4/5
October
Dorktown
has a really nice, warm, sunny day today. However, we can’t go out, simply cos
we can’t afford it. We’ve made do with watching recorded shows on telly
instead. Jan and Kile are now on the Wii, and if those to kids don’t stop
arguing on there I shall it off them.
I’m sorry
to say that I didn’t get any writing done yesterday. What I did do was get my
desk cleared up. Now I can see the actual wooden desktop as well as being be to
find things when I need them. Across the top of it though, is a length of MDF
that is a book shelf, and yes, it’s full of books. But piled up on top of them
is mounds of papers that still need sorting out. That will happen later this
evening I hope. We shall see … … …
Well,
it’s now Monday and nothing got done in the afternoon. Now I shall try to get
this done properly – I hope!
The big
news locally is the bus crash in Coventry. Jan and I know the area of the crash
well, and it’s possible that the bus was heading for the Poole Meadow bus
station, the pedestrian entrance is just off the left of the store. The road
approaching that corner is a busy road, yes, but it’s flat and not a
particularly fast road, what with taxi ranks and bus stops along it. What has
surprised me is that the bus driver is 77 years old!
I have no
problems with continuing to work is they wish and are capable to do so, but I
do have a problem with a 77 year old bus driver. No matter how experienced a
drive he is, no matter if he meets the legal criteria to allow him to do so,
that is far too old to be in charge of such a large vehicle with so many lives
at stake. What Stagecoach needs to do is to apply a little more common sense in
how and where they employ elderly people.
It is
perhaps time that the rules for driving licences are looked at again. From age
70 you are required to reapply for your licence every three years, even if it’s
just drive your car. For HGV and bus licences there are a lot of other requirements,
like having regular medicals and so on, and taking addition training every so
often. Perhaps it’s time for this to be changed. For car drivers I would like
to see a medical/eye/mental ability. For all bus and HGV driving, then there
has to be an upper limit, and 70 seems fair to me.
Whatever,
something needs to be done. My first thought when I heard it was how long he
had been driving that day. Nine hours driving can be tough even for younger
people, for a 77 year old? Too long methinks. I know I’m making a lot of generalisations
here, that there are drivers who are continuing to drive long after their 77th
birthday. Indeed, I knew guy we was still driving at 96. It was clear that
mentally he was as astute as he ever had been, but physically he was very weak.
I last saw him one Sunday evening when he drove to church. He died later that
same week and that was when we learned he had cancer, it was the cancer that
killed him too.
I’ve seen
other elderly drivers who have lost height through one reason or another and
could hardly see over the steering wheel. Another I’ve seen was so unsure that
he was sat there shaking as he waited for a gap in the traffic … and on it
goes. I’m sure we can all call to mind such instances, but do they make you
wonder what is going on with them?
As for
me, well, I’m 67 this month and my plan right now is to keep driving for
another three years and then I shall hand my licence back. Of course, it could
happen earlier if I fail my annual sight test, or my sight worsens
considerably. Right now I’ve been driving for 50 years and I have always loved
driving, but just lately thing out there on the road have changed so much, I’ve
started to become a tad worried about some of the things I see. So right now, I
have another three years, and that will be enough for me.
Today’s
photo then …
I’m second form the left, taken a couple of weeks before I passed
my driving test in 1967.
Today’s
funny …
During an exam, a police recruit was asked what he
would do if his job required him to arrest his own mother. His response was,
"Call for backup."
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