The Hat
Sunday drivers are the worst. There is a reason they are called “Sunday drivers.” But in my house there is no such thing as a Sunday Driver. No, in my house they are called “The Hat.” When I was a little girl I used to sleep at my grandparents house most Saturday nights. It was great for my parents because they had date night, a built-in sitter and they were able to sleep in on Sundays. It didn’t last forever because, of course, I got older and the last place I wanted to spend my Saturday nights was at my grandparents house but it was good while it lasted. My grandparents lived in Northeast Philadelphia. If you know that area, you know the area is made up of row homes:
It was very safe at the time and it was about a 25 minute drive from my parents house in the suburbs. Sundays were always the same at my grandparents. My grandmother would pick up whitefish, sable, lox, cream cheese and bagels from either Abe’s or The Famous
and we had our Sunday morning Jewish breakfast. My parents would come around 10am to pick me up and we would drive home. The worst part of Sundays was the drive home. Leaving Northeast Philly on a Sunday was like driving on the road with every single person from an old age home. My father would drive in a tirade, screaming for the “hats” to get off the road. What is a hat?
That is a hat. An elderly man driving a car with a hat. They all look the same.
I am not making fun of the elderly. The above picture looks identical to my grandfather. I love the elderly. They are the wisest people and we ALL have something to learn from the elderly. HOWEVER, I do believe somewhere near the age of 80 they should be required to retake the driving test. When the speed limit is 35 and they are driving 15 mph I seriously am that person that starts SCREAMING behind the wheel. I have no patience, NONE (terrible trait, I know).
Yesterday I went to the mall with a friend to pick up a gift. As we were parking I watched an 80ish-year-old woman try to park in a handicapped spot. I watched in amazement as she pulled into the spot, hit the other car that was parked in another handicapped spot, reverse, and pull in again. This 80-something year old lady proceeded to get out of the car, pretend like nothing happened and walk into the mall. Now, I know you are saying..why didn’t you say something? I am going to tell you this…
1) I was speechless for 5 minutes. Knee jerk reaction – no words could come out of my mouth
2) There was a man behind me who witnessed the same thing and I was hoping and praying he would say something to the woman (but he didn’t)
3) I was so obsessed with watching this lady to see if she would just pretend it never happened (and she did) that I never got up the courage to say anything.
Truth be told, she side swiped the front bumper of her car and did not do any damage to the other car so in all fairness she had the problem, not the other car.
This is not the first time I have witnessed something like this. For the life of me, I do not understand WHY we allow elderly people to drive if they are not capable. Look, my grandmother, 82, still drives. She isn’t a bad driver but she is a SLOW driver and I know people who drive behind her must get so annoyed. My mother has asked my grandmother to stop driving but taking away driving from her is like taking away her freedom. I get it, it is hard enough getting old. But at some point it is not safe for other drivers on the road. There are 33 million licensed elderly drivers in the US. Senior drivers account for 14 percent of all traffic fatalities and 17 percent of all pedestrian fatalities. Once they pass age 85, vehicular fatality rates jump to nearly four times that of teens. Yes FOUR TIMES!!! I am not suggesting we take the driver’s license of the elderly away, I am simply suggesting there is a law in place to have them re-take the driving test once they are somewhere around the age of 80/85.
Is that so crazy?
My husband has always told me to beware of drivers with hats! He’s from Brooklyn, so I thought it was a Brooklyn thing. I agree with you 100% about being re-tested. Just this past week, an elderly woman lost control of her car in a Trader Joe’s parking lot, went through the store window and an employee lost her leg because she was crushed between the car and shopping carts. Something needs to be done, for sure.
my dad was 84 when he died as a resuly of an accident at work! my dad had been working for 13 years at a local bank in our town, after his retirement from his career. he was the one employee in the bank who had been employed there the longest. reason for this preamble….i dont think that elderly people should be retested for their ability to drive/ react. it would eliminate the awful decion of adult children to take keys away from their parents. i dont know what my dadslife would have been like if he couldnt drive to work, those 3 days a week. he was a very smart/ and independent kind of person. i dont know if he would have lived as long, if he had the privilege to drive, taken away. independence is so emotionally necessary for the elderly. on the other hand, my dad also thought our beautiful little community had toomany. stop signs and i think he created the ” rolling stop sign” , noting the stop signs, but kind of gliding through them.we did shudder at times, waiting to be sure he got home. from work each day! i dont. think your idea is crazy at all…but at what age would you suggest this exam be mandatory? my suggestion. be patient, be patient, be patient. one day we will all be older…..
p.s. i DO think retesting is a good idea!
There is no doubt it oughta be a law. My 93 year old dad had his eyes tested and discovered he no longer had vision in one eye. This required a driving test. He passed. Yep, he passed the written and driving portion. He lives in California so you easterners are safe. I’ll let you know if he decided to take a long road trip……
*decideS….
Could. Not. Agree. More.
I have often wondered the same. I think primary care physicians should be able to revoke licenses and yes physiologically reaction time decreases with age and so does vision so they should be retested…
I have long advocated that, just as we test everyone’s vision at the MVA, we test everyone’s reaction times and depth perception. This does not discriminate by age, gender, sexual orientation, etc. and would take many persons out of the driver’s seat like the persons described.
True story: I was coming back to my car after doing business at the Livingston PO, as I watch a senior woman taking off several layers of paint off my rear fender. I give chase, yelling at her, and she ACCELERATES out of the lot onto Rt 10. So I call the Livingston PD, and several persons who witnessed the event volunteered their phone #’s to testify on my behalf. The policeman comes, runs the plate # on the computer in his car, and says “I’ve got good and bad news. Good news: she lives two blocks away, bad news: she is 86 years old and when I serve her this summons she will deny even having left her house today. Do you still want to press charges ?” Something said inside me not to pursue the matter, although I thought many times about my decision since then.
[…] lanes at the same time kind of drivers. So I was driving and wouldn’t you know a fucking HAT gets in front of me. (See my article about the HAT if you have no idea what I am talking about). […]