'S' Plates for elderley (senior) drivers

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gzt

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#3469130 11-Mar-2026 20:43

tweake: it certainly seams to be common enough, but i have never seen an actual cause published. eg is it a coordination issue or nerve damage issue (can't feel their feet), a dementia issue, other health issue etc.

There would be an enormous number of people who have this type of accident who are not affected by any of those factors. Pointing to age or infirmity is premature.

Rikkitic

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#3469178 11-Mar-2026 20:53

tweake: it certainly seams to be common enough, but i have never seen an actual cause published. eg is it a coordination issue or nerve damage issue (can't feel their feet), a dementia issue, other health issue etc.

Just because you can do it doesn't mean you always have to. It is just a useful additional skill.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

tweake

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#3469181 11-Mar-2026 21:00

Handle9:

When you do advanced driver training you get taught to absolutely jam the left foot into the floor at the same time you hammer the brake. It generates considerably more leverage and significantly reduces the stopping distance.

thats modern driver training ie cars that have abs system. old school is to not hit to hard otherwise you lock the brakes up and skid which increases distance. with abs brakes you apply the maximum you can and even modern again is that the braking assist kicks in and does that for you.

Rikkitic

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#3469182 11-Mar-2026 21:01

Rikkitic:
tweake: it certainly seams to be common enough, but i have never seen an actual cause published. eg is it a coordination issue or nerve damage issue (can't feel their feet), a dementia issue, other health issue etc.
Just because you can do it doesn't mean you always have to. It is just a useful additional skill.

Quoted wrong post. I meant @SpartanVXL

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tweake

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#3469183 11-Mar-2026 21:04

gzt: Imo one possibility in this class of accident is an unanticipated kerb hit or similar bump leading to driver feet floating in the air then returning with force to the same pedal. That is only one thing no doubt there are many variations. Engaging forward gear instead of reverse while at the same time being focused on the rear view only is yet another thing that may factor alone or combine to reduce reaction time.

on its own i doubt it.

i do heaps of driving on rough roads/offroad that throws you out of your seat and never had foot slammed back down to make the ute take off.

forward and reverse mixed up, yes. really common with some makes due to the gearbox pattern. but again its really noticeable unless you can't feal motion.

tweake

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#3469185 11-Mar-2026 21:10

gzt:
tweake: it certainly seams to be common enough, but i have never seen an actual cause published. eg is it a coordination issue or nerve damage issue (can't feel their feet), a dementia issue, other health issue etc.

There would be an enormous number of people who have this type of accident who are not affected by any of those factors. Pointing to age or infirmity is premature.

i don't know about that, and thats the point i'm making. they don't ever say the actual cause. so we don't know if a lot of them are caused by those factors or not.

imho all SCU incident reports should be publicly available.

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SpartanVXL

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#3469213 11-Mar-2026 23:49

tweake:

SpartanVXL:
It goes both ways if I remember right, left foot braking would cause accidents on the road because the person would put both feet down and wouldn’t be able to stop in time.

i've never had an issue myself and i've done a lot of emergency stops to avoid being hit by someone else over the years.

I was meaning in context of that accident article, someone who has lost capability would cause a different type of accident eventually.

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