Pensioner tragically kills wife by accidentally reversing as she checks the brake lights
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pensioner-tragically-kills-wife-accidentally-5806509
The 84 year old had a full motorcycle licence, but only had a provisional licence to drive a car.
"I did not know where the pedals were in the car. I put my foot down to where I thought the brake pedal was, then the car went backwards, fairly fast."
A sad tale of wrong priorities and decision making ?
|
|
Whenever I read about an old person and this type of accident, I wonder if the car was an automatic. [I realise that, in this case, the chap was a learner and that could have been the prime factor.]
|
"It was."
Ah - I see - it was mentioned in the Mirror, but not in the Telegraph report that I had read.
Tragic, of course. Usually these 'slips' with automatics just result in a minor bump or driving into your local Tesco.
|
More of a warning of the danger of standing directly in front of or behind a car - whoever is in charge of it - if the engine is running.
I quite often drop visiting colleagues off at hotels or at Heathrow. It may seem excessive but I always stop the engine and go to the back of the car with them, not just to deliver a better handshake (or remember how many kisses this one expects; current boss is three) but to be quite sure the car absolutely won't move.
|
>> More of a warning of the danger of standing directly in front of or behind
>> a car - whoever is in charge of it - if the engine is running.
>>
It's amazing how many 'primary safety' things such as this are lost on many people.
>> I quite often drop visiting colleagues off at hotels or at Heathrow. It may seem
>> excessive but I always stop the engine and go to the back of the car
>> with them, not just to deliver a better handshake (or remember how many kisses this
>> one expects; current boss is three) but to be quite sure the car absolutely won't
>> move.
>>
I do that too - but mainly to avoid fingermarks on the boot lid. :)
The 'rule' I have is to make sure I have my keys in my hand if I get out of the car. Don't want to be stood there while it disappears into the distance!
|
>> It's amazing how many 'primary safety' things such as this are lost on many people.
>>
One I came across was someone changing an offside wheel on a motorway hard shoulder in the dark, no hazard flashers and a spectating passenger obscuring the offside rear light.
|
"he had taken over the wheel from his wife so she could check the lights"
I wonder what Columbo would have made of that?
|
|
How terribly, terribly sad.
|
|
She shouldn't have left it in reverse and got out by the sound of it - a fatal error.
|
There's been another one in the news. This time she was putting something in the boot, and when she slammed it he had a shock and his foot slipped, apparently.
Do these cases all involve automatics?
Do they all involve elderly male drivers and well-intentioned but perhaps not very safety-aware wives?
Just wondering. It's hardly a major problem in the great scheme, but sad and ought to be easily avoidable.
|
|
I watched my old man testing his reversing lights when I was 10 years old or so. There was an 's' bend on the estate and every now and again he would stop, go through the reverse, brake lights, indicators 'MOT' and watch the reflection in someones living room window (through his rear-view mirror). It's a habit I've picked up but I hope the woman opposite doesn't think I'm a signalling for BJ. I just wink and hold up my wallet for that.
|
>> I watched my old man testing his reversing lights when I was 10 years old
>> or so. There was an 's' bend on the estate and every now and again
>> he would stop, go through the reverse, brake lights, indicators 'MOT' and watch the reflection
>> in someones living room window (through his rear-view mirror)
That's how I check mine. Combination of shop windows. car in front, reflections off my garage door and getting erindoors or The Lad to report as I reverse into the drive.
The woman opposite is of an age/disposition where I don't have BBD's conundrum.
|
|
You might if she's a sucker (sorry) for Aviators, Rohans and belt-clipped phones. Takes all sorts.
|
>>
>> That's how I check mine. Combination of shop windows. car in front, reflections off my
>> garage door
Me too - it's obvious really.
And for decades Volvos have had a circuit that checks for non-working bulbs. A warning light comes on when you operate something that has a bulb out. It's a bit over-sensitive, and fussy about bulbs being matched pairs of the same make.
|
>>
>> And for decades Volvos have had a circuit that checks for non-working bulbs. A warning
>> light comes on when you operate something that has a bulb out. It's a bit
>> over-sensitive, and fussy about bulbs being matched pairs of the same make.
>>
Same as my Carlton, Omegas, Vectras, Zafiras - which were also sensitive to bulb mismatches. Rather miss it on my current, more basic Astra.
|
|
I never fail to be amazed how many people leave engines running. Perhaps the elderly are prone to this because they can remember when cars were harder to start, but I think it's more likely to be habit/laziness.
|
>>I never fail to be amazed how many people leave engines running.
I often leave my engine running, usually through laziness.
I usually dispatch one of the daughters to check on the lights, but on occasion I leave them in the drivers seat and I stand behind.
All of which is a red herring. Why its left in [D]rive is the question.
|
I often leave my engine running
With care on the cooling system (thermosyphon and no gauge) I will under some circumstances leave the vintage engine running. Any jobsworth who insist it's turned off will be treated to the full restart procedure - they'll not do it twice!
|
|
Happy to make an exception for you, SP. Have you got a reverse?
|
"he had taken over the wheel from his wife so she could check the lights"
Why couldn't he check them? She was already in the driving seat!
I suspect it's the 'man-job' thing that seems prevalent among older couples, and which I was reminded of recently while watching the 80-year old Prunella Scales and her husband Timothy West taking their narrow-boat up a flight of 16 locks in the Pennines. Prunella had to open and close the gates and sluices, while TW drove the boat, which he insisted was his job! I expect Pru had to fix the supper afterwards, too...
|
|
Women are cleverer than you give them credit for. Who gets the grief for any damage to the boat / car or whatever is being moved in confined spaces? They are just daft enough to stand behind cars with an old duffer at the wheel.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 27 Jun 15 at 12:20
|
|
Shame she had to lose her life doing a simple but essential task which so many other drivers (going by my observations on the road) seem to completely neglect.
|
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-33369523
A car became embedded in a thatched cottage after its 94-year-old driver reversed into the building.
The woman had been reversing out of her own drive when she backed into the sitting room of the house in Church Lane, Milton.
No-one was in at the time and the car has since been removed, Cambridgeshire Police said.
|
|
Ninety four is too old to be in charge of a motor vehicle - there should be an upper age limit imo.
|
|
No, there should be a lower ability limit.
|
>> No, there should be a lower ability limit.
The Ability limit should remain at the same level, and above the age of 75, annual testing to prove it.
|
>> >> No, there should be a lower ability limit.
>>
>> The Ability limit should remain at the same level, and above the age of 75,
>> annual testing to prove it.
>>
A sensible suggestion - far too sensible for our politicians to actually adopt it.
|
>> No, there should be a lower ability limit.
>>The Ability limit should remain at the same level, and above the age of 75, annual testing to prove it.
Lets start with proper regular eye tests for all ages.
>>A sensible suggestion - far too sensible for our politicians to actually adopt it.
>>
Any sensible MP would not alienate so many voters.
|
>> >>A sensible suggestion - far too sensible for our politicians to actually adopt it.
>> >>
>> Any sensible MP would not alienate so many voters.
He can book them a taxi to the polls.
|
The Ability limit should remain at the same level...
'Lower' as the converse of 'upper' (as used by Perro) not the opposite of 'higher', Z.
|
>> The Ability limit should remain at the same level...
>>
>> 'Lower' as the converse of 'upper' (as used by Perro) not the opposite of 'higher',
>> Z.
Same as in "the same"
|
1) No, there should be a lower ability limit.
2) The Ability limit should remain at the same level,
3) Same as in "the same"
There already is in a sense a lower ability limit, which in theory everyone attained once, in the driving test. But that never did test the particular ability that seems to be in question here - namely the ability of a life-long manual gearbox user to master an automatic gearbox, particularly in old age.
No one is ever tested in that ability, even though the dangers of that switch appear to be much higher than when switching from an automatic to a manual. Getting it wrong with a manual merely crashes the gears or stalls the engine - a mistake with an automatic runs over your wife.
Perhaps rather than introducing all the expense and inconvenience of complete retesting at a certain age and short periods thereafter, there should be a simple and short test top-up.
An authorised tester would spend 10 minutes in the subject's own car, watching some basic manouevres, in order to answer a simple question, "Is this person safe?"
|
Anything that departs from the normal in terms of controls is a risk, although some folks are much more adaptable than others.
Quite a few vintage cars (Cricklewood Bentleys being obvious ones) have a central throttle pedal. My Morgan is hand throttle so left pedal is clutch and right is brake. But the brakes are not interlinked, and the foot brake pedal is the rear brake, the fronts are the lever. However, the lever can be released by knocking it sideways - and you do have to do that to do a hill start. First gear is very tall so the left leg is quite busy on a hill start.
I have absolutely no way of testing this assertion, but I'd not be surprised if those motorists who drove cars with both unconventional controls and standard ones, are more adaptable and more likely to be able to safely drive an automatic when not used to one.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Thu 9 Jul 15 at 15:06
|
If you're an experienced driver who knows how cars work and have driven a lot of different ones, you should be able to adapt easily to anything.
When you make a mistake through (e.g.) forgetfulness when driving something unfamiliar, if you know how the jalopy works you will normally correct the mistake very quickly without having to stop or do anything silly.
Or so I like to think, and so far so good.
|
|
I think the problem with an auto is when your brain thinks your foot is on the brake but it is on the accelerator. When the car does not stop it presses the foot harder on the pedal, flooring the go pedal.
|
> When the car does not stop
>> it presses the foot harder on the pedal, flooring the go pedal.
>>
I can believe that. Once when manoeuvring a car about by pushing it with the door open I wanted to stop so shifted half onto the seat and pressed what I thought was the brake pedal with my left foot. When it didn't stop I pressed what was actually the clutch pedal even harder, and rolled gently into the pile of stuff at the back of the garage.
|
>> I can believe that. Once when manoeuvring a car .........
>>
I once had a similar one, on reversing into a parking space as I stopped the car to my right started pulling out. This gave the illusion that I was still moving, when I realised what was happening I also realised that I was pressing the brake very hard. At least I was on the right (brake) pedal.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 15 Jul 15 at 19:22
|
ITV 8pm tonight '100 year old drivers ride again'. Trailer shows one of the subjects pulling out in front of an artic; might be a bit predictable :)
www.radiotimes.com/episode/dpqycv/100-year-old-drivers-ride-again
|
I wonder if these age related reversing accidents in autos are anything to do with inertia?
Imagine putting an auto into reverse and pressing the accelerator. The body's inertia presses the pedal harder as the car accelerates backwards, resulting in more acceleration, resulting in pressing the pedal harder, etc. etc....................................................
I helped an old man out of his car the other day. He sat there pressing his horn and when I asked if he needed a hand, he replied "of course I bl***y well do". I had had to lift him out of the car, without so much as please or thank you. Won't do it again.
|
>> he replied "of course I bl***y well do".
I'd have walked away at that point.
|
It's just the difficulty that older people face in learning new skills as they grow older. We all face the same challenge. It's a lot harder to deal with new things rather than carry on with what you are used to. Just try explaining a smart phone to an older person who has only ever had a conventional phone on a landline.
Most older drivers in the UK have driven cars with a manual box most of their lives. Switching to an automatic when you are 70 plus is highly inadvisable. Unfortunately many make the switch because they are beginning to find driving a little difficult and somehow think an automatic will somehow be simpler to drive.
|
>> somehow think an automatic will somehow be simpler to drive.
As it is of course, just two pedals one to go one to stop.
Simpler doesn't translate linearly into easier though. That's the problem: auto just takes a different lot of highly-developed minor skills.
Nothing will make a really crap insensitive brute of a driver look good for long.
|
>> It's just the difficulty that older people face in learning new skills as they grow
>> older.
Its more a problem of existing skills diminishing.
|
I'm not sure it's really a question of skills as such, more a question of how to delete old instinctive movements and substituting new ones. After many years of changing gears the procedure is no longer a skill, just an unthinking response to changing road and engine needs.
I've noticed sometimes when questioned by a child's learning to drive "What gear are you in?" I have to think or look at the gearlever to remember. The real answer is "I don't know - I'm in the right gear for the circumstances".
It's like trying to think which foot you start off with, or how many paces you are going to take when approaching a kerb so that you don't trip over it.
Or "which way do you turn the handlebars" or "which oar do I pull now?"
Then imagine switching to a device where it worked backwards. It would be easy enough to learn the skill, but another matter to implant it in the brain as a replacement instinct.
|
>> >> It's just the difficulty that older people face in learning new skills as they grow older.
>>
>> Its more a problem of existing skills diminishing.
>>
I agree so some extent.
Is there not a logic which says the car is not doing what I want so is not the norm to not waste time thinking about what is causing the problem and implementing the old old back up from the depths of time.... YANK THE HANDBRAKE as hard as you can and get your feet off!
The wife next door recently swopped to an auto.
I suggested she gave it some thought...
For starters....Lack of engine braking and extra concentration else she will try to dip the clutch and the try to kiss the windscreen :-(
|
Pensioner reverses over his wife. - Haywain
