Topic: Driver + Old = Bad

[Pugnate]

linky

US car-deaths man given probation 
 
Weller was excused court attendance because of ill health
An 89-year-old American man whose car crashed into a farmers' market and killed 10 people has been sentenced to five years' probation for manslaughter.
The judge in Los Angeles said George Weller deserved time in jail but was too frail to survive behind bars.

The judge called him "stubborn, bull-headed and callous".

Weller said he mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake when he drove into food stalls in Santa Monica in July 2003.

Weller was not in court to hear Judge Michael Johnson condemn his "stubborn and bull-headed refusal to accept responsibility".

  I tried to take the control knob and jam it into park...everything, anything that I thought would stop the action of the car



George Weller

The judge said Weller had made "unbelievably callous statements" such as "just think how I felt" at the time of the crash.

"I'm convinced that Mr Weller deserves to go to prison," the judge said, but added that it "would not do anybody any good".

The judge ordered fees, fines and damages to the families of two victims totalling $101,700 (£53,600). Other damages have yet to be determined.

In addition to the dead, the accident left 63 people injured.

Tangled body

Weller was found guilty of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence on the ninth day of jury deliberations.

He was excused attendance from the three-week trial for health reasons.

Witnesses said Weller was "seemingly nonplussed" moments after the accident.

Prosecutor Ann Ambrose said earlier in the trial: "He looked at what he had done, essentially shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Oops.'"

Weller's car travelled about 300m (1,000ft) and reached 60mph when it crashed, with one victim's body tangled underneath and another draped across the car. The victims ranged in age from seven months to 78 years.

In a taped interview with police, Weller said he tried everything he could think of to stop the car.

He said at the time: "I tried to take the control knob and jam it into park... everything, anything that I thought would stop the action of the car."

 

[scottws]

I don't understand this country.  People talk about taking away the licenses of senior citizens and suddenly it's age discrimination.  Yet frequently it is senior citizens that turn left from an oncoming lane directly in front of me.  The other day, it was a senior citizen that turned left in front of me and then stopped, blocking two lanes of traffic.  My grandfather is a senior citizen who has many paint smears all over his car from his house and from other cars. 

It doesn't seem like senior citizens get in that many serious accidents (how can you when you go 20 mph in a 45 mph zone?), but they certainly are not safe drivers.

[Ace_O_Spades]

http://allabout-sp.net/season7/710.php

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I don't get it either.  The DMV is all psycho about everything you do in a car to the point of ridiculousness, yet they won't take people off the road who are obviously completely incapable of driving.  My own grandfather still drives, and we're all just waiting for something awful to happen.  It's stupid.

[scottws]

This reminds me also of something funny from when I used to work for the ice company.  One of my employees came in pissed off because some old man ran him off the road or something.  He said, "Old people should be required to have a sign on their car that says, 'WARNING:  Senior citizen behind the wheel.'"

I replied, "Doug, they already do.  Except it simply says 'Buick.'"

[Xessive]

This reminds me also of something funny from when I used to work for the ice company.  One of my employees came in pissed off because some old man ran him off the road or something.  He said, "Old people should be required to have a sign on their car that says, 'WARNING:  Senior citizen behind the wheel.'"

I replied, "Doug, they already do.  Except it simply says 'Buick.'"

Haha seriously I've never seen anyone under 60 driving a Buick! Or an Oldsmobile (well except back in the 80's).

[idolminds]

Weller's car travelled about 300m (1,000ft) and reached 60mph when it crashed, with one victim's body tangled underneath and another draped across the car. The victims ranged in age from seven months to 78 years.

In a taped interview with police, Weller said he tried everything he could think of to stop the car.

He said at the time: "I tried to take the control knob and jam it into park... everything, anything that I thought would stop the action of the car."

So at no point when traveling 1,000ft and the car is accelerating to 60mph while plowing into a crowd of people did you think to take your foot off the gas and hit the brake?

[Antares]

In my experience Senior Citizens are about as likely to be involved in an accident as someone between the ages of 16 and 25.

I'm not in favor of banning seniors from roads entirely, but I do think it may be a good idea to mandate vision testing and some kind of motor function testing to verify that senior citizens are still physically able to operate a vehicle.