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Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

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Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#261

Post by pjc50 »

sevensor wrote: post #67

My 96-year-old grandmother has macular degeneration in her eyes and neuropathy reducing sensation in her feet. She can neither see the road very well nor feel the pedals accurately. The state of Florida just renewed her license for six more years. I'd say it's irresponsible of her to keep up the license, except she has no options. The town she's in recently made it illegal for residents of her park to drive their ele…

> The town she's in recently made it illegal for residents of her park to drive their electric carts across the street to Publix or down the sidewalk to the doctor's office

This right here is the problem - how? Why? Doesn't this violate disability discrimination law? I thought seniors were quite an effective voting bloc in cases like this?

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#262

Post by Spooky23 »

emj wrote: post #240
rimliu wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Otoh, drivets are also the ones taking the traffic regulations most seriously. Pedestrians are inclined to jaywalk, and that’s pretty much it, but don’t get me started on bicycles…

Your comment is anecdata, basing these kinds of statements on personal experiences is not a good idea, the truth is we break the rules with the same frequency what ever mode of transport the use. Furthermore in the statistics for accidents in Sweden serious injuries drivers vs. pedestrian/bicyclist you can see that in ~80% of the cases it was caused by drivers.

There’s no good data because there is no statistically valid enforcement of rules of the road in bikes.

In part because the rules are designed for cars, I’ve always observed cyclists, including myself, breaking common sense rules at much higher rates than cars. Blowing red lights, riding on sidewalks, failure to signal, riding, etc.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#263

Post by InitialLastName »

austinjp wrote: post #191
souprock wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm an American. I might feel differently if I were Japanese. Here, children are driven to school by their parents. When school ends, the parents are there waiting in their cars. Kids mostly don't even play outside anymore. Those of you thinking public transport is fine are likely at least a little bit physically imposing and/or you are in relatively fancy locations.

What a strange land. In the UK, I was using public transport and cycling to school by myself from the age of 16. I'm curious, are there large cities in the USA where this can happen? Are there any significant moves by politicians to wean North Americans off cars? Conversely, are there large cities in other countries that are similar to the US, where this does not happen? I'm going to suspect the Middle East, due to u…

> I'm curious, are there large cities in the USA where this can happen?

Yes, GP appears to be ill-informed about how kids get to school in large parts of the US. In NYC, students take public transit (and are provided passes, if necessary) from approx 13 years old. The same concept applies in most cities I know of on the East Coast (I can't speak for further west, though it appears Chicago has a similar system).

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#264

Post by pjc50 »

souprock wrote: post #142
dundercoder wrote: post #101

I’m 36, live in the suburbs, and in recent years have gone (legally) blind from Retinitis Pigmentosa. Voluntarily giving up my license was one of the hardest and most important decisions I’ve made. There is literally 0 public transportation here. Not even Uber or Lyft have come around. America’s sprawl and dependence on cars is incredible. It wasn’t until I spent time in London, Oxford, and Paris that I could recogni…

On public transit, wouldn't you be unusually vulnerable to crime? Why would you want a service that isn't safe for you?

I don't think this should be dismissed entirely, as it's still a risk in Europe. Especially at night. Every now and again someone suggests women-only train carriages or some other gimmick in response: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41020179 . Or Scotrail's occasional (more justified) alcohol-free trains.

But during commuter hours, there isn't usually space for crime. And a real comparison of injuries per passenger mile would be instructive - cars aren't exactly safe either.

I do think we should avoid painting public transport as a utopia when it also can have access issues. We should just recognise it as an equal option that can be more comfortable and faster than sitting in a traffic jam and cheaper than paying the real cost of parking (which is often subsidised or hidden in the US)

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#265

Post by Spooky23 »

pjc50 wrote: post #261
sevensor wrote: post #67

My 96-year-old grandmother has macular degeneration in her eyes and neuropathy reducing sensation in her feet. She can neither see the road very well nor feel the pedals accurately. The state of Florida just renewed her license for six more years. I'd say it's irresponsible of her to keep up the license, except she has no options. The town she's in recently made it illegal for residents of her park to drive their ele…

> The town she's in recently made it illegal for residents of her park to drive their electric carts across the street to Publix or down the sidewalk to the doctor's office This right here is the problem - how? Why? Doesn't this violate disability discrimination law? I thought seniors were quite an effective voting bloc in cases like this?

They aren’t road legal and aren’t insured.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#266

Post by Spooky23 »

lovich wrote: post #126
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm sorry. Did I mention my grandmother is 96? Ninety-six? HN forgets that not everyone has coastal tech money a lot .

That is true, but periodic Ubers are also way cheaper than owning a car. If you only need to travel once a week it would likely be far cheaper than car taxes, gas, and maintenance

The average social security pensioner makes like $1200/mo. Even with subsidized housing, not much cash for a smartphone.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#267

Post by daemin »

evandijk70 wrote: post #234
daemin wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I lived in Sydney I found that my car was sitting idle for the majority of the time. I did the sums and even with free parking at my apartment, it would have been cheaper for me to just rent a car for the days that I needed it (like a weekend trip, a shopping trip to the suburbs/ikea, etc) than to own it outright. I had coworkers that did that any it was fine. If you look at it financially, you owning a car is t…

If owning a car and renting a car occasionally were exactly the same price, I'd still prefer to own a car. Picking up and doing the paperwork for a car is a big hassle, and takes away a large part of the convenience of owning a car.

Exactly, you end up paying a premium for the option of having the car available at any time you want, also without filling out rental paperwork. Though for that you have to pay for regular maintenance, registration, licensing, insurance, parking, etc.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#268

Post by sevensor »

pjc50 wrote: post #261
sevensor wrote: post #67

My 96-year-old grandmother has macular degeneration in her eyes and neuropathy reducing sensation in her feet. She can neither see the road very well nor feel the pedals accurately. The state of Florida just renewed her license for six more years. I'd say it's irresponsible of her to keep up the license, except she has no options. The town she's in recently made it illegal for residents of her park to drive their ele…

> The town she's in recently made it illegal for residents of her park to drive their electric carts across the street to Publix or down the sidewalk to the doctor's office This right here is the problem - how? Why? Doesn't this violate disability discrimination law? I thought seniors were quite an effective voting bloc in cases like this?

Everybody in her park is furious about it, and you'll see people risking tickets. No idea about discrimination law. Supposedly it was for safety -- old folks in golf carts were deemed a hazard to pedestrians on the sidewalks. So they incentivize them to drive cars instead, at much higher rates of speed. Seems crazy to me too.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#269

Post by xya3453 »

evandijk70 wrote: post #234
daemin wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I lived in Sydney I found that my car was sitting idle for the majority of the time. I did the sums and even with free parking at my apartment, it would have been cheaper for me to just rent a car for the days that I needed it (like a weekend trip, a shopping trip to the suburbs/ikea, etc) than to own it outright. I had coworkers that did that any it was fine. If you look at it financially, you owning a car is t…

If owning a car and renting a car occasionally were exactly the same price, I'd still prefer to own a car. Picking up and doing the paperwork for a car is a big hassle, and takes away a large part of the convenience of owning a car.

In Sydney at least, there are a handful of car rental services that allow paperwork-free car pickup, the location of the nearest car, the rental procedure and payment are all handled entirely within an app.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#270

Post by ensignavenger »

avs733 wrote: post #130
virmundi wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, why give up your license? It's a great ID. You don't have to use it. I know plenty of people with licenses to carry concealed, but don't. To you point about car dependence, not using one is humiliating, at least for me. I live about .25 miles from my office. I walk daily to and from (twice). I feel, and have seen, people look at me like I'm poor. It is a foreign concept to many that walking or bikin…

I, and several of my friends when I used to live in Phoenix, were big walkers. Its evening? go for a walk around the neighborhood. Walk to work, even though it was like 1.5 miles...just...walk. Each of us were stopped at least once by police for being suspicious...near as I can tell (we were all >middle class white people) all that was suspicious was us walking on sidewalks. Outside of the biggest cities America is a…

Maybe that was a Phoenix thing- I've walked in areas of all sizes (From gravel farm roads to some of the countries biggest cities) all over the country and never had the problem.
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