Double-standard: What if Dick Van Dykes' car was a Tesla?

Thank God he is OK. A good citizen helped. A few minutes later it would have a far different outcome

 

If it had been any EV it would have been received very differently.
ICE vehicles are dangerous! Society is just so used to seeing them go up in flames it doesn't phase anyone anymore.

 

Don't be silly... the ONLY reason it made any difference was because of WHO was in the car... not the make of the car.

 

Who are you talking to?
I suspect everybody agrees that your statement is exactly correct.
We are noting that IF the car were electric, it would be news on its own as ICE cars going up in flames is 'ho hum' and wouldn't normally get media attention.

 

Jaguar always wonder about those cars being reliable.

It it was a EV Jaguar all hell would break lose.

 

Who am I talking to???

 

I can say they are not... they are pretty, and when they are running, they are a driving man's/woman's car... but they are not reliable... well... they are as reliable as a Maserati... or a Fiat... I'll give you that.

 

I used to own a Fiat long ago x19, horrible car

 

I think he can afford a new car........ hopefully a less flammable one!

 

Wonder how much longer he will be driving. 88 years old I doubt I'll pass the DMV agility test

 

My Grandpa was driving his 4 speed GMC pickup up to the year he passed away at 91... if you keep a keen mind, you can keep on driving my friend.

 

I like your attitude.

 

When he left the Studio, he thought he smelled something, he just couldn't put his finger on it...


It reminded him of another vehicle fire from his youth...


it was then it hit him......smoking after sex...



Then he snapped out of it, Crap my Jaguars on fire, they aren't supposed to do that...





I hope my insurance covers this!

 

I know that picture of the burning man from Pink Floyd album. One of my favorite bands growing up. The song is Wishing you we're here . Just downloaded in iTunes. I'll listen in the way home from work.

They were ahead of there time

 

Having dealt with aging relatives and neighbors, I must remind folks that driving requires more than a keen mind. It also requires some limb function, eyesight, and hand-eye coordination.

 

Yes. It's like the difference in coverage between the Prius problems and the VW DSG problems. "Car goes on fire" isn't news. "Slightly different car that's not the same as a traditional car goes on fire" is news.

Yes. My Prius has never burst into flames. But I had a Saab that embarrassingly burnt itself to a crisp in Hong Kong.

Yes. The news to me wasn't that his car went on fire. It was that he's still alive. I had no idea.

 

You both make valid points. Just being over 80 isn't reason enough to not be allowed to drive: I know plenty people in that age group who are great drivers. But you should be subject to regular checks.

I grew up in a town in North-West England where the average age was 67; 70% of the population was retired. It was like Florida, but cold. It was a seaside town, and people from all over Northern England saw retiring there as the pinnacle of their ambition. It wasn't a cheerful place: people moved there and lost touch with their friends from their home town. Then one of the couple - usually the husband - dies, and the wife lives alone and friendless for another ten years. But that's all for another thread.

The thing is, I learned to drive in that environment. It taught me that you could never assume anyone was going to do what you expected. You'd often see people driving at 10 in a 30 zone, on the wrong side of the road. We had a neighbour who was still driving at 85, but who, when the soccer results were on TV, would sit six inches from the screen so he could read them: he didn't think his cataracts were reason enough to stop driving. There was a well-known woman with a brown Mini who locals called "the lady who indicates the wrong way": she would signal right when she planned to turn left, and vice-versa. She wasn't a problem in winter, when only locals were in town, because we all knew who she was (it was a town of 40,000). But in summer, when tourists were in town, they'd turn the wrong way to avoid her, and crash into each other. She was rarely involved in crashes herself, but she caused loads of crashes between other cars. My first crash, when I was 17, was into a car that pulled out of a gas station onto the road I was driving on. The driver was 85, and said he didn't see me. He accepted responsibility, but said he would pay me in cash for the damage because he didn't want to go through his insurance company, as it was his third at-fault crash that year. It was April.

So I think there should be a cut-off point - maybe 700 or 75 - after which you should have to do a driving test again every year or two years in order to keep your licence.

 

I still can't edit my posts. I think it's a software glitch on my computer.

So here's a correction.

I think 70 would be a better cut-off point than 700. While I think no-one would argue that the average 700-year-old should be allowed to drive without re-testing, I think the impact that a threshold of 700 would have on society as a whole would be minimal.

 

You are treading on "thin ice" hkmb. 70 is the new 50 . If we implement your suggestion half the folks on PC are within a few years of a driving retest. I liked the 700 better.