I read the DT article:-
I got as far as the following line and worked out what most of this is /was about!
>>Tests, costing up to £80, will be offered to drivers to check whether they are fit to drive.
I think I have spotted the clue - 22 million drivers - once every 10 yrs = 2.2 m x £80 = £1.7bn on top the cost of renewing the driving licence ...........................££££££s
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There are none as blind as those that will not see Mr Falkirk.....
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There are none as blind as those that will not see Mr Falkirk.....
Quite, MrX, therefore I will highlight the following section for you:
"Anyone who chooses not to take the tests"
Its voluntary.... so if you want you don't have to pay anything by not taking the test... so the money-making argument is a red herring, and so is the title of the article.
As you said....
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>>Tests costing up to £80 will be offered to drivers to check whether they are fit to drive.
£80 every ten years ~ peanuts.
I think I have spotted the clue - 22 million drivers - once every 10 yrs = 2.2 m x £80 = £1.7bn on top the cost of renewing the driving licence ...........................££££££s
It's not all (if any) profit. You forgot about the cost of carrying out the tests.
Edited by L'escargot on 30/12/2008 at 09:46
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Edited by L'escargot on 30/12/2008 at 09:47
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What has anyone got against having a health check especially an eye test? I certainly don't have a problem with it.
To drive in this modern world with the level of traffic we have and the high speeds a driver needs to be mentally and physically capable. Maybe then the two seperate drivers who said they didn't see me after knocking me off my motorcyle wouldn't have been on the road. Just to add, the second time I was punted off while stationary at a junction waiting to turn left!
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I quite often don't see motorcycles...not because there is anything wrong with my eye sight but because they appear from nowhere at the speed of light. Look left. look right, look left again and from nowhere comes a m/c at way above the speed limit for that stretch of road. Good job I am tuned in to expecting them to be moving at such speeds, hence I save their lives by acting for them.
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How very noble of you. The usual generalisation that all motorbikes must be going over the limit applies I see.
As I stated, I was stationary at a junction. I also subscribe to the notion that motorcyclists make better car drivers as they are usually far more observant and tuned into the road conditions.
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The boyfriend of the girl who works for us has just completed a ban and paid a nice big fine after potting a m/c one afternoon. Thing is, he's a motorcyclist and rarely drives a car. He was in his firms pick up. First words out of his mouth when notice of prosecution came his way ' 'thats ' expletive' - he was bombing it '. Never has a teapot been so blackened by a kettle "
Still. in the interest of harmony, I won't tar you all with the same brush.
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This should be interesting, I don't live in england anymore, but still have my paper licence with my old UK address on it. As I will be keeping this licence for the next 30 years, how will they get hold of me to ask me to update it to a card type, how will they call me in for a health check, and indeed how will they contact me to tell me that their database will now accept foreign addresses?
And if I want to check my health myself, I wonder if they are setting up health check centres around the whole of europe for those in the same position as myself.
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I noticed the sentence "All motorists are expected to have the new licences within a few years." I was under the impression that it was possible to continue using the paper licence until age 70.
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A motor cyclist who lived near us was killed in an accident by a car(Volvo) exiting a side road in front of him.Police said responsibility was 50/50.No action taken-his family said he always observed speed limits etc. but he no longer blasts(and I mean blasts) past my house daily-we were in a 30-now 20 limit.
I expect the proposed legislation will initially be voluntary and a charge to cover "admin"-and the the government(of any colour) will think-nice little earner!!!.
All new drivers for many years now will have photo licences,anyone who has reached 70 must get one and you must get one if you have changed address,your entitlement and have got or wish endorsements removed.Yes,that may leave a few.
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My bus licence requires me to have a medical at 45 (am currently 37) then every 5 years till I turn 65. Then every year from 65....
I think there's a generational issue here. My parents are now in their 60s - baby boomers - and are the first generation which have held driving licences since their 20s.
Requiring a driver to take responsibility for their ability to drive - and offering a certification process for borderline individuals - makes a lot of sense.
Young people miss things because they're impetutous (the worse sort are those who pass their test first time and then are full of false confidence - I mean they're pink fluffy dice great drivers because they aced the test....)
Old people tend to miss things because their powers of observation and reaction times slow. My Father-in-Law is in his mid 70s. He won't go on motorways any more, but is ok around town....
Edited by LondonBus on 30/12/2008 at 13:15
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