his license.

Once you get over a certain age here in the UK the family doctor has to sign you off as fit and well enough to drive. But...if you have a rather compliant GP then that's where the problem lies. Our neighbour's doctor used to sign him off as fit to drive without a proper examination. He did this once a year, even though our neighbour was clearly not suitable to be on the roads.

Eventually his license WAS revoked...but not until he was about 95...at least 20 years too late IMO.

[kim&james 0]

He got probation and has to pay restition to 2 families so far others to follow... The judge said he should go to jail but is too ill...

[RaspberrySwirl 20]

http://www.news4jax.com/news/10362250/detail.html

We need harder restrictions for elderly drivers! I myself was nearly killed in an accident where an 86 year old man was driving on the wrong side of the road. Curved underpass, so I didn't see him coming. Full head on collision which put me temporarily in a wheelchair & made me need brain and spinal surgery. Only but for the Grace of God did I actually survive...and thats really no exaggeration whatsoever.

No, this is not about me....but this obviously hits very close to home for me...How many people do we need to die or be injured before we deal with this lethal problem???

Did you sue?

[Fandango 1,440]

http://www.news4jax.com/news/10362250/detail.html

We need harder restrictions for elderly drivers! I myself was nearly killed in an accident where an 86 year old man was driving on the wrong side of the road. Curved underpass, so I didn't see him coming. Full head on collision which put me temporarily in a wheelchair & made me need brain and spinal surgery. Only but for the Grace of God did I actually survive...and thats really no exaggeration whatsoever.

No, this is not about me....but this obviously hits very close to home for me...How many people do we need to die or be injured before we deal with this lethal problem???

Did you sue?

Loooooooooooong story there....

He was on a fixed income, no cash...therefore personally not collectable....what could I sue him for? He didn't own his house, no stocks, no bonds, nowt. He coulda been sleeping on a mattress of millions, yet on paper he was poor. So no real sense in taking him to court.

His ins paid out his big ole 10k policy. Went straight to the hospital, lol.

I put a claim in to my policy for uninsured/underinsured motorists...policy was 100k....well law states if the ins co actually PAYS the claim, they've lived up to their end of the bargain, therefore you can't sue.

They paid up ...my lawyer said that any first day claim adjuster would. Because otherwise, it would be a 'multi million dollar lawsuit' Had they denied the claim, that's when you get into punitive damages and all that jazz. My lawyer...who's a friend of my family and just made me pay his costs not his fees....then took around 95k and settled all my debt of 800some odd k....so I walked away free and clear from debt, yet not a penny left over for a cup of coffee

But I won the lottery surviving, so that's the way I look at it. God blessed me with my recovery Money comes and goes

Edited November 21, 2006 by LisaD

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

We need harder restrictions for elderly drivers! I myself was nearly killed in an accident where an 86 year old man was driving on the wrong side of the road. Curved underpass, so I didn't see him coming. Full head on collision which put me temporarily in a wheelchair & made me need brain and spinal surgery. Only but for the Grace of God did I actually survive...and thats really no exaggeration whatsoever.

No, this is not about me....but this obviously hits very close to home for me...How many people do we need to die or be injured before we deal with this lethal problem???

I can relate to that. When you get past 60 or so drivers should at least be re-evaluated every couple of years or so. A friend of our family had to literally prise the keys out of his dad's hand - his dad is 86, blind in one eye and having only about 20% vision in the 'good' one. Still drove up until a few months ago. Frightening really.

Edited November 21, 2006 by erekose

[Fandango 1,440]

We need harder restrictions for elderly drivers! I myself was nearly killed in an accident where an 86 year old man was driving on the wrong side of the road. Curved underpass, so I didn't see him coming. Full head on collision which put me temporarily in a wheelchair & made me need brain and spinal surgery. Only but for the Grace of God did I actually survive...and thats really no exaggeration whatsoever.

No, this is not about me....but this obviously hits very close to home for me...How many people do we need to die or be injured before we deal with this lethal problem???

I can relate to that. When you get past 60 or so drivers should at least be re-evaluated every couple of years or so. A friend of our family had to literally prise the keys out of his dad's hand - his dad is 86, blind in one eye and having only about 20% vision in the 'good' one. Still drove up until a few months ago. Frightening really.

The guy who hit me...man oh man, what a person. I am not going to bad mouth him because he has changed my life kinda for the better...I won't get into why, but it's all about outlook and learning stuff about life....but when he hit me...well the impact was so hard that it ripped my airbag apart. Dunno if anyone knows this, but that powdery shiznit in the bag is like acid to the skin. So I had massive chemical burns, but at the time I didn't understand what was happening...I was screaming cos I thought my car was on fire. I also was bleeding from many areas, and I had some broken bones....he on the other hand....with his death tank didn't have a scratch. He pulled his car over the other side of the road and walked over to me screaming at me to move my car off the road. Presumably so then cops couldn't tell what happened.

I'm screaming in like agony, fear, a whole mess of reasons...and ironically an ambulance drove by. They roll down their window and are all 'do you need help?' *like helllo dumbazzes?* He's all 'nahhhhhhhhhhh she;s fine!' Paramedics then drove forward some to park the car to help, but I thought they were leaving. So did he, apparantly.

Well, he taps my door and was like 'if you're not going to move, I'm going home' I wound up having to call my own 911 call cos I thought he was leaving. Paramedics had to force him to stay cos he wanted to leave cos 'his shows were on'

I call my parents and they rushed down as well....the old man was all beligerant and as they're taking me in a stretcher, he's all 'anyone can see she's faking' Cops had to hold my dad back from decking him.

Before my surgery, I was in a wheelchair for all my broken bones and stuff, and I'd be sat on my mom's porch really down and upset, and this old man used to powerwalk past my house & not even glance in my direction. 86 and he's effing powerwalking when I'm 25 and needing help to sit on the effing toilet. Never once did he say owt, never once did he even acknowledge me.

And he had been in several accidents before, then you can see on paper how he started protecting himself....accounts cleared out, house signed over to the son......man, like ####### was that son thinking? He should have stopped his old man. But he never did.

After a year or so, I went to his house. I walked up to the door, which was like a real big step for me at the time. I wanted to just have him look at me and acknowledge the devastation to my life. I felt it was time and would be very cathartic for me to have the closure I needed, cos I was quite bitter for such a long time.

He had died two days before

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

We need harder restrictions for elderly drivers! I myself was nearly killed in an accident where an 86 year old man was driving on the wrong side of the road. Curved underpass, so I didn't see him coming. Full head on collision which put me temporarily in a wheelchair & made me need brain and spinal surgery. Only but for the Grace of God did I actually survive...and thats really no exaggeration whatsoever.

No, this is not about me....but this obviously hits very close to home for me...How many people do we need to die or be injured before we deal with this lethal problem???

I can relate to that. When you get past 60 or so drivers should at least be re-evaluated every couple of years or so. A friend of our family had to literally prise the keys out of his dad's hand - his dad is 86, blind in one eye and having only about 20% vision in the 'good' one. Still drove up until a few months ago. Frightening really.

The guy who hit me...man oh man, what a person. I am not going to bad mouth him because he has changed my life kinda for the better...I won't get into why, but it's all about outlook and learning stuff about life....but when he hit me...well the impact was so hard that it ripped my airbag apart. Dunno if anyone knows this, but that powdery shiznit in the bag is like acid to the skin. So I had massive chemical burns, but at the time I didn't understand what was happening...I was screaming cos I thought my car was on fire. I also was bleeding from many areas, and I had some broken bones....he on the other hand....with his death tank didn't have a scratch. He pulled his car over the other side of the road and walked over to me screaming at me to move my car off the road. Presumably so then cops couldn't tell what happened.

I'm screaming in like agony, fear, a whole mess of reasons...and ironically an ambulance drove by. They roll down their window and are all 'do you need help?' *like helllo dumbazzes?* He's all 'nahhhhhhhhhhh she;s fine!' Paramedics then drove forward some to park the car to help, but I thought they were leaving. So did he, apparantly.

Well, he taps my door and was like 'if you're not going to move, I'm going home' I wound up having to call my own 911 call cos I thought he was leaving. Paramedics had to force him to stay cos he wanted to leave cos 'his shows were on'

I call my parents and they rushed down as well....the old man was all beligerant and as they're taking me in a stretcher, he's all 'anyone can see she's faking' Cops had to hold my dad back from decking him.

Before my surgery, I was in a wheelchair for all my broken bones and stuff, and I'd be sat on my mom's porch really down and upset, and this old man used to powerwalk past my house & not even glance in my direction. 86 and he's effing powerwalking when I'm 25 and needing help to sit on the effing toilet. Never once did he say owt, never once did he even acknowledge me.

And he had been in several accidents before, then you can see on paper how he started protecting himself....accounts cleared out, house signed over to the son......man, like ####### was that son thinking? He should have stopped his old man. But he never did.

After a year or so, I went to his house. I walked up to the door, which was like a real big step for me at the time. I wanted to just have him look at me and acknowledge the devastation to my life. I felt it was time and would be very cathartic for me to have the closure I needed, cos I was quite bitter for such a long time.

He had died two days before

That's always the thing with crazy drivers regardless of age. Did you catch that story in the UK a couple of years ago about the off-duty fire fighter who was riding his motorbike with his fiancee on the back and got hit head on by a couple of boy racers doing 60+ mph.

The woman was killed, and the fireman lost both his legs. The two guys of course walked away pretty much without a scratch. Can't imagine having your life totally destroyed in the course of an evening - not only did he lose his fiancee, but his job and physical mobility as well. Seems like it would be better to have died - I mean how do you even begin to start coming to terms with that?

A girl I was going out with back in 2000 was into motorcycles and got killed in a race on the Isle of Mann. I still think about that.

[RaspberrySwirl 20]

We need harder restrictions for elderly drivers! I myself was nearly killed in an accident where an 86 year old man was driving on the wrong side of the road. Curved underpass, so I didn't see him coming. Full head on collision which put me temporarily in a wheelchair & made me need brain and spinal surgery. Only but for the Grace of God did I actually survive...and thats really no exaggeration whatsoever.

No, this is not about me....but this obviously hits very close to home for me...How many people do we need to die or be injured before we deal with this lethal problem???

I can relate to that. When you get past 60 or so drivers should at least be re-evaluated every couple of years or so. A friend of our family had to literally prise the keys out of his dad's hand - his dad is 86, blind in one eye and having only about 20% vision in the 'good' one. Still drove up until a few months ago. Frightening really.

The guy who hit me...man oh man, what a person. I am not going to bad mouth him because he has changed my life kinda for the better...I won't get into why, but it's all about outlook and learning stuff about life....but when he hit me...well the impact was so hard that it ripped my airbag apart. Dunno if anyone knows this, but that powdery shiznit in the bag is like acid to the skin. So I had massive chemical burns, but at the time I didn't understand what was happening...I was screaming cos I thought my car was on fire. I also was bleeding from many areas, and I had some broken bones....he on the other hand....with his death tank didn't have a scratch. He pulled his car over the other side of the road and walked over to me screaming at me to move my car off the road. Presumably so then cops couldn't tell what happened.

I'm screaming in like agony, fear, a whole mess of reasons...and ironically an ambulance drove by. They roll down their window and are all 'do you need help?' *like helllo dumbazzes?* He's all 'nahhhhhhhhhhh she;s fine!' Paramedics then drove forward some to park the car to help, but I thought they were leaving. So did he, apparantly.

Well, he taps my door and was like 'if you're not going to move, I'm going home' I wound up having to call my own 911 call cos I thought he was leaving. Paramedics had to force him to stay cos he wanted to leave cos 'his shows were on'

I call my parents and they rushed down as well....the old man was all beligerant and as they're taking me in a stretcher, he's all 'anyone can see she's faking' Cops had to hold my dad back from decking him.

Before my surgery, I was in a wheelchair for all my broken bones and stuff, and I'd be sat on my mom's porch really down and upset, and this old man used to powerwalk past my house & not even glance in my direction. 86 and he's effing powerwalking when I'm 25 and needing help to sit on the effing toilet. Never once did he say owt, never once did he even acknowledge me.

And he had been in several accidents before, then you can see on paper how he started protecting himself....accounts cleared out, house signed over to the son......man, like ####### was that son thinking? He should have stopped his old man. But he never did.

After a year or so, I went to his house. I walked up to the door, which was like a real big step for me at the time. I wanted to just have him look at me and acknowledge the devastation to my life. I felt it was time and would be very cathartic for me to have the closure I needed, cos I was quite bitter for such a long time.

He had died two days before

Good riddance, sounds like...

(Sorry God/Allah/Chtulu, I'll try to be a better person tomorrow. I pwomise. )

[Sheriff Uling 3]

I guess the question becomes... Does anyone feel as if the book should be thrown at this elderly person?

[rebeccajo 14]

My grandfather drove until he was dangerous. We used to watch him coming down the street, driving virtually down the middle. My folks had to pretty much force him to give it up by volunteering to drive them everywhere - then they talked him into selling the car. Thank God.

I agree with some sort of testing after 70. Personally, I can see some small differences in my own driving performance as I push the magic button of '50'. My reflexes are fine and I've still got good peripheral vision. But I know darn good and well that my night vision is not what it used to be. And after years of working in offices, my hearing is diminished in the ear that I usually hold the phone up too.