Driving to fetch some food on Tuesday night I managed to write off my little AX. An elderly driver decided to do a U-turn into my path. I didn't have a chance of stopping. I'm very happy I decided to take the S4 off the road over Christmas!

I'm pretty gutted as it was a mint example and had only done 30,000 miles from new. I'd MOT'd it a 10 days before and just stuck 6 months tax on it.

The plan was to turn it into a track car and take it off the road when I put the S4 back on.

Before

After

I only hit him at 30mph but the damage is far too extensive to be repaired.

The main thing that annoys me is that us young 'uns are perceived to be dangerous on the road but IMO the elderly are much more dangerous and should have to retake their tests at a certain age!! I never even got an apology off the bloke. I think he was probably in shock but still.

Just see what the insurance company offers me but I cant imagine it being a lot!

I'll be probably putting money towards the money I get any buy a Polo again.

Ben

This is why elderly drivers should have mandatory eye sight and reaction time tests.

Driving should be a privilege, not a right.

Make sure the insurance company see's the before pictures.

Ah you're kidding! Thats a shame, looks like a minter :(

Bad times sir.

so lame. i completely agree with the oap thing, guy wa coming up my road today at about 10mph in 1st gear, riding the clutch at what must have been about 6000rpm. poor micra! haha! he then pulled into hi driveway and drove straight into the bushes while still riding the clutch LOL

so lame. i completely agree with the oap thing, guy wa coming up my road today at about 10mph in 1st gear, riding the clutch at what must have been about 6000rpm. poor micra! haha! he then pulled into hi driveway and drove straight into the bushes while still riding the clutch LOL

sounds like a classic case of old age drink driving their

when you get to the age where your an oap, will you still have that veiw when you see people who just passed there test flying about, imo no you will probably think your the safer driver because you have been driving longer. its 6 of one half a dozen of the other

so lame. i completely agree with the oap thing, guy wa coming up my road today at about 10mph in 1st gear, riding the clutch at what must have been about 6000rpm. poor micra! haha! he then pulled into hi driveway and drove straight into the bushes while still riding the clutch LOL

Used to work in a petrol station and there was an old lady that did that in a Cavalier EVERY time she came down to fill up....would see her drive off in 1st doing 10 million revs and then go straight to 5th!!!

when you get to the age where your an oap, will you still have that veiw when you see people who just passed there test flying about, imo no you will probably think your the safer driver because you have been driving longer. its 6 of one half a dozen of the other

what? thats got nothing to do with my driving!! i dont go everywhere maxing it out in 1st, burning clutches out and crashing into bushes!

never said you did. with people always calling the old myself included we should remember we will all be old one day, and the veiw of all old people are shit drivers will be lost on us, but you will end up saying bloody kids always in a rush. or words to that effect

yes and when I'm old i dont want to cause an accident from being unable to drive safely tbh!

You get old people that drive sensibly and safely, but you get the ones that are just plain dangerous. They usually have awful reaction times and drive with a tunnel vision. There is also such a thing as driving TOO slowly!

nor does anyone but people carry on regardless of what should be done because of thier own ignorance. older people cause as many accidents as other people if it was a woman driver that caused this accident women would get all the stick, if it was a young teenager that caused it because he had just passed his test then he would get all the stick. had this been an incident were the op had crashed by careless driving then he would get a mixed responce of you stupid prat and gutted for you. my point being in all this is that yes accidents do happen but that doesnt mean a generation/gender or otherwise should be persecuted for someone elses mishap

you get bad drivers in every age group, my grandads 75 and has never had a crash (touch wood), my cousins 18 and recently drove into a parked car and wrote his 9n off

anywaaaaay.. such ashame about the AX, but cars can be replaced as long as your ok. saying that though, if the same thing happend to my mk1 id be devastated

Edited 18 December, 201114 yr by Gamu

i dont think its about comparing age groups, and I'm not saying all old people cant drive as my grandad drives perfectly well, i am however saying it would be a good idea to have some sort of test at a certain age ect. young people have obvs just had to pass a test so we know that they must have the ability to drive to a safe standard, wether they choose to is different. older people however may have problems which can affect their ability to drive safely at all wether it be eyesight, or whatever else!

i agree there should be an age where people have a refresher course but if people decline it they lose there licence till they do the course

i agree there should be an age where people have a refresher course but if people decline it they lose there licence till they do the course

that would be good yeah!

I totally agree with that there are bad drivers in every age/sex group. However, it is mainly down to ignorance, there's a lot of older drivers out there that believe they are completely safe on the roads when they're blatantly not. Again, youngsters have the worse reputation but I genuinely believe that the older generation is more dangerous. Statistics show younger drivers are worse but there's a lot more younger drivers on the road.

The thing that has most wound me up is that the bloke never even offered an apology or asked if I was ok, and his wife just sat in the passenger seat reading her book!!

The AX can be replaced and it was only a cheap runabout, but I won't be able to find one as clean as that one for the money the insurance company will give me.

Ben

the bloke was out of order causing an accident then not saying sorry people with no manners wind me up something chronic. older people are more unaware of changing road conditions/laws/rules because they grew up when things where different. some people though are just a law until themselves arogance/ignorance/aggresive driving will get you nowhere but trouble and thats what causes most accidents

i completly agree your going to be worse off now then the other chap in the grand scheme of things and there isnt much poitive about this whole situation aside from your thinking of getting a polo

we have a 60+ year old woman who drives a mouldy 205, she regularly does 10mph-20mph on a 50mph strech of road heading to chelford.

One time she was holding up about 30cars, as she aproached a 2 lane junction I confronted her, in a nice respectable kind of way i ask why she was driving so slow?, she said she was ill, I knew she was fucking lieing, as I've been driving 3 years and I always see here driving like this, and I'm pretty sure if you have a illness that impares your driving abilty like that means your not allowed on the road.

They generaly think a roundabout is do what the fuck you wantabout.

My nana (stuck up type) is 70 odd, she IS the worst driver in macclesfield, she stopped in the middle of a roundabout at mancheser airport , then decided it was good idea just to cut off the round about where she stopped, think her indicator was broke too, as she didnt use it.

hence my idea of a refresher course it would stop this type of behaviour and if caught being a prat after the refresher course you lose your licence jobs a good un

we have a 60+ year old woman who drives a mouldy 205, she regularly does 10mph-20mph on a 50mph strech of road heading to chelford.

One time she was holding up about 30cars, as she aproached a 2 lane junction I confronted her, in a nice respectable kind of way i ask why she was driving so slow?, she said she was ill, I knew she was fucking lieing, as I've been driving 3 years and I always see here driving like this, and I'm pretty sure if you have a illness that impares your driving abilty like that means your not allowed on the road.

They generaly think a roundabout is do what the fuck you wantabout.

My nana (stuck up type) is 70 odd, she IS the worst driver in macclesfield, she stopped in the middle of a roundabout at mancheser airport , then decided it was good idea just to cut off the round about where she stopped, think her indicator was broke too, as she didnt use it.

MATT! i can share your experience here! and i must say the ''do what the fuck you wantabout'' thats a classic, proper tickled me haha, my granddads like that, he'll pull out infront of people without a care in the world, its a funny/ kind of scary at the same time kinda thing..because one day something will happen similar to whats happened to this poor lad, but i have to say, i bet your bloody glad its the AX and not the S4, neither of which justifies it, but i'd be gutted if this happened to my bready mate, feel for you!

sometimes with bad driving, it is the vehicle at fault too, for example we went on a uni trip to see the wind tunnels at the uni of brighton (much, much larger than our uni) and that was about 7 miles along the A27, despite every single one of us being able to drive, they loaded into a uni Minibus (clapped out P reg LDV) and I can honestly say that they quality of the drive was piss poor because for some unknown reason had about 2.5hp and it was really struggling up hills so much at one point we were doing 24 (according to GPS iphone app) in a 70, foot flat.

another reason why no particular age group should be persecuted is down to individual attitudes, I used to have terrible road rage, used to piss people off deliberately, never liked being overtaken, tailgated etc. but since I became addicted to trying to go as far on a tank as I can, I have calmed down, started listening to 80's tunes it has transformed me into a considerate and careful driver, I never floor it because it'll hurt the economy I just trundle around enjoying how much less stress I have.

sometimes with bad driving, it is the vehicle at fault too, for example we went on a uni trip to see the wind tunnels at the uni of brighton (much, much larger than our uni) and that was about 7 miles along the A27, despite every single one of us being able to drive, they loaded into a uni Minibus (clapped out P reg LDV) and I can honestly say that they quality of the drive was piss poor because for some unknown reason had about 2.5hp and it was really struggling up hills so much at one point we were doing 24 (according to GPS iphone app) in a 70, foot flat.

another reason why no particular age group should be persecuted is down to individual attitudes, I used to have terrible road rage, used to piss people off deliberately, never liked being overtaken, tailgated etc. but since I became addicted to trying to go as far on a tank as I can, I have calmed down, started listening to 80's tunes it has transformed me into a considerate and careful driver, I never floor it because it'll hurt the economy I just trundle around enjoying how much less stress I have.

Sounds like your wallets more valuable then your ego! good lad.

less your spend on thrashing about the more that goes towards the car!