Monday, January 11, 2010

Should Old People Be Allowed to Drive?

A classic debate is whether or not old people should be allowed to drive. This author is passionately against old people driving. Follow this link: http://www.squidoo.com/oldpeopleshouldnotdrive
He claims that at the age of seventy-four or older the crash rates are too high. But he also points out that the crash rates are just as high as anyone under twenty-four. Therefore if anyone over seventy-four year olds shouldn't be able than shouldn't anyone under twenty-four also not be able to drive? The internet is used more by young adults and if they are reading this, they are not going to want to get their driving privlidges taken away. His claims are then backed by a few random statistics, some stories of crashes the elderly have gotten into and some funny videos at the bottom the site. I'm sure their are plenty of statistics, stories and videos about the dumb accidents younger people have had. Nobody's perfect and I agree that everyone should be tested regularly to make sure they are capable of getting behind the wheel. But his discrimination towards old people overall is a weak claim.

5 comments:

  1. I looked over the site you linked and found it difficult to follow just because the author just seemed to spout off random fragment sentences and tirades. Although this author tries to make his claim acceptable it's interesting how his extreme bias and randomness (statistics, stories, writing) make it difficult to accept his claim.

    You make a good point about drivers younger than 24 as well and your idea about testing everybody regularly is much better than the author's tirade.

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  2. I agree with Aaron.

    The problem with not letting old people drive and thence making people younger than 24 drive is that no one would ever get anywhere or anything done (ok that is an over-statement). The society in which we are living requires people to be able to drive themselves places. We don't have enough public transportation to satisy the needs of people under 24 and over 74 who are trying to get places. This is especially true for those under 24. Most would have jobs and be trying to go to school. There is a reason why our nation has some of the youngest ages of aquiring a driver's license. We need it. We rely on being able to drive.

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  3. Aaron I agree with your opinions about his random tirades. I believe that was one of the main reason's his claim was weak.

    Chelsea I also agree with your thoughts about the ages of drivers. But if they were to restrict some of the ages, then the community would just have to provide more public transportation. Even now we could reduce pollution by having a better public transportation system in each city.

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  4. I agree with need to get more and better public transportation but the problem is, is that it is very hard and a very long process to suddenly add new public transportation (and not just more busses). This is especially so becuase we have to build the transportation into our already built cities unlike other places that build their cities with transportation. My point is that before we suddenly restrict the age of drivers we need to build up a better public transportation system and that can take decades to make the nation ready for such a change.

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  5. That's a valid thought that we need to plan ahead for the future. You can't just come up with things over night and America should look to the future and build up the systems before major changes are made. A lot of work would have to be done, but i think that if it is done properly a lot of good could come from it.

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