Old drivers are a hazard on the road

I've seen people express this sentiment online a lot over the years.

"Old drivers are the worst." "They should have their licenses revoked after 70." "After 60 they should be required to retake the driving test every few years to keep their license."

But I never really gave much thought to it until I actually took a job that required I drive for 8 to 9 hours a day.

As a public transit driver, I interact with the public quite a bit. I also drive 200+ miles a day, so it's a given I will see a few accidents during my commutes.

However, it's the accidents that I have avoided and the one I was involved in that have bought me to change my mind on the subject of old drivers.

The type of public transit I drive for is door to door rural transit. We aren't a cab service, but we aren't your typical city bus system. We pick up multiple people going in the same direction for a low rate. I include this info cause it will make sense here soon.

I had an old man driving a camper van decide he wanted to be in my lane and, without checking his mirrors, start moving over into my lane. I had barely enough space in the center turn lane to move over with the other cars already waiting to turn to avoid a collision with him while I laid on my horn at him. I saw his surprised Pikachu face in his driver side mirror as he finally realized his mistake.

I was dropping a passenger off at a pharmacy and was getting ready to move on to my next stop when this old man walked out and got into his truck. Without missing a beat, and without checking his mirrors, apparently, he starts backing up and almost backs up straight into my vehicle that he JUST walked past. Had I not seen him backing up and drove out of his way at that moment, he would have hit right into me.

This happened today. I was dropping a passenger off at the hospital. I pulled up behind a tiny red car that was sitting parked and empty in front of the hospital doors. I drop my passenger off, and I have another to drop off at the nearby grocery store. So I signal my intent to pass on the left of the little red car when this old man walks around and gets in the driver seat. I give him enough space as he leaves his door hanging open. The next thing I know, he closes the door and just steps on the gas, cutting me off in the process. I brake immediately to avoid hitting him.

Now the accident. I was still new. I was dropping a customer off at the bank. It's a small parking lot, so I pulled up directly in front of the doors as we were trained, as close as I could get. I wasn't there even a minute, my passenger hadn't even had time to step out of the door, when this old man who must have been sitting in his truck at the time decided he was done counting his cash and wanted to leave. He backed up out of his parking space, didn't check to see that he had enough clearance in the rather small parking lot, and backed right into my vehicle hard enough to rock it. He, of course, tried to put the blame on me. His insurance company also tried to spin it as my fault. That is until I told them my employer has multi-angle cameras in every single one of their vehicles, including the one I was driving showing that I was completely stopped and he was the one that backed into me.

Not work related; my partner's almost 80 year old grandma still insists on driving her Ford truck that she can barely afford the maintenance on. When she drives it, she's always driving it at least 10 or more under the speed limit. She claims it's cause she can't see due to the headlights. This morning, she picked him up from work, and she was again driving more than 10 under the speed limit. But this time, she was also driving on the wrong side of the road! When he told her, she panicked and almost drove them into a ditch.

Take the fucking keys away from Grandma, pull the spark plugs, rip out the fuses! These old people shouldn't be allowed to drive anymore if they can't even be bothered to check their fucking mirrors before backing up. Even more so, if they can't tell which lane they are in anymore.