3 hours ago, No Hiding Here....BC 21 said:

I guess I'll take a swing at what you want.  Gave up mind reading over the weekend, syk.

A lot of people I grew up with had grandparents that owned farms.  Mine grew tobacco & did square haybales, not the big round ones you see today.  So around 7/8, you weren't strong enough to through tobacco or hay on the wagons, you drove the truck or the tractor.  At 10/11 you were allowed to drive it the mile or so down the road to the barn.  At 13/14 you were driving tractors 15 miles down the road to the other farm to mow/rake/bale hay or disk/plow & set tobacco.

I'm sure some still do that today in some form or fashion.  Not many still do tobacco like they did when I was growing up.

Got it.  Did spellcheck change your “not” to a “now” confusing this grandparent?

23 minutes ago, Oldercoach said:

Got it.  Did spellcheck change your “not” to a “now” confusing this grandparent?

Or I just typo'd.

On 7/27/2025 at 5:13 PM, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

I think the biggest problem about poor drivers on the roads is the overabundance of Boomers who aren't giving up their keys as they age. I was just ranting about that to my wife last night.

So in the last 5 days:
1.) I almost had my car taken out as I was backing out of my driveway by a 75 year old neighbor who wasn't paying any attention as he drove down out 20mph street at about 35mph.
2.) I followed an older woman who I'd have guessed to be about mid-70s down a winding 55mph road as she drive 14 miles an hour (and almost got rear ended by an SUV coming up behind me in the process.)
3.) Saw a 65-ish year old guy ping-pong between two cars as he drove about 35mph through the parking lot at the Ft. Mitchell Kroger at 5:30pm on a Friday.
4.) Watched a 75-ish year old woman take out 3 cars in the parking lot of a gas station and then just leave without stopping.

With the new requirements that make you get your eyes checked to renew your driver license, I would expect that to help with some (not all) of those senior drivers.

On 7/28/2025 at 10:38 AM, AC Slater said:

In my opinion, that is one area I am completely OK with the state being "behind the times". 

I believe they said it's to help alleviate the strain on families. Making it easier for high school students to drive themselves to and from work, sports, after school programs etc.

I know if my son was able to drive right away, it would’ve helped and we live in urban northern Campbell co. I know plenty of people who grew up “out in the county” that were on the school bus for an hour or so to get to and from school. I’d say getting those kids to extra curriculars would be tough to do for parents who didn’t get off work until after 4pm. 

On 7/27/2025 at 5:13 PM, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

I think the biggest problem about poor drivers on the roads is the overabundance of Boomers who aren't giving up their keys as they age. I was just ranting about that to my wife last night.

So in the last 5 days:
1.) I almost had my car taken out as I was backing out of my driveway by a 75 year old neighbor who wasn't paying any attention as he drove down out 20mph street at about 35mph.
2.) I followed an older woman who I'd have guessed to be about mid-70s down a winding 55mph road as she drive 14 miles an hour (and almost got rear ended by an SUV coming up behind me in the process.)
3.) Saw a 65-ish year old guy ping-pong between two cars as he drove about 35mph through the parking lot at the Ft. Mitchell Kroger at 5:30pm on a Friday.
4.) Watched a 75-ish year old woman take out 3 cars in the parking lot of a gas station and then just leave without stopping.

Couldn't agree more. Annual testing should be required once you reach a certain age. 70 at the absolute latest. 

On 7/27/2025 at 4:13 PM, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

I think the biggest problem about poor drivers on the roads is the overabundance of Boomers who aren't giving up their keys as they age. I was just ranting about that to my wife last night.

So in the last 5 days:
1.) I almost had my car taken out as I was backing out of my driveway by a 75 year old neighbor who wasn't paying any attention as he drove down out 20mph street at about 35mph.
2.) I followed an older woman who I'd have guessed to be about mid-70s down a winding 55mph road as she drive 14 miles an hour (and almost got rear ended by an SUV coming up behind me in the process.)
3.) Saw a 65-ish year old guy ping-pong between two cars as he drove about 35mph through the parking lot at the Ft. Mitchell Kroger at 5:30pm on a Friday.
4.) Watched a 75-ish year old woman take out 3 cars in the parking lot of a gas station and then just leave without stopping.

I drive 80 miles a day 4-5 days a week, I see at least one close call every day and experience one myself at least once every month or so. It’s almost always someone in the boomer range and it’s almost always because they are driving too slow or switching lanes without even looking.

30 minutes ago, BigBlue92 said:

I drive 80 miles a day 4-5 days a week, I see at least one close call every day and experience one myself at least once every month or so. It’s almost always someone in the boomer range and it’s almost always because they are driving too slow or switching lanes without even looking.

Can’t argue, just most incidents I see are invariably drivers texting and people switching lanes doing 10+ over speed limit.

Confession time.  When I was 17-20 I drove way too fast, not reckless lane changing fast just pedal down too fast.  Then I got a job in college working at a funeral home that had the emergency ambulance service in the county.  After literally scraping folks off the pavement and rushing them to an E R sometimes as much as 45 minutes away depending on the severity I had a major shift in my attitude.  Now I am part of that old crowd and I would have no issue being retested.  I drive totally defensive now and shutter at the lane changing speed demons.  My observation is they are not primarily young or old but rather mid range 30-50 that are caught up in a race to be self destructive.  Safe travels.

7 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

Confession time.  When I was 17-20 I drove way too fast, not reckless lane changing fast just pedal down too fast.  Then I got a job in college working at a funeral home that had the emergency ambulance service in the county.  After literally scraping folks off the pavement and rushing them to an E R sometimes as much as 45 minutes away depending on the severity I had a major shift in my attitude.  Now I am part of that old crowd and I would have no issue being retested.  I drive totally defensive now and shutter at the lane changing speed demons.  My observation is they are not primarily young or old but rather mid range 30-50 that are caught up in a race to be self destructive.  Safe travels.

Exactly a learning moment this thread was intended to explore.  Bluebird take yourself back to your youth and put a cellphone in the mix.  Dangerous combo for sure.  I know I would have been.

4 hours ago, Oldercoach said:

Exactly a learning moment this thread was intended to explore.  Bluebird take yourself back to your youth and put a cellphone in the mix.  Dangerous combo for sure.  I know I would have been.

I'm sure quite a few would fit in that category.  In my youth we had a "party line" phone, so having a cell phone during my youthful driving days would not have been possible.