Which Driver Is More Dangerous?

[VEGASRIDER]

Since the topic of elderly drivers has been a recent subject, I'm just curious which do you consider worst and why?

Pick your poison, but only one.

 

[Kazza]

Young people, aged between 17-25 - just got their licence and they are allowed to drive V8s! They think the roads are a race track, they tailgate and never look for bikes. Scary......

 

[Nobby]

I voted the kids,there more erratic & harder to predict

 

[segue00]

Elderly drivers are for the most part predictable and tend to be too cautious.
Young drivers are more so erratic and daring.

Who would you rather give a weapon with a chance it might be used against you?

 

[Jblk9695]

I voted for the young crowd, unless you live in Prescott, AZ or Palm Springs, CA then watch out for the old crowd:BLAA:

Jerry

 

[Prebstar]

I voted for the younger as i am getting closer and closer to being elderly

 

[Lefty]

I'm voting younger, texting driver even though an 80 year old put me in the hospital for six weeks!:disapprove:

 

[lytehouse]

Tough question.....I think the younger crowd....although......both scare me !!!



Is there a right answer or is this just our .02??

 

[BH322893]

I think you need to add the middle age group to the poll, I find around where I live the most dangerous drivers tend to be women between 30-50 because they are either too busy with phones, make up, coffee, kids, painting their nails etc. Most of the women in this age group in my neighborhood give me a dirty look when I ride my bike safely down the road while their kids play on the sidewalk but seem to have no issues going 40mph in a residential area because they are late to take little Timmy or Jill to an activity. Look at the recent death in Chicago all for a driver who needed a manicure.
Woman found guilty in fatal 'nail polish' crash - Chicago Breaking News

I think that the government should get involved and limit anyone who has a certain amount of incidents within a time frame similar to a DUI law, something like If you're found at fault of say 3 accidents with 3 months you should have your license suspended for 6 months and be required to take a driver's education class. In Mass the rules for younger drivers are very strict, if they kept the other rules as strict we would probably have safer roads for both riders and cagers. Massachusetts RMV - JOL License and Permit Violations and Penalties

I'd like to know the age for each person who votes for which age group, I'm 25 and while I have a heavy foot at times in my car I'm a very safe driver with a clean record.

 

[xnay]

All 4+ wheeled drivers are dangerous. They have too many distractions inside their vehicles and are solely focused on what they should be doing: driving. When I ride, it's like war and the cagers are the enemy. :thumbup:

 

[Bikebiz]

Younger for sure. The elderly may be crap, but they're slow crap and you can spot them a mile off. You'll see a cage just ever so slowly creep a lane or something. Young ones have the invincible attitude and if they want that gap, they take it. They see an orange light, their instinct is to gas it rather than stop.

I was thrown from my bike when a learner driver did this. I stopped for the orange light. She was behind me and gassed it, rammed me at 70km/hr. First thing I saw as I rolled over was an L plate! Luckily I had ATT on

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I think you need to add the middle age group to the poll, I find around where I live the most dangerous drivers tend to be women between 30-50 because they are either too busy with phones, make up, coffee, kids, painting their nails etc. Most of the women in this age group in my neighborhood give me a dirty look when I ride my bike safely down the road while their kids play on the sidewalk but seem to have no issues going 40mph in a residential area because they are late to take little Timmy or Jill to an activity. Look at the recent death in Chicago all for a driver who needed a manicure.
Woman found guilty in fatal 'nail polish' crash - Chicago Breaking News

I think that the government should get involved and limit anyone who has a certain amount of incidents within a time frame similar to a DUI law, something like If you're found at fault of say 3 accidents with 3 months you should have your license suspended for 6 months and be required to take a driver's education class. In Mass the rules for younger drivers are very strict, if they kept the other rules as strict we would probably have safer roads for both riders and cagers. Massachusetts RMV - JOL License and Permit Violations and Penalties

I'd like to know the age for each person who votes for which age group, I'm 25 and while I have a heavy foot at times in my car I'm a very safe driver with a clean record.

I'm not trying to target drivers whether they are male or female, or middle aged. Just young or old drivers. Our younger generations tend to utilize the latest technology with cell phones while driving, while most elderly drivers do not at least yet. But it will be interesting in how that turns out in about 10-20 years as our middle aged drivers who do use their mobile phones while driving will be eventually reaching that questionable age.

As far as DUI's, or causing fatalities due to recklessness endangerment like doing your nails or make-up, I think they should lose their license forever. You get one chance, you F - up and you're done. Public transportation for you for the rest of your life. Driving should be considered a privelidge, not a right. Let's progressively get the bad apples off our roads, rather than giving them a slap on their wrist and put them back out there.

Just my opinion though.

 

[Signal 50]

I have found kids to be more dangerous. Older drivers are easy to spot. They might be slow and pull out further than necessary, but its easier to avoid them.

Kids tailgate, text, call, and do other things while driving. Not to mention the "invisible" feeling a lot of young drivers have behind the wheel. Older people may be dangerous, but they typically are more cautious.

 

[Kazza]

I have found kids to be more dangerous. Older drivers are easy to spot. They might be slow and pull out further than necessary, but its easier to avoid them.

Kids tailgate, text, call, and do other things while driving. Not to mention the "invisible" feeling a lot of young drivers have behind the wheel. Older people may be dangerous, but they typically are more cautious.

I think you mean "invinsible", unless, you can't see them

 

[Signal 50]

Thats the one!

 

[Wh0M3]

I think anyone texting and driving is a danger to themselves and everyone around them. Sure it seems like your only looking away for a breif time but that amount of time is all it takes. Cell phones can be just as bad unless your willing to have a headset on. You can add all the other things that people do when they drive, I've even seen some read books while they are driving. If your life is so busy that you don't have time to do these things outside of the car you need to rethink your priorities.

I once rear ended a lady in a mini van because I reached down to turn on my radio. I was on a familure road in a familure time but there was construction ahead that caused everyone to be in the same lane as me. I didn't hit her hard but I did damage to the rear bumper. (no airbag deploy)

I think half the reason I like riding is because those distractions are taken away. I don't have to worry about someone calling me because I won't hear it anyway.

 

[Kriswithak]

Its totally unfair to ask old or young, there are extremely bad groups in both.
Here we have strict rules about learning to drive meaning that those under 25 are generally far more aware of the actual rules of the road, particularly school zones, crossings, and the use of mobile phones (not allowed!).
There are the more dangerous young drivers in suped up cars that drive like hoons, and they often lack the skills to deal with the dangerous situations they create.They are the same people who no matter what age will always speed and be idiots, but they havent got the experience to know when they'll get caught or when its too dangerous.
This being said there are plenty of very serious speeding offences and accidents by everyone else too.
There are also the older drivers who should no longer have a license but due to being slow and cautious are luckily less dangerous because everyone else can generally drive to avoid them.

The most dangerous drivers however are the definately the middle group, they are ALWAYS on phones, they are the parents not watching the road but yelling at kids or just driving in automatic mode.
Woman generally make up a large part of this group visually on the road, they drive the kids to school in 4wd's, then they double park, or speed in school zones, they don't use blinkers, they are on the phone, they don't follow the most basic rules of the road. Once their kids are dropped off they are just idiots because they are rushing home for their first martini or daytime tv.
This middle group also includes that certain 'group' of people with no road awareness that often drive taxi's and have literally no driving skills whatsoever. They are the ones who will drive and put you in their blind spot then try and merge, or pull out without a blinker or move across three lanes of traffic. Honestly its definately something genetic that makes them such bad drivers.
This entire middle aged group are also the people who unlike the old and the young aren't aware of the more recent road rules, and realistically don't care they think they own the roads because they are middle aged, and have driven for ages, they consider young people a threat, and generally drive worse than the youngsters do at the slightest sign of them. Should see the reaction from most idiots at the first sign of an L plate, they literally put everyone at risk with their reactions. They do however have experience so they are generally the best group at reacting properly to a dangerous situation (even when they create it) its just that often they are totally unaware thats a problem.

Also worth noting that I'm in a city and I know in rural areas there are far bigger problems with young people.

I guess in the end the most dangerous driver is the one who has the least skills, least experience, least awareness, least focus and is irresponsible. Each age group has them, its just a deadly mix when a single person fits all these issues.

Normally the dangerous young people are just the kids of the terrible older drivers, who REALLY stand out because they don't even have the experience their parents do to make up for a total lack of skill.

 

[Wh0M3]

I know in the US the rules for driving have changed sense I was 16 and a first time driver. We didn't have some of the rules that are in place or if we did I didn't pay attention to them. One of the things I had a hard time with as a first time driver was to judge when to slow down or stop at a light. If a light turned yellow did I have enough time to make it through or should I start to stop. I knew stepping on the gas was the wrong answer. I consider myself to have more drive time and miles than most people my age. I have driven big trucks with trailers and I learned to break early and I still do it now with my car.

I agree with what Kris is saying because I got to a point where I felt I knew all the rules of the road. Not the written laws, but the unwritten rules. I didn't pay attention to my speedometer because I felt I was driving a safe speed and that got me into trouble. Most of the people I have seen reading or doing their makeup isn't the teens but those in the twenty - thirty something. They are at the age of complacently where they don't think about what is around them as much. The are complacent and don't care to put on the signal, they don't care who they cut off.

In saying all that I also have noticed that drivers habbits change in different places. When I was in Washington State (Seattle area) driving, you couldn't use your turn signals to indicate you were merging or changing lanes because everyone would see your moving over and try to get in front of you, basically blocking you off from trying to move over. The sad thing was once I turned my signal off they would move into a normal patter where there was enough room for me to cut off someone to merge over. In Michigan (south western) where I live if you signal to merge people are willing to give you some space to move into. I also know that the Seattle area was rated number 2 as worst place to drive when I was there. I've found people in Georga like to drive 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit. People who live in Phoenix Az like to drive in your blind spot...

Of course these are my opinions of what I have seen. Every place has it's own weather to deal with as well. People who live in the Seattle area know how to drive in the rain and ice. People in Michigan know how to drive in the snow.

 

[Kazza]

Its totally unfair to ask old or young, there are extremely bad groups in both.
Here we have strict rules about learning to drive meaning that those under 25 are generally far more aware of the actual rules of the road, particularly school zones, crossings, and the use of mobile phones (not allowed!).
There are the more dangerous young drivers in suped up cars that drive like hoons, and they often lack the skills to deal with the dangerous situations they create.They are the same people who no matter what age will always speed and be idiots, but they havent got the experience to know when they'll get caught or when its too dangerous.
This being said there are plenty of very serious speeding offences and accidents by everyone else too.
There are also the older drivers who should no longer have a license but due to being slow and cautious are luckily less dangerous because everyone else can generally drive to avoid them.

The most dangerous drivers however are the definately the middle group, they are ALWAYS on phones, they are the parents not watching the road but yelling at kids or just driving in automatic mode.
Woman generally make up a large part of this group visually on the road, they drive the kids to school in 4wd's, then they double park, or speed in school zones, they don't use blinkers, they are on the phone, they don't follow the most basic rules of the road. Once their kids are dropped off they are just idiots because they are rushing home for their first martini or daytime tv.
This middle group also includes that certain 'group' of people with no road awareness that often drive taxi's and have literally no driving skills whatsoever. They are the ones who will drive and put you in their blind spot then try and merge, or pull out without a blinker or move across three lanes of traffic. Honestly its definately something genetic that makes them such bad drivers.
This entire middle aged group are also the people who unlike the old and the young aren't aware of the more recent road rules, and realistically don't care they think they own the roads because they are middle aged, and have driven for ages, they consider young people a threat, and generally drive worse than the youngsters do at the slightest sign of them. Should see the reaction from most idiots at the first sign of an L plate, they literally put everyone at risk with their reactions. They do however have experience so they are generally the best group at reacting properly to a dangerous situation (even when they create it) its just that often they are totally unaware thats a problem.

Also worth noting that I'm in a city and I know in rural areas there are far bigger problems with young people.

I guess in the end the most dangerous driver is the one who has the least skills, least experience, least awareness, least focus and is irresponsible. Each age group has them, its just a deadly mix when a single person fits all these issues.

Normally the dangerous young people are just the kids of the terrible older drivers, who REALLY stand out because they don't even have the experience their parents do to make up for a total lack of skill.

It's unfair to choose between young and old but you have no problem pointing the finger at women drivers? :spank:

It's a simple poll - young or old - vote for one or don't

 

[rjo3491]

Older drivers while not as responsive, still have the maturity to know what can happen and tend to be cautious. Many younger drivers [I think] don't fully understand how serious accidents can be and tend not to respect their driving responsibilities as they should. This goes for the entire cell phone crowd that has yet to experience a major accident.