OLD DRIVERS ARE NOT KILLERS

First posted 5 December 2011

Not for the first time I am obliged to rise up in defense of elderly drivers. Recently, well known and ought to know better journalist, David Penberthy, published an article that spared no manner of sarcasm and insult in its attack on his elderly targets.

For a time, as a long-term follower and appreciator of his column, I was prepared to give Penberthy the benefit of the doubt. However the more I read the more I came to the conclusion that either Penberthy had it in for all old people or he was simply one of the vast number of our society who assume that being over the age of 60 brings with it a complete loss of motor skills and the logical thought processes to back it up.

Penberthy used, as anecdotal evidence, a recent incident where he and his three children stepped out onto a pedestrian crossing without first determining that the driver approaching was about to stop. His version of events is that the elderly driver, his face pressed against the windscreen, did not slow down but powered through the crossing almost taking out Penberthy and his wayward trio of ankle biters in the process. Here’s a news flash David. That was dumb! It is always prudent to check any approaching vehicle before stepping onto a crossing. Remember? Look right, look left etc etc. His use of hyperbole is a clear indication of Penberthy’s style; ridicule the object of your derision to limit the damage from any defense. The supercilious toad!

I have witnessed any number of drivers of all ages, gender, persuasion and/or ethnic background power through pedestrian crossings without so much as a raised middle finger. When I’m a pedestrian I treat drivers as the enemy. It’s a good principle and I’m sure it’s saved my life on several occasions. Penberthy may not be aware of this, but pedestrians being run over account for 40% of all road fatalities in this State. Sorry, in case I missed anyone, pedestrians account for 40% of all road deaths in NSW. Furthermore, the vast majority of those deaths involve much younger drivers than his target group, while the vast majority of said pedestrians are in fact, old people.

Penberthy then rabbited on about the disparity amongst Australian States as to how licensing regulations and testing is enforced for elderly drivers. With all the conviction of a classic paranoiac he pondered the “strange inconsistencies” of campaigns mounted against younger drivers, over-represented in road accidents, when no such campaigns are mounted against elderly drivers, similarly, according to him, over-represented.

Dragging us deeper into his theory of conspiracy Penberthy claimed the reason for this inconsistency is the overly powerful seniors’ lobby. Powerful? That “power” explains why senior citizens are able to garner such extraordinary benefits from government in the form of comfortable pensions and adequate concessions for medical treatment. Or why nursing homes are so cozy, secure and well funded. It must be why no senior citizen in this country has to live in a state of near poverty because they are able to enjoy all the benefits affordable to younger and more capable individuals like Penberthy who currently pay taxes from which elderly citizens are exempt, by virtue of them not earning any income, notwithstanding they have spent a lifetime contributing to the welfare of his generation. His gall almost left me speechless, a rare condition for me!

Then, in what can only be described as trading on the tragedy of others to bolster his flailing argument, he went on to highlight several relatively recent high profile road accident cases that involved elderly drivers, including the terrible and sad saga of little Sophie Delezio. Not once in his article did he have the decency to note that there are numerous other equally tragic cases involving drivers who were not elderly; not only numerous but far out weighing the number of cases involving his target group.

His acerbic attack on this defenseless section of society is sadly not unusual. In my experience the level of discrimination directed against and ingratitude toward old people in this great country of ours is embarrassing to even the most cynical of observers.

But let me disregard Penberthy for a moment for he is merely indulging in bullyboy tactics against a mark who, as with all bully’s marks, is incapable of fighting back. Let me say that I have witnessed, to my revulsion, many such attacks on the elderly that, for their levels of inequity, do us enormous discredit as “caring” in every sense of the word.

Let me quote a case in point, a few years ago a resident in one of the facilities with which I was involved had his driver’s licence revoked. His crime as far as I was able to determine was to exit from the underground car park of the facility a little too fast for the liking of a bumptious facility employee whose own driving skills could well be questioned. That the gentleman was elderly is undisputed. He flew Spitfires during the Battle of Britain. That he exited a trifle too quickly he freely admitted and apologised for same. This extraordinary man who undertook the most hazardous of roles in WW2 and offered his life for his country was reduced, for the sake of a minor infraction, to having to undertake extensive testing with failure conditions far in excess of any that a younger person might expect to retain his licence. In my opinion anyone who has put his life on the line in any war in the defense of this country should be given a drivers licence if he or she so desires one with the advice, “When you’re finished with it, bring it back!” To do less for those heroes demeans us all.

The claim that older drivers are over-represented in road accident statistics is intellectually dishonest as is the statement that drivers over the age of 70 are over-represented in car driver fatalities. It is a meaningless statistic. Here is another equally meaningless statistic; more men died in NSW last year playing lawn bowls than did sky diving or bungee jumping. Doh! The fact is that individuals over the age of 70 are over-represented in a range of statistics. They are more likely to suffer from heart disease and cancer and arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease. And yes, they are more likely to die in a car accident than the likes of Penberthy and me simply because they are more frail than we are.

But are they more likely to cause car accidents? No they are not. Are they the most dangerous group on the road? Not by a long shot. To say otherwise insults them and furthermore it insults us all. Perhaps, instead of taking the easy road and attacking a largely defenseless section of society who as a group have achieved far more than any group since, we might look at the plight of that same group that remains profoundly disadvantaged as a direct result of the indifference of the rest of us.

JR Long