Topic: Overly Cautious - Can you prevent yourself from becoming this way?

[KRS]

  My Dad just turned 81 and the stepmother is 86 now. Riding with them on occasion it is surprising how age has changed their driving styles. Dad will wait for a gap large enough to march the whole Swedish army through before entering into a roadway and tends to eventually get up to around 5 klicks below the speed limit given enough time.

  The stepmother drives like she's practicing to win the world rally championship now days when she's not in town and still drives like when i first met her while in town. She is in no way more cautious then she ever was.

 

So since insurance companies do not seem to think that age is a bad thing in a driver...perhaps you guys should start looking inward since you seem to belong to the demographic responsible for claims.
Besides you will all become better insurance risks one day...just hang in with a little good natured patience.

  Rupert I believe most insurance companies consider retirees better risks is because they don't have to drive as much. Dad's insurance rate and mine would be almost the same except for the fact that he tells them he will drive less then 4000 km's a year and I tell them truthfully that I will be driving more then 40000 km's a year, and I have to drive in lousy weather, where dad can sit in his living room and decide which winter in the 40's this winter has been like, when there is a storm happening. Its easy to see how its a much better business model to have 100 cars driven 400,000 km's in total a year paying, say, $1250ea a year, over having 10 cars driven 400,000km in total a year even if you charge those 10 cars $2500ea a year given that for the same exposure mileage wise they would be charging the oldsters in that hypothetical sample $125000 while only getting $25000 from the 10 cars driving the higher mileage. Even though the insurance company appears to say the higher mileage driver is more responsible for claims it's the low mileage driver who is providing 5 times the money to the company.

 If by saying people here are in the demographic responsible for claims you mean people who drive vehicles often and enjoy driving them, I would assume you are as well. Other wise why would you be a member of a forum for people who like cars?

[Rupert]

One might argue that less mileage might make you less adept over time and yet still 'lower rates'. Go figure. Counter point is valuable when intolerance seems to reign here, to applause from most. Just because you get old eventually and maybe drive a little more defensively; it does not make for less appreciation of fine design and any pleasures of being mobile and able to move around that remain. My wifes mom drove a car untill she was past 90 a few years ago and never had a single accident for the whole time. She started driving a pony and trap and progressed on to wooden spoke wheeled auto's. She still enjoyed having a nice car and was proud of being able to go out at 85 and choose one. If this site is only for enthusiasts then why review little Accent's and vans how many can become enthusiastic about such vehicles. The point is that fine design is probably better outlined by less 'speed capable' machines designed for the masses on a budget. Anyone can have an opinion and not be so crass as to suggest that others do not.

[safristi]

geez confabbing wif RUPERT is like argueing with yer Great Grandfather about pole dancing...............

[articsteve]

Rupert I believe most insurance companies consider retirees better risks is because they don't have to drive as much

My 85 year old mom pays $1500. yearly, in the hinterland, for a car that might have a retail value of 10K.  No accidents and so on.  Wife's car is $1400., still has the Waiver of Depreciation worth $35k, business rated.  So that tells me insurance companies view ppl of her age as high risk despite driving far less.

AND they are high risk. 

[Leviathan]

Drive far more carefully at night as I realize my vision, never good, is getting worse as happens to everyone with age.

But I definitely do not feel as comfortable driving at night as I used to. 

Ditto. Night driving is where I'm being more cautious. Frickin pedestrians are pretty aggressive around here and when it is dark & pissing rain it can be hard to spot them when they are dressed in fashionable black head-to-toe.

[dr_spock]

Ditto. Night driving is where I'm being more cautious. Frickin pedestrians are pretty aggressive around here and when it is dark & pissing rain it can be hard to spot them when they are dressed in fashionable black head-to-toe.

Maybe those folks don't want to live to the age where they can be overly cautious. 

[barrie1]

If older drivers are so bad at driving with many of them having 50 years or more of experience behind them then why is it that its the younger crowd who always its seems to be busted for racing and causing crashs that kill folks. The Insurance Co's have it correct in rewading older drivers as most of them do have good driving records behind them. They generally are more cautsious and careful on their moves while driving and are also much more patient with the younger crowd who are usually in a hurry flying bye. I have vehicles that really move when I want them to but I use restraint instead to be a safe driver as everyone else's lives are in my hands as well as my own when I drive. The same with them but many don't seem to realize that when they are young as they think they are invincable. 

[airbalancer]

 
most people are writing about people who are in there 80's
who drive 80kms/hr in the middle lane of the 401

[Rupert]

most people are writing about people who are in there 80's
who drive 80kms/hr in the middle lane of the 401

These people do not exist as a group. As a matter of fact I can't ever remember seeing this phenomina in the last 40 years. However you do not have to drive very far on the 401 to be past by an inconsiderate person going at high speed and using slalom technique to facilitate such. You can conjecture for youirself which grouping this person would be in.
The 80 km/hr speed is used as a description by those who come up behind a vehicle that is going at 100/110 on a 400 highway. Why is 80 km/hr chosen anyway. Why not 75 or 85 or heaven forbid 90. In any case I think that it is, at the least, ungenerous to associate this phenomina (if it exists) to an age group. No less so than to associate all speeders to another such.

[Squishy]

Rupert, what part of the 401 do you drive?  I don't mean it as a dig, I'm just curious because the 401 you describe is very different from what I drive.  In my experience, the Waterloo area has been the worst for slow drivers, the Hamilton area has been the worst for high speed slalom drivers, and Toronto has a good mix of both.  Around the 50 km mark on the 400, people start remembering how to drive again.

And yes, the slow Waterloo drivers are usually old people, with the occasional very young, very beginner driver on their first trip to university away from home, too nervous to keep up with traffic.

[My Old Buick]

No bad mouthing Buick... Some of us go fast with class..in our old Buicks

[tpl]

Rupert, what part of the 401 do you drive?  I don't mean it as a dig, I'm just curious because the 401 you describe is very different from what I drive.  In my experience, the Waterloo area has been the worst for slow drivers, the Hamilton area has been the worst for high speed slalom drivers, and Toronto has a good mix of both.  Around the 50 km mark on the 400, people start remembering how to drive again.

And yes, the slow Waterloo drivers are usually old people, with the occasional very young, very beginner driver on their first trip to university away from home, too nervous to keep up with traffic.

Where is the "Hamilton area" on the 401?   or are we taking about a different Hamilton?

As for the 50Km mark on the 400. Isn't that the part between 89 and 9  that is always under a white out and people crash every 5 minutes or so?  I suppose they have to learn to drive then 

[safristi]

 RUPERT inna FASHT! LANE near his Water-LOO................. ..

[Squishy]

Where is the "Hamilton area" on the 401?   or are we taking about a different Hamilton?

As for the 50Km mark on the 400. Isn't that the part between 89 and 9  that is always under a white out and people crash every 5 minutes or so?  I suppose they have to learn to drive then 

Haha, I removed a part of that post and made the rest slightly confusing.  I meant the Hamilton area of the 403.

That 50 km mark on the 400 is the whiteout area; I forgot just how bad winter drivers were overall.    That area is a lot better in the summer though.

[1TSX]

Where is the "Hamilton area" on the 401?   or are we taking about a different Hamilton?

As for the 50Km mark on the 400. Isn't that the part between 89 and 9  that is always under a white out and people crash every 5 minutes or so?  I suppose they have to learn to drive then 

Haha, I removed a part of that post and made the rest slightly confusing.  I meant the Hamilton area of the 403.

That 50 km mark on the 400 is the whiteout area; I forgot just how bad winter drivers were overall.    That area is a lot better in the summer though.

Its definitely safer in the summer, because you are rolling at 30 km/h anyway, in cottage country goer traffic.

[ktm525]

WFO till you see god. Then brake. 

[safristi]

  JESUS SWERVES....................... ...RWD fan???

[mp3butt]

For those of us who live in GTA know what I mean: You see "overly cautious" drivers on 401 all the time. They tend to drive slowly.

I don't have trouble with cautious drivers. I don't have issues with people driving even below speed limit. I understand that 1) they may not be good drivers; 2) They know that too, but they have no choice but to drive to work. No problem. Just stick to the right lane.

What I am not okay with is the fact that many of them are left lane bandits. I mean SERIOUS left-lane bandits. Do they realize how hazadous that could be by hoarding the left lane with slow speed?

[dr_spock]

For those of us who live in GTA know what I mean: You see "overly cautious" drivers on 401 all the time. They tend to drive slowly.

I don't have trouble with cautious drivers. I don't have issues with people driving even below speed limit. I understand that 1) they may not be good drivers; 2) They know that too, but they have no choice but to drive to work. No problem. Just stick to the right lane.

What I am not okay with is the fact that many of them are left lane bandits. I mean SERIOUS left-lane bandits. Do they realize how hazadous that could be by hoarding the left lane with slow speed?

Yup, they forced the fast traffic over to tailgate my cautious butt in the right-hand lane.