I kinda have to agree. It’s hard enough getting old without people treating you like a kindergartner. My BIL’s dad was approaching 90 and some eye sight problems in a town of about 500. They reported him to the patrol so he had to go renew his license which he passed the test for. They took his keys, so he bought a tractor and would take that for a drive instead. Then they bought him a winterized golf cart so he used that instead. He took it out to one of his farms and got it stuck so he went and borrowed a tractor to pull it out. I dunno, WW II vet, business owner, nobody on the streets of the little town-leave the guy alone. It’s a dignity thing.
A guy in town I’m sure had no license and/or no car but used his lawn mower to get around. One rainy day I saw him with a trailer attached with a pick-up topper on it. Inside was his wife prolly going shopping. We are so quick to make people conform to our conditions when all some of these folks are trying to do is survive in their last quarter of life.
We did this to my mother-in-law. She was a danger to herself and everyone around her when she drove. It put a big strain on my wife’s sister since she was the only sibling still living in the area. My wife would drive in every other month or so. After a year she finally gave in. If you have a loved one who is no longer capable of driving safe then it’s your duty to ensure he/she doesn’t drive anymore.
Every child may have to decide when to pull the keys from their parent. I’m not about to second guess their judgement. The fatality rate for older drivers increases with age, at some point it can become the only responsible choice.
Discuss taking the keys away while they are still lucid. If there are ground rules set up, it might make it easier to get them to give up driving when the time comes.
I tend to consider MY RIGHTS end when they threaten other people. It’s a shame that we (the all of us we) are suspicious of law enforcement or lack thereof or those who politically control law enforcement or the collective THEM whose politics and/or culture differ from our own with respect to robbing(?) us of our Constitutional freedoms.
If we lived on subsistant farms where we cut firewood to keep warm and cook and grew a vegetable garden and tended chickens and cows in order to survive we would certainly be much freer and virtually no one but nearby neighbors could have any objections. But that economic situation disappeared long ago in the US. From crowded elevators and stairways to crowded streets and sidewalks in order to keep us living civilly we must be civilized and often that means individuals(us) must live within the constraints necessary for peaceful coexistence. So if Pops doesn’t GAD about the safety of the public when he drives intelligent people must jump in and get the keys and tell him “TS Pops.” And it’s likely much better for the family to do so before a judge puts Pops in a cell to protect others.
“Inalienable rights” is such a phony political chant.
It just struck me that if parents used the same criteria for their newly minted teen drivers, no one would be driving until they were at least 23. Life is a beach. At some point we need to come to grips with dealing with risk and adversity. Life will never be safe.
Naw it just struck me as a double standard is all, but since when is it the child’s responsibility to enforce traffic laws for their parents? Rules are rules though huh? Kinda reminds me of the neighbors in England reporting people taking two walks a day instead of one. Blue skies.
You seem to live in a binary world, @bing. It’s all or nothing. I believe that most other people believe that circumstances have an effect on their decisions. I may have been 18, but as long as I lived in my mother’s house, I lived by her rules. Good rules, too, I came to find out. As people age and lose the ability to reason as well as they used to, it’s time for their loved ones to return the favor.
Yeah right. Inside many people these days are totalitarians screaming to come out. Lock Mom in the attic, for her own good and the safety of others. Like I have said for many years, beware of people justifying their actions by saying it will save lives, or for the children, or for the public safety. But I’m the binary one?? I’m done. Back to the garage.