Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by guerrilla 137 days ago
> Politically very difficult to take people's licences away though, especially when it's permanent, not their fault and it makes their life a lot worse.

It shouldn't be permanent. If they can improve, then why not? Maybe illness causes their poor driving and they find a treatment for that illness.
1 comments
calpaterson 137 days ago
> If they can improve, then why not?

I'm talking about removing licences due to cognitive decline. It's not a temporary condition

link
cjbgkagh 137 days ago
Theoretically it can be, though usually not, so the question is what should be the law to cover the general case. It wouldn’t be such a problem if it were easy for them to get around without driving. Either self driving cars, subsidized Ubers, public transit, walkable cities, home delivery, etc.

My opinion is that in the general case people over 70 shouldn’t be driving and I say this as someone who has 4 spritly grandparents in their 90s. I really don’t like how dangerous roads are, a fact that we accept because we did not really have good alternatives, now that we do we should implement them.

link
Wistar 137 days ago
Paul Newman won his last race at Lime Rock in Sept. 2007 driving a 900-horsepower Corvette when he was 82.
link
cjbgkagh 137 days ago
Is your point that we should be governed by the exceptions? I think that would be a bad idea. Does he even need a license for a racetrack? I’m sure he could easily afford Uber rides, and just maybe he would like to lower his odds of getting T-boned at an intersection by a geriatric.
link
guerrilla 137 days ago
We should be governed by capabilities, not arbitrary numbers.
link
cjbgkagh 137 days ago
The numbers are not arbitrary if they’re based on data, and generalizations are done for the sake of expediency and practicality. If such things are wholly unimportant then sure, capability test all the things.
link
guerrilla 137 days ago
> It's not a temporary condition

You have no way of knowing that. There's no reason it should be written into law. If they can pass the test, then they can drive. Testing already takes care of what you want. If it truly isn't a temporary condition, then you have nothing to worry about.

link
gus_massa 137 days ago
It can be for "3 months" (with a low expectation that after 3 months they improve enough to get the licence again).
link
the_real_cher 137 days ago
It's a vague definition though.

All cognitive decline is not equal.

If they're able to drive they should be allowed to

link