It’s my god given right to drive a 5,000lb vehicle. Any attempt to make sure I’m fit to drive this safely is an assault on my god given rights.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    That is a home-made American problem. If you are not living in a city center that happens to have usable public transport, being left without a car makes you an outcast. No shopping, no personal social contacts, no way to visit a doctor, etc.

  • jet@hackertalks.com
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    11 months ago

    It’s hard to fault elderly drivers for holding on to their ability to drive. In the United States not having a car is the same as being isolated from your community, ostracized, excluded. That everybody can afford a personal driver, few can.

    They’re so few transit oriented communities in the United States, it’s sad. People need to drive. It’s just part of life. As much as we issue the changes of self-driving cars they can’t happen fast enough, it’ll enable people to have quality of life in these large automobile driven communities.

    • eksb@programming.dev
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      11 months ago

      Many middle-class Boomers are are emotionally invested in their houses, which locks them into their cars. They were taught to tie their self worth to their big house in the suburbs, and our car-based transportation infrastructure was designed to get them into those houses. Now they are living in houses they do not need in low-density areas but they will not move not because they like driving, but because they cannot imagine living in an apartment.

      My mom does not like cars, does not like driving, and is not a safe driver, but will not consider moving out of her house that she has been in for forty years. So she keeps driving.

    • Chriszz@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      In any case, the sooner we take the steering wheel out of human hands, the better. Too many people are unfit to drive.

  • halvar@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    I mean, I even understand suvs to a degree, but giving them to an elderly person is just straight up stupid. It goes against my inner logic. Like giving granny an ak and gramps a rocket launcher for self-defense, when going to the store.

  • Lemmymyego@lemmynsfw.com
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    11 months ago

    Shocking ,but I dont want to read about this on Lemmy. Can we not post this? What good comes from reading about it ?

    • dtc@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      When you posted this comment, what did you think was gonna happen?

    • nbafantest@lemmy.worldOP
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      11 months ago

      Sorry my friend, but this and the oversized vehicle she was allowed to drive made me immediately go “fuck cars”

      But I see your point of view too. There is probably one of these stories every other day in the US