Road Rage
Elderly Man Drives 3 Miles With Body In Windshield
Swell. Another "poor little old man who enjoyed driving" who nobody had the "heart" to remove his driver's license.
As many of my Blog sparring partners like to remind me, I am a young woman. I don't mind being young--it gives me an empathy for the situations of teenagers with the judgment of an adult. As a teenager, I took often-vocal issue with the stigma of carelessness and semi-inhumanity surrounding my age group. (My "teen rebellion" involved a lot of bad poetry.)
The crux of the hypocrisy, in my view then and now, was that actions for which teenagers are lambasted in the press, hounded by politicians, and thrown into jail in order to make an "example for our youth" receive next to no attention in any other age group.
Within the past two years, elderly drivers have taken out dozens of people by slamming their vehicles into farmer's markets and sidewalks because they "hit the accelerator instead of the brake, poor old dears..." etc. As in this new case, the elderly driver receives next to no sanctions.
Boo-frickin'-hoo. Tell that to the victim's family when they ask why the person who ran over their relative isn't being charged?
Would such a sob story ever hold water for a 16-year-old, an 18-year-old? Of course not. The press would scream for that "reckless" driver's blood. The driver would spend the rest of his life in prison. Reforms would be demanded to make driving standards for teens and beginning drivers much more stringent.
As well they should if a particular age group is shown to be higher risk. But why this coddling of elderly drivers? "Age discrimination" nothing--if an individual is no longer competent to drive, then they're no longer competent, and a danger to everyone else on the road.
Swell. Another "poor little old man who enjoyed driving" who nobody had the "heart" to remove his driver's license.
As many of my Blog sparring partners like to remind me, I am a young woman. I don't mind being young--it gives me an empathy for the situations of teenagers with the judgment of an adult. As a teenager, I took often-vocal issue with the stigma of carelessness and semi-inhumanity surrounding my age group. (My "teen rebellion" involved a lot of bad poetry.)
The crux of the hypocrisy, in my view then and now, was that actions for which teenagers are lambasted in the press, hounded by politicians, and thrown into jail in order to make an "example for our youth" receive next to no attention in any other age group.
Within the past two years, elderly drivers have taken out dozens of people by slamming their vehicles into farmer's markets and sidewalks because they "hit the accelerator instead of the brake, poor old dears..." etc. As in this new case, the elderly driver receives next to no sanctions.
Traffic Homicide Investigator Jockers said, "That was the one thing he had, to get in his car and just drive for the sheer enjoyment of driving."
Boo-frickin'-hoo. Tell that to the victim's family when they ask why the person who ran over their relative isn't being charged?
Would such a sob story ever hold water for a 16-year-old, an 18-year-old? Of course not. The press would scream for that "reckless" driver's blood. The driver would spend the rest of his life in prison. Reforms would be demanded to make driving standards for teens and beginning drivers much more stringent.
As well they should if a particular age group is shown to be higher risk. But why this coddling of elderly drivers? "Age discrimination" nothing--if an individual is no longer competent to drive, then they're no longer competent, and a danger to everyone else on the road.
posted by Jocelyn Smith | 10:42 AM
4 Comments:
Wow, somebody's prolific this afternoon! :-) I'll address it all in one post, if you don't mind. :-P
Also found out that girls could marry at 12 and boys at 14 in medieval England.
Are you kidding? Girls could marry at 12 here in certain parts of the US up until the 1940s! (Will track down those laws when my favorite DumbLaw site comes back up from its latest hack.)
I've always said people shouldn't be issued a marriage license until they were at least 25. I've also said for a couple of decades...since I was about that age that the years between 18 and 25 are times of profound change in a person. Often what a person thinks or believes at 18 changes by age 25 and that is why so many younger marriages fail.
Could be, although on the whole, statistics have shown that people are marrying older nowadays (or at least there are fewer young marriages) than even 20 years ago. My folks married quite young, 21 for Mum, but they'd been together for several years.
I would be all for frequent testing and re-testing of young drivers, while I do think that Driver Education can stay at age 16. Some system where a certain number of tests are required while keeping a teen in "Student Driver" status, and anytime a test is failed or the kid gets in a citation, the probation period gets extended to make it that much longer until they are eligible for an unrestricted license.
I wonder what the statistics say about people with kids vs. people without kids.
Good question. Some are of the opinion that having a family makes drivers more responsible, but some of the craziest maniacs on the road I've ever seen have had "Baby On Board" signs. Then again, I grew up in Fratboy Central, so I'm well aware of the shortcomings of my own age group.
Man! nobody should get married and have kids who doesn't want them.
Glad you think so! ;-) Especially since, as you know, I'm a Childfree (not one of the more psycho ones, but I know myself well enough to know I would be a lousy mother.)
do with one's time - like standing outside in hurricane force winds to report on how strong the wind is.
Actually, I've always wanted to do that! Florida WOULD get all those storms AFTER I've moved away! *glares Southward*
By the way - your enthusiasm is fun to watch. Jefferson was only about 30 years old when he drafted the constitution.
*Blush* Thank you! You should have seen me five years ago--I was quite the mouthy, obnoxious brat. Nobody had an opinion better (or louder) than me, I was one of those College Freshmen at Protest Rallies. I've cooled off a little bit in my old age (joking), but still, I have a fine-tuned Hypocrisy and Injustice Meter, and I'll sound off about it on occasion.
Yikes! Claire...SHUT UP!
No need! :-) I enjoy sparring with YOU because you're articulate enough to make me THINK about my own points, and you defend yours without resorting to name-calling and lame insults like some *cough*LeeGoldbergandco*cough* people.
I'm definitely killing the caffeine
*Hands Claire valium*
I think you're working too hard lately.
Now then, Jocelyn. They can have my driver's license when they pry it from my cold dead hand. Or, in this case, from the cold dead hand of the victim on my windshield.
Jefferson was only about 30 years old when he drafted the constitution.
And that was the Declaration of Independence, darling.
THAT GUY? Seriously? Scared the beejezus out of me. I live about 10 minutes from this. Florida drivers are HORRID. And OLD. And BLIND.
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