402
We may soon have 70 million boomers too old to drive, too car-dependent to stop.
(lloydalter.substack.com)
"may"?
this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2026
402 points (98.8% liked)
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There is always the possibility of the end of humanity.
In what fucking world is it ok to avoid jail because you're fucking old. If she's too old to go to jail then we need an option to euthanize elderly criminals.
Would it make you feel better if it was actually because she was wealthy?
I mean i saw that bit too I'm just sick and fucking tired of everyone but regular motherfuckers not going to jail.
You're right but the headline punched my rage ticket.
This describes my hometown to a tee. Thirty years ago.
My 95 year old mother in law picked me up at the airport and still goes golfing each week pushing her clubs around the golf course. I trust her than most kids on the road. However, She is much different than my 80 year old mother where the doctor took away her handicap pass because she kept hitting cars in the parking lot.
Yes and most of them live near me.
And they’re ruining cars. High, upright seating position because they can’t get out of the car, big chonky tires on an SUV chassis because they hit potholes and curbs, measly little engines because they’re not going to use them anyway, driver assistance because their meds make them impaired.
Cars will be cool again when old people don’t have to drive.
Cars are will be cool again when old people don’t have to drive
So, never?
Yes, I’m afraid the golden age of cars is past. Now they are appliances with quirky features.
And it just makes me want to burn it all down.
I'm in my late 40s. I'm hoping think I can get another 2-3 years out of my 100k mile car and then my next car will hopefully be another 10+ year car and hopefully by then self-driving will be mature.
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I was picking up a some medication at the drugstore when an old frail man came in and stepped into the line. Quickly a middle-aged woman who works there says "Welcome back Fred! Haven't seen you in a couple of weeks! Are you okay?" The guy says back "yeah, I'm, I'm okay..... But my truck isn't, I totalled my truck!". The layday goes " oh no! That's terrible! So how did you get here? " the guy says " my chofer brought me in to get my medications".... Lady " your chofer? ". The guy points a little past my direction and from that end here comes the skinniest, frailest old lady you can imagine " yeah, I brought him in, but I'm. Not his chofer! Not by a long shot. Is this your girlfriend? "..... Blah blah blah... Holy shit, they let people like that drive by themselves! Great for them, but you and I drive on the same road! Our kids wait for the bus on the same road. Maybe the country just needs to pass the " free driver law". You hit 60 and you get a driver code. You go to a site or call a number, enter the code and wait for your driver. Free government paid service. A normally aged person between 15 and 60 years of age then takes you and a few other friends around the places you need to go to.
At around 84, my dad caused a small fender-bender, that's when my sister told him he had to stop driving. He couldn't turn his head to see behind him. That sucked for my sister, because it fell on her to get him out of the house for grocery shopping, etc. She was the only one who still lived in the same state. He ended up in an assisted living home for the last two years of his life with dementia.
Public transportation is great, but they don't go into the suburbs. I suppose Uber and Lyft are the solution there, but my dad had no idea how to do that, he didn't own a cell phone.
Capitalism has been fucking us hard for over 100 years, the offenses keep piling up, and only now are people starting to realize how bad it's gotten.
Ättestupa time?
I think incompetent drivers just driving off the cliff themselves is the more likely scenario.
I only knew the concept but not the word so thanks
Who could have possibly seen this coming??
They'll either move into homes or be cared for by family, same as it has been for decades.
Sure they'll kill some people before their kids take their keys...
Not my boomer parents they can rot far has I am cocern.
Mine may be. Adopted a kid outside of my race and he made himself scarse. going on a decade now.
Japanese dashcam videos are a preview of what horrors to come.
Japanese dashcam videos are a preview of what horrors to come.
Throwing down a terrible stereotype here, which in my 60+ years, has turned out to be more true than not, ..but older Japanese men and women are notoriously bad drivers.. esp. the old men in hats.
Holy hell, do not EVER wear a hat when you drive. It sucks the ability to control a car right out of you.. God's honest, I have seen that one play out over decades and it's frightening and it's real and I do not know why.
This fucking terrifies me. My mom is 79, living in the most rural place ever, wtf is she gonna do when she has to give up her license? P.s. if anyone else has been in this situation what did you do?
My dad stopped driving at 80 but he remained living on the farm.
If he needed to go somewhere, there was always a neighbor happy to help out.
Dad went to the car dealership and spent $10k on a reasonably good 2nd hand car that he never drove - it would only get used if he needed someone to drive him somewhere.
Using his own car that he pays all the running costs and maintenance on made it much more comfortable for him to ask a neighbor/friend/family for help.
There's a few options: you drive for her, she moves into a senior community, she moves in with you -- which is how it used to be -- or none and a fender bender (or worse).
If you live somewhere that you have to drive to take care of yourself and you can no longer drive, you can no longer take care of yourself.
You move to where you can either take care of your self or be taken care of.
This is correct, but moving costs money. Which my mom doesn't have any of, and I have little to spare. It's going to be a big issue when she's not able to take care of herself
You two should be discussing this now.
She will need to sell her house and car and a chunk of her belongings and move in with you or on the same street or apartments or whatever. She needs to decide what to sell and what to give to whom, now while she still has her faculties and mobility.
When you get old, you're doing good until you aren't and then you never are again. You two should have a plan that you can just execute.
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately our relationship isn't great and we are pretty estranged. My husband and I live in a 2 bedroom condo with one bathroom, small even for just us two and our cats. So she can't move in with us. My sister is no contact with her. So yeah. The situation is messy.
You're not responsible for your mother.
Oh, well in that case let her figure it out. My parents kicked me out at 18, and at this point I wouldn't talk to them if they attempted to reach out. I worry that they might, confronting death or needing physical daily assistance. I hope for their sake that they have whatever they need to do, planned out already.
My grandma moved closer to people that could help her and where she was more mobile without a car.
My girlfriends grandma is 90 and she rides her e-bike almost daily. But we have some bike lanes and a grocery store is nearby.
Maybe locally organised carpools?
You get what you voted for.
I was not alive to vote for or against the Interstate Highway Act
With the exception of 532 very special people, the people alive at the time didn't get to vote on it either.
I am aware government is universally terrible
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