Super-Twat

[Polar Bear]

Sainsburys clearly has no sense of proportion, nor humour.

[rogerzilla]

The Cowley Road in Oxford still has a hairdresser called Toni's The Guy.

[Kim]

I know people vary a lot, but I imagine ability to judge speed and distance are somewhat impaired when you're 83.

There has been much SCIENCE on the subject.  The bottom line is that under-10s are cognitively incapable of judging an objects' speed by looming^[1], young adults are surprisingly good at it^[2], and the ability declines with old age.  That's before you factor in the usual age-related deterioration of vision and reaction times.

I suspect older people tend to make up for this with experience-based strategies.  eg. They know how far it is to that bend in the road, and assume the car is travelling at the speed limit.  Which works well until it doesn't.

TBH I don't think I'm very good at estimating vehicle speeds at all.  When crossing faster roads I'll sometimes resort to counting the seconds it takes for a car to get from me to a given point in order to work out what constitutes a sufficient gap, because I have so little faith in my intuition.


_{[1] The apparent size of an object increasing as it becomes closer, which is the primary mechanism for estimating speed on a straight road.
[2] Although we tend to underestimate the speed of larger objects, eg. planes.}

[red marley]

Sainsburys clearly has no sense of proportion, nor humour.

The Cowley Road in Oxford still has a hairdresser called Toni's The Guy.

Good to see that Leicester's McIndians is still going. You've tried the cowboys, now try the Indians!

[mrcharly-YHT]

Michael Heseltine. 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-38534069

I read a fuller report in the Grauniad which does not exonerate him at all but does suggest that he may not be a complete idiot.

Link: Grauniad

He screwed up, but

He stopped at the scene, going to the injured man’s aid and then called the emergency services

Then in court pled guilty and

he said he was “unreservedly” sorry to the cyclist 

I'm not sure he qualifies for the S-T thread.
Blind bend due to a hedge, couldn't see the oncoming bike.

[fuzzy]

To a certain degree, I agree with MrC.

Sometimes a collision IS and accident. Being a Tory does not make Heseltine guilty of doing it on purpose.

Being aged and less capable than he was when he was granted a licence is what goes against him here.

At least he did right by the victim. Super Twats tend not to.

[clarion]

Jeremy Hunt.

[LEE]

Compulsory testing every five years will help cull the deadwood.   Once you reach 70 perhaps annual testing?

It's just plain wrong that innocents suffer serious injury or even death.   A driving licence is the UK's equivalent to a yankee's right to bear arms.

Even a basic eye-test would most likely fail many older motorists (and younger ones to be honest).  I've known people, family members as well, who just didn't realise they had poor eyesight until they tried on glasses.  Poor eyesight + night driving = Recipe for disaster.

My parents are both in their 70s and I feel that it's probably not the place to start with a retest.  Purely because of logistics I'd start with 100+, then start working downwards, 95+, 90+, 85+, 80+... and so on.

But, to start with, an eye test would help a lot I think, rather than rely on the over-70s' judgement.

[Polar Bear]

I like the eye test idea. 

100 year olds tend not to be behind the wheel and causing accidents though. 

Testing needs to be more frequent for newly qualified drivers and elderly drivers.   Also, every idiot that drink drives or gets banned for other reasons should have to retest.   None of this 'I need my licence because...' malarky.   

[hellymedic]

I think a 93 year old lady did kill someone last year and the Bournemouth Daily Echo seems to report crashes involving ancient motorists most days.

[Wombat]

But then don't forget that the average age in Bournemouth is at least 127, Helly!  So you're going to get a high proportion of oldies involved in road accidents.

[hellymedic]

But then don't forget that the average age in Bournemouth is at least 127, Helly!  So you're going to get a high proportion of oldies involved in road accidents.

Oh I know, but conditions are unfavourable for non-drivers so far too many older people drive when they should not.

I have seen every side of this situation, having worked there in A&E, having GP colleagues needing to stop patients' driving and having partner with Aged, sight-impaired Parent in the area.

[Torslanda]

The woman tory piece of excrement interviewed this lunchtime of Radio 2. Discussing the latest version of the NHS crisis she attempted to skew the argument around to the NHS being under added pressure as a result of immigration.

Lying. Fucking. Twat.

[hatler]

Nothing to do with their not funding it then. Or having a series of private leeches bleeding it of profit.

[orienteer]

Or being staffed by a substantial proportion of immigrants.

[clarion]

Jeremy Hunt.

[I think we're going to have to take this one as read every day until long after his parasitic ideology is eradicated from DH.  I don't want to bore people, but this vile specimen produces new lies and new ways to damage the NHS every day at the moment.  He is a Life Member of the Super-Twats]

[rogerzilla]

The NHS is actually being bled dry by the ageing population.  Go to a hospital or GP waiting room and see who the patients are.  These Daily Heil reading, Brexit-voting pensioners need someone to blame...

[SoreTween]

Rob Flello.

[Ruthie]

The NHS is actually being bled dry by the ageing population.  Go to a hospital or GP waiting room and see who the patients are.  These Daily Heil reading, Brexit-voting pensioners need someone to blame...

Oh, so the year-on-year budget cuts imposed by government and the consequent closed beds, closed ambulance stations and downgraded A and E departments had nothing to do with it?

Thanks for putting us right.

[Si S]

Chris Grayling

[rogerzilla]

The NHS is actually being bled dry by the ageing population.  Go to a hospital or GP waiting room and see who the patients are.  These Daily Heil reading, Brexit-voting pensioners need someone to blame...

Oh, so the year-on-year budget cuts imposed by government and the consequent closed beds, closed ambulance stations and downgraded A and E departments had nothing to do with it?

Thanks for putting us right.

Demand is rising sharply at the same time as funding is either frozen, rising modestly or being cut (depending on whom you believe).  What should be obvious is that taxation has to increase to pay for all the ageing baby boomers.  However, it's hard to find a form of tax that doesn't involve the impoverished younger generation paying for the boomers yet again.  Inheritance tax is a tax on the beneficiaries really, but could be fairer than some options like yet more NI.

[PhilO]

The NHS is actually being bled dry by the ageing population.  Go to a hospital or GP waiting room and see who the patients are.  These Daily Heil reading, Brexit-voting pensioners need someone to blame...

Oh, so the year-on-year budget cuts imposed by government and the consequent closed beds, closed ambulance stations and downgraded A and E departments had nothing to do with it?

Thanks for putting us right.

Demand is rising sharply at the same time as funding is either frozen, rising modestly or being cut (depending on whom you believe).  What should be obvious is that taxation has to increase to pay for all the ageing baby boomers.  However, it's hard to find a form of tax that doesn't involve the impoverished younger generation paying for the boomers yet again. Inheritance tax is a tax on the beneficiaries really, but could be fairer than some options like yet more NI.

Not hard at all. Pop a penny or two on the higher band of income tax.

What's hard is finding a tax that won't instantly lose votes... :-(

[rogerzilla]

Michael Gove, whom I thought was an MP but appears to be moonlighting as a journalist for a Murdoch mouthpiece.  Surely even Trump thinks he's a slimy little shit?

[PeteB99]

The picture of the two of them giving a thumbs up in front of what appears to be a porn mag cover on the wall kind of sums both of them up.

[red marley]

Rob Flello MP gets my vote for another appearance on this thread.