The problem om the roads starts at the school tuck shop where the impatient and the aggressive learn to bully their way in what should be an orderly queue. They continue that aggressiveness with driving a car.
I'm 86. I've driven almost of every type of vehicle you could imagine. I drove semi trailers loaded with cattle, overloaded and on roads that were unbelievably dangerous. I regularly still drive through cities towing a trailer, with a car of course. My main worry is the impatient young driver continuously changing lanes in heavy traffic. Next time you see one just look at how it causes cars to brake and cause a percussive chain reaction where each one has to brake harder than the one in front because the distance between cars is less than needed for reaction time. I saw a calculation done that said the traffic theoretically will come to a complete stop 12 cars back.
At my age I have to do a driving test on a regular basis. I'm sure that I will lose my licence if I do not perform. In almost 70 years of driving I have had 2 accidents. The first was a major one where an oncoming car caused a head on collision that wrote off both cars. By the time of impact I had come to a full stop, half off the road, on my side of the road. Driver was drunk. The police sergeant than attended the crash happened to be his bowls partner. The driver was the local publican. His story was that we collided on his side of the road and bounced across. Lucky for me one of my friends came along and drew their attention to tyre marks in the gutter that showed where my car had been pushed back about 20 feet.
The second one was caused by a young woman in a hurry changing into a lane that was braking into the gap in front of me leaving no room. I had read her intentions and braked hard but the car behind mine couldn't stop in time and barrelled me into her and the one behind him hit us all. A lot of damage because of an impatient idiot. It was not the first time for her. She got out of her car with a file holder complete with claim forms which she started filling out on the spot. These happened before I became "old".
Old drivers do make mistakes, no doubt about it. Probably not as much as the young or the rude and impatient. Just remember that when you cut in in front of someone, particularly if it is a heavy vehicle and super particularly if you are approaching stopped or slowing traffic. A truck driver may be faced with a situation that they either have to run over someone from behind or swerve and lose control. I know what I would do. That is why my trucks were always fitted with a big bull bar.
The other one I worry about is the inexperienced person towing something and particularly a van. I was talking to one a little while ago that was delivering a van on a 300km trip. I asked him how it went. The reply was "after the first 50km I didn't notice and forgot I was towing it". Reminded me of a time when a car and van overtook my truck and started to pull over in front of me with only half the van past my door. He was lucky I was not loaded and could brake in time. Probably forgot about the van
