You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Went out for a quick ride in the park with my kids. On the way back, youngest (8) at the front, eldest (10) in the middle, me at the back riding about 1.5m from the kerb with the kids slightly nearer. An old boy overtakes me and pulls in on the kids, comes within inches of hitting the one at the front, sounds his horn and swerves out of the way. A pedestrian who sees this tells me that the guy is ancient and not entirely with it. He also tells me where he lives.
This happens more or less outside my house, so I drop off the kids, youngest in tears, and follow him home to have it out with him. When I get there he is still in the car in the middle of his street and has no clue what is going on. Another neighbour comes rushing out and shouts "he's old, don't hit him" (like I would!). I tell him that he just nearly hit my kids, pull the keys out of the ignition, toss them towards the neighbour and ride off. For the record I didn't swear at him or threaten him in any way.
Feel bad about probably scaring the old boy to death. Feel bad about not reporting him to the Police as he clearly has a reputation for being a dodgy driver.
What to do?
Report.
May need his licence taken off of him.
Report - leave it to the police, hope he does the right thing and hangs up his keys. Anything else and your likely to become the bad guy.
So he didn’t actually hit them?
Report
Get him off the road before he does hit Someone's kids
Police, it is their job
Report him. Possibly time to hang up his keys. My FIL was a nightmare - managed to eventually stop him, but he was trying to go out driving hooked upto his oxygen tank.
FIL just used to hit walls and objects - fortunately no persons.
Report to police. Even if they don't do anything this time, it's on record should another incident occur.
^^^ As Whitestone says ^^^
My grandfather drove to the PO for his pension one a week until his late 80s. No one in the family wanted to tell him to stop. Eventually he turned up a one way the wrong way and scraped an oncoming car. The police said there would be no further action if he stopped driving, which got him off the road.
I've also had a dangerously close pass, caught up with the elderly and oblivious driver and when I remonstrated with him, the passenger tried to defend him by telling me how old he was!
Report it before someone gets hurt.
Report. Next time it could be actual contact.
There's absolutely zero room for sentimentality in situations like this, if an old person is a danger on the road, they need to stop driving.
I witness really terrible driving by the near dead pretty much every week. This is because I live on an Island full of coffin dodgers. blind old ladies peering over the dashboard , angry grandads who seem to have no understanding of road safety and drive into car parks at speed before hauling themsleves out via the steering wheel and A pillar, then gather up a walking stick and propel themselves toward the Co=Op for the Torygraph and some crumpets.
Report the Old codger before he kills someone. I know its potentially cutting off his only mode of transport , access to shops and services etc but it has to be done
How old people are able to self cert that they are fit and capable to drive is beyond me.
As all above. I reported my neighbour via Crimestoppers because she couldn't competently drive the 100m to the village shop. In this case, 101 sounds a better route if you have the witness's details.
Not answering on 101.
Will try again later.
I agree, I would report him for his own safety as well as other people. I had a dilemma with my dad when he was no longer safe to drive but refused to stop. I was on the verge of telling the DVLA when his GP advised him to stop.
Our local police have an email address (and they do reply!) if you’re having no luck with phoning them.
Reported him via CrimeStoppers. Details will be passed on to GMP.
I feel like a bit of a shit. But two separate pedestrians said he was old and had a reputation for bad driving.
We had a 90 year old neighbour nearly write off our Touran, parked outside the village primary school. He couldn't judge speed, couldn't turn wheel easily due to immobility, struggled to react quickly.
Apart from giving him and his (defensive) wife a face to face 'it could be a kid next', we 101'd him too.
Three weeks later he actually wrote off his car, a visit from village police officer leant on him enough to stop him buying a new car.
A few weeks back my mate was driving his 8 wheel tipper truck when a Discovery pulled out of the side road straight into the side of the lorry,hitting third axle & wrecking the Disco.
The bloke staggered out of his car using his walking sticks to support him & a ambulance was called,my mate thought he was a pensioner but when the Police questioned him it turned out he was in his early 50's & riddled with arthritis We don't know why he shot out of the side road but think either he pressed the throttle instead of the brake or his medication was affecting his driving.
At the same junction the other year someone we know got knocked of his bicycle & dragged along under a van.When the van stopped after a few metres,Mike the cyclist got to his feet & called the police.Policeman turned up but was going to let the pensioner driver go on his way,Mike makes a note of policeman's number,Policeman asks why & he replied well if your letting him off & he causes another accident I want it on record that you've let him carry on driving.Pensioner got charged...
Needs to be done.
Yeah you need to report this even if it was a "near miss" rather than a "hit"... next time might not be so lucky.
By the sounds if it the old guy probably won't remember anything about it by tomorrow.
Report. He’ll likely kill someone soon, so needs to be off the roads.
A moderately elderly woman with her granddaughter in the car ran into the back of me one winter evening as I was stationery and signaling to turn right. She was initially very apologetic, but luckily the witness insisted I took his details because she turned bolshy later on in the process, trying to blame me. When on the phone she tried to give me her insurance details, but she couldn’t see the paper well enough to read it. It now started to make sense how she could just drive into the back of a stationery car with its lights and indicator on. I reported it to the police. I don’t know what happened as a result, but if she couldn’t see a lit up car, what chance against a pedestrian on a crossing?
Report to police. Even if they don’t do anything this time, it’s on record should another incident occur.
This.
You did well to hold hold your temper, good chap. It’s fine to be mighty angry in situations like this, but clearly you are level headed and deserve “well done”
Clearly the old boy requires some help and assistance, and only by what’s written can we conclude that he’s on the edge of being a danger to himself and other road users.
So whilst he may only have this form of transport at his beck and call, the situation needs reporting to the police for them to decide on any action to take.
Hug your kids, enjoy the stunning weather we have.
Level headed? He would disagree after I had buzzed his keys down the road!
Report it. The police will do **** all about it but you have to try
Report and don't think twice
You’re the level headed chap, he probably didn’t notice the keys scooting down the road.
Still say you did the right thing in holding in the frustration, certainly in the heat of the moment.
Mike makes a note of policeman’s number,Policeman asks why & he replied well if your letting him off & he causes another accident I want it on record that you’ve let him carry on driving.Pensioner got charged…
Excellent work 👍
100% report. Those neighbours who know he has a reputation for being dangerous are morally weak if they have done nothing about him or his driving; if he goes on to injure/kill someone, IMHO they are complicit.
It's your turn to step up now - report him and prevent someone else's father/mother/brother/sister/son/daughter from getting killed or injured. And you definitely should not feel guilty for doing the right thing and exercising a bit of moral courage.
Having slept on it there is 0% guilt. I only wish that I had given the keys to the neighbour rather than just chucking them. That would have been more "controlled".
Dont worry about the keys and glad you don't feel guilty.
I think i would also be tempted to write this in a letter to the DVLA as well. Just in case the police fail to pass on the information.
I'd have kept the keys and given them to the cops. Couple of years back we had quite a battle getting the FiL to give up his car. He was eventually diagnosed with dementia but he was in no fit state to be driving long before that. I recall relatives saying 'but it's his last bit of independence'. They changed their mind when I pointed out that it's people like me on bikes who would be in the firing line.
Thought about that. But at the time I was worried that opening his door and taking the keys in the first place was crossing a legal line. Which is why I chucked them down the road and not into a hedge.
Replayed the incident several times in my head. I should have given the keys to the neighbour.
If he was younger and less confused I fear that I would have planted him. There and then as he sat in his car. Then snapped off the key whilst it was in the ignition. That would have got me into all sorts of bother.
I honestly can't think of a time that I have been more angry with somebody. The inside of my mouth is quite badly bitten. I assume that I did that when he nearly hit the kids. Was literally spitting blood when I got home. Still shaking a bit now.
I had someone take off my drivers door as the drove into the parking bay next to me as I had my door wide open. He didn't even acknowledge he hit it, completely oblivious. Couldnt argue with the old codger as he was stone deaf and couldn't understand anything i was saying. I phoned the police and they were on the scene before he returned to his car from the shop. They never let him drive out, got a hold of someone to come get him instead. Hopefully that was his last trip behind the wheel and he never got to hurt someone.
DVLA confidential reporting line and also the police.
Didn't know about the DVLA. Some useful guidance here
<div class="su-service-title">To report a dangerous driver anonymously please call:</div>
<div class="su-service-content su-clearfix">0844 453 0118</div>