Giving up the car.

Fascinating thread,this. I am on the cusp of giving up. I live in Surrey where roads are always busy but the upside is that public transport is excellent. I live near bus stops and railway stations and very near the shops. I think, though, that the decision about my ability to drive is coloured by my experiences when being driven by one or other of my grandchildren. They see so much more than I do and are aware of everything around them. They drive well and confidently. I think I do too - I have always driven and had sports cars and large estate cars - but when I am with them I realise how much has changed. The traffic here is horrific and sometimes split second decisions have to be made. It is then that some older people lack the ability to cope.
I only average 2000 miles a year now so I will stop soon - not today though - i'm going out to lunch 15 miles away!

It's pretty good though isn't it Deedaa? Makes me drive better anyway.

Another thing my IAM instructor says is "Leave your troubles outside when you shut the car door" ie calm down and don't let your mood affect your driving. When I started, I was always getting wound up when I was driving, swearing at other drivers etc etc. She soon put a stop to that and it was probably the one thing that most helped my driving to improve!

And cheers Hunt, I'm sure that the medics will get to the bottom of my recent blackout. Once I've got through six months without another one, I'll be allowed to drive again anyway. Almost three months gone already now and no repeat so things are looking good!

isthis your IAM instructor sounds like my husband! He may have no intention of driving again himself but 40 years on and off as an HGV driver means he sits beside me doing the speed limit thing and asking me what I'm going to do about the junction 1/2 mile ahead and shouldn't I be changing lanes now because of the traffic that will turning off in the next 100yds?

Cheers Hunt. Still am curious if your screen name is because you support men and women in red coats chasing foxes. Still very big round here (Leicestershire).

thanks for that, Isthis, I shall send your post to my daughter who will be most interested. Sorry to hear about the recent medical problem, hope all goes well.

Hunt thx for asking but no I've not taken my Advanced Motoring yet. I have MS and recently (it may or may not be connected) I blacked out early one morning whilst tending my yard garden. I literally came to lying on top of my much-loved dahlias; it destroyed them!

Anyway, to date, the cause has not been found. I'm going for more brain scans next week. I'm also due to see a cardiologist. Meanwhile, the neurologist has formally told me not to drive until the cause is found!

The IAM sessions had been terrific already for my driving. I had learned to look well ahead on the road and to prepare for and deal with all eventualities. My instructor had the highest standards and was an excellent driver herself. For her, any error (or even worse any crash or bump) was always the driver's fault. It was never an "accident" it was always driver error and was therefore avoidable. She was also totally rigid about never exceeding the speed limit, even by 1 mph. She would often ask "What's the speed limit here?", always just after we'd passed a speed limit sign, and I was expected to know immediately with no margin for error. I was also expected to always "make due progress" ie not drive needlessly slowly according to prevailing conditions (of weather, road, traffic etc) But she was also remarkably humorous and encouraging at the same time.

She started being an IAM instructor because she was driving near here once and was overtaken recklessly by a speeding driver. When she got to the next roundabout, that same driver was sprawled out of the window of his crashed car. His passenger was seriously injured. That's when my instructor decided she could and would do something long-term about it. She's now Chair of the local IAM.

Amazingly, all the time she gives to it she gives entirely free, even though she earns her living as a driving instructor. Apart from the initial joining fee (which is to cover the cost of the final test plus admin) there is no charge for lessons and the whole thing is run by volunteers. In fact, they are not allowed to be called lessons, you go on a "run" with your instructor, not a "lesson". Due to some legal nicety.

I went to one or two of their monthly Wednesday night club meetings. Held in a large room at the local County Police Headquarters, which shows how highly the local police values the IAM. But those meets were not for me. It was good to see people being awarded their IAM passes (many woman passing, big range of ages) but the quizzes and talks about traffic engineering etc I found very dull.

I'm a huge fan of the driver training part of the IAM and will return to it when or if I'm told I can. I can't understand why everyone doesn't do a course and pass the IAM test, especially folk over 50 (or under 25!) There is a small financial reduction in the cost of your vehicle insurance once you've passed but the main thing, it seems to me, is that we can all learn to be better drivers.

Since my husband retired due to illness we have got rid of his car and kept mine. I don't normally drive any great distance because of the cost of petrol but it is just so much easier than trying to find ways of juggling public transport. When I was working I found that my 15 minute drive would take 45 minutes and a tour of half of Berkshire! My husband doesn't really drive at all now - as an ex HGV driver he's really had enough of it. I may do some awful things when I'm driving but I'm fairly certain that they are the same things I've done for the last 35 years and I don't actually seem to be deteriorating (yet!)

When I was working last year for an eldercare mental health community team, if a family had concerns about the driving ability of an older member, and he/she could be persuaded, they were able to take a test through the Motability Centre. This test, although not legally binding in any way, was often the proof, if proof were needed, to show the person concerned that perhaps the time had come to give up the car. I don't know of anyone who, having "failed" the test, continued to drive.
We live in a village with two buses to town in the morning, and two p.m. The journey takes 30 minutes each way (10 minutes in a car) and only allows an hour in town before the return. I have done it when needing to pop in the bank or the library, but can't manage both in the time allowed.
Internet shopping can be a boon, but when I have tried it, the fresh fruit and veg weren't very good. Obviously this depends on who is picking out the goods at the supermarket end.

My nearest town is only 8 miles away, but if I wanted to go by bus I would only get there once a week (on market day) and would have approximately 3 hours before getting the only bus back!

The taxis in the area are very expensive, as they charge from where they set off from, not where they pick you up from.

So, sorry and all that, but the car is the only option for me.

Tattynan, hurray! the first person to agree with my maths that taxis and public transport is cheaper than running a car.

Isthis, have you taken your advanced driving test yet? My daughter has just taken hers and ,sadly, failed but got some very encouraging feed-back so will have another go.

I'm in the Oxford area too so I benefit from a good bus service - provided it's central Oxford I want to go too. The service is twice an hour at the sort of times I use it. There are times when it's four an hour but I tend not to want to use it then.

In my case there are some places I can't get to by bus, but when I stop working I won't be able to afford to keep the car. It's as simple as that.

Cars are dirty, dangerous and noisy. As well as expensive. I've lost three close family members in car crashes.

Crashes are never "accidents", they're always caused by bad driving. That's the view of my Institute of Advanced Motorists coach and I agree with her. If the deaths on the roads were war casualties there'd be an uproar. But we shrug and accept them. Why?

Yes some people do need to use a car, particularly those with young (ie under 5 yrs old) children and some disabled but very, very few people need to own a car.

Car hire is possible, so is car pooling. These have been shown incidentally to drastically cut people's car usage. I sold my car when I retired, I've never missed it. My SO hasn't owned a car for almost ten years. Using a car sometimes is a pleasure and sometimes is necessary. But cutting down on car usage would be a huge social advantage and it's just not even beginning to happen. Yet.

My husband and I have both said that when we get to old to feel safe driving we'd get rid of the cars and use public transport or a taxi. My daughter can drive but because of her age finds the insurance to high to afford plus with the running cost of a car puts its beyond her at present, but she does use taxis alot and says it works out cheaper doing that than running a car.

Hallo Marelli! As I posted that message it just occurred to me that I hadn't heard of greenmossgiel for a while, so it's nice to know that you are still around and GNing.

Yes Hunt, you're right about online shopping, which we already do for a lot of thing we can't get locally (books, DVDs & CDs, for example). Both DDs get online supermarket deliveries for convenience, and we would do that if it became necessary. In the meantime we can plan to buy a few tins of beans more often rather than a lot now and again.

Just back from an overnight stay with DS and family, by train as usual. Usually we have smooth journeys by train or bus. This time there was a suicide on the way down and a derailment on the way back and so we were 1 hour late one way and 2.5 the other. Not the end of the world, just a bit of hassle, and I didn't get my book read as I can't read in buses. On the other hand, I did feel sorry for the long queue in Aberdeen station of people who were hoping to get to London at some point. It's a long way!

We have a 4 wheel drive and in our little neck of the woods are not quite the youngest but the only ones who can get out to take the others to their hospital appointments etc or get the shopping in for the the rest of the decrepits around us(not being rude as I will be amongst them soon)when the snow is lying only lightly. M&S couldn't deliver to the door this morning having phoned me to ask if the drive was under 300m. Where do they think I live Blenheim Palace? Ocado won't deliver under £50 and a hint of snow and tesco and Sains bugs get all swoony. By the way M&S did stagger sweatily up the hill with the goods and had to be revived-wouldn't take their shoes off(brand new carpet) 'cos of ealth'n safety but then I found my £400 delivery was FLATPACK.
I digress but you can see why we keep a car.

I do think there should be compulsory re-testing by about 75 with support for faults to be corrected if possible, eye tests related to local slower driving and local knowledge. Possible bans on faster roads?

Again as I have said in other places, we need to be open minded and not insist on do what we have always done...just because!! but I think with the general openmindedness, foresight and sense of humour displayed by gransnetters we are heading in the right direction...it's a one way street! No u-turns...oops

Yes - we went for it, Wheniwsyourage! (Note, I'm not 'green' anymore!) We let the car go over a year ago, and have not missed it at all. We use public transport to get us to the shops, and also if we want to go for a walk that's a bit out of the way. We have a railway station here in the village, and sometimes go on the train to part of the nearby Coastal Path, then walk back to the nearest bus station, getting the bus back home. Shopping is easily done by only buying what I/we can carry, and actually this has stopped me over-buying, because I really have to think about what I can manage to comfortably carry in my canvas bag that I carry on my shoulder! When we had the car, we just bought lots of stuff, some of which we didn't always need, and flung it all into the boot!
I will have to ask my daughter (who now has our car) to help me when Daisy the Cat needs to go for her booster injection at the vet's, but other than that - no problems at all!

The change in your shopping patterns, Wheni, could be on line shopping. It is quite fun.

We're thinking of giving up the car. We live in a small town which has an hourly bus service and a station and for some time have gone practically everywhere by public transport, including holidays in Europe by train. The car we have has become unreliable and we are swithering about whether to give it up completely or to change it for a small one that we can use for when we need to buy large quantities of baked beans, tomato soup and hen food. I think a slight change in shopping patterns might be enough. Of course, we are lucky to have good public transport here, and to be able to walk to the station carrying luggage, and I know that everyone is not so fortunate, but maybe we'll take the plunge.. We could put some flower tubs on the bit of the drive currently hidden by the car.

Did you go for it, greenmossgiel?

Spot on, Jodi - I had to live in Chelsea for eight years and I hated it. I can't stand crowds, traffic, built-up areas, noise. I wasn't worried about what would happen when I get too old to drive, but now my daughter has asked me to join them in NZ I know I will always have a chauffeur who likes the same kind of areas as I do.

I suspect that's the charm of your village and why you chose to live where you do/will do in future.

There is no public transport in my remote Alpine village and anyway I walk for many miles, having driven my car up some very isolated tracks. I just couldn't live here without my car. There won't be any public transport in the NZ national parks, either.

Jodi No!!!!

ella are you my MiL??
greatnan. get off the bus???