Elderly Drivers - What Are The Dangers?

We all like to think of ourselves as being the only driver on the roads who was actually paying attention when learning how to drive. That’s because, judging by the erratic road-user behaviour we encounter every day from other drivers, it can really seem like we were the only ones who had to pass our driving test, and everyone else just collected three coupons in a magazine and sent their learner’s permit off in the mail for an instant full driving licence. Something you may have noticed as a pattern in road-users who are responsible for a high number of your near-misses (or even collisions if you have been particularly unlucky), is that age can begin to play a part in diminished awareness and reaction time - see elderly driving accident lawyer if you have been affected. Today, we’re going to cover some of the dangers to look out for in relation to elderly drivers.

Driving too slowly

If being retired came with a handbook, one whole page of that book would be dedicated to the joys of waking up and driving around during rush hour at way below the speed limit. We’ve all encountered this dangerous behaviour. The issue is that where one car is travelling below the speed limit, the approaching car may not be expecting the unreasonable obstruction until in close proximity. This means late and unexpected braking, which then means the car behind must brake hard to avoid a collision, and the car behind that and the car behind that. It would only take one person in that queue to brake slightly too late and we have a collision. 

Tailgating 

One of the health factors that typically goes hand in hand with age is failing eyesight. Eyeglasses are, naturally, the solution to this problem, but where eyesight gets worse and eyeglasses are not updated, perception of distances can be affected. Not only does this mean that elderly drivers may be more susceptible to tailgating, but it also means that elderly drivers may be more susceptible to crossing the white line. Although there is nothing we can do about an elderly driver who wishes to tailgate us for a period of time (other than try to take a turning that may lose them), we can try not to drive too close to the white line to reduce the likelihood of a collision with anyone crossing the white line.