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  • What's up, Notification Squad?

  • It's your boy.

  • Get ready for the most dead ass, best, hashtag, epic memes of the last week.

  • Because us millennials have goldfish brains and can't concentrate.

  • YOLO!

  • Sick.

  • See that floss, dude.

  • Okay, now that the old people have stopped watching this video.

  • Let's talk about something serious.

  • One of the worst age related car accidents in history, happened in 2003.

  • An 86 year old man was driving his Buick LeSabre around Santa Monica, when he crashed into a Mercedes that has stopped to make way for pedestrians.

  • Instead of pressing the brake, old George slammed on the gas and rammed through the Mercedes.

  • He blasted down through road barriers and straight into a farmers market.

  • Killing ten people and injuring more than 70.

  • By the end of it, he had gone two and a half blocks and hit speeds of 60 miles per hour.

  • He thought the gas pedal was the brake, and this wasn't the first time he had even done this.

  • Ten years earlier, he had gone off-road into a dense public area, but didn't hit anyone thankfully.

  • Fortunately, accidents this serious don't happen too often.

  • Most drivers over the age of 65 are just as safe as the rest of us on the road.

  • Which is why it's hard to draw the line, when it comes to who should or shouldn't have a license.

  • I have to ask the question: How old is too old to drive?

  • We're gonna tackle that, but before we do, we're gonna go over some warning signs that can indicate your driving is starting to suck.

  • We're going to look at what the numbers say.

  • Like, am I making all this up? Or are there stats that prove, older people are worse at driving?

  • And finally, I wanna figure out what can be done about it.

  • And before people come at me, accusing me of being ageist, I'm just being real.

  • It's not controversial to say that your senses deteriorate as you age. It's a fact.

  • I'm sure people don't like being called old and threatened with getting their licenses taken away.

  • I'm not old!

  • But look at all the things millennials are being blamed for.

  • Okay, we're killing restaurants, cars, and even the napkin industry.

  • So, go kick some rocks, grandpa.

  • When you think of getting older, usually the first thing that comes to mind is the loss of physical abilities.

  • About a year ago, I found out I couldn't even touch my toes anymore, and that's when I decided to go to the gym.

  • Go all the way down and hold.

  • Hold!

  • I am! Ah.

  • Some warning signs of drivers with poor physical abilities are: trouble getting in the car, late and slow reactions, and minor accidents.

  • Aww, what the (beep).

  • The body isn't the only thing that degrades with age, of course. The brain does as well.

  • Some warning signs of failing cognitive abilities are: running stop signs, making poor decisions, and dozing off at the wheel.

  • It sounds like my cognition is degrading everyday.

  • Vision is probably the easiest thing to test for.

  • But eyesight can degrade a lot in five years, which is the average time a driver has in the US, before they have to renew their license.

  • Some warning signs of drivers with poor vision are: having to brake suddenly, brushing up against objects on the periphery of the car, or having trouble with glare.

  • Prince Philip just recently crashed and rolled his Land Rover because of sun glare.

  • That old ass is 97 and he refused to give up his license after the crash.

  • He got a new Land Rover delivered, less than 24 hours after the incident.

  • Dude, you have more money than most of the world combined. Just hire a driver.

  • Get a Rolls and just ball out on everyone.

  • Live our fricking dream.

  • Get off the road, you old guy.

  • You don't control me, man.

  • We fought you back in 1776.

  • So going into this episode, I broke down two very general requirements we have for someone to have a license.

  • One, are they capable enough to drive?

  • And two, are they responsible enough to drive?

  • There are instances when we deem someone no longer responsible such as after getting a DUI or too many speeding tickets.

  • And in those cases, we take the driver's license away.

  • Generally speaking, we chose the age that young people can begin driving based on the responsibility factor.

  • Many ten-year-olds possess the motor skills to operate a vehicle, but we wouldn't trust many of them to be responsible out there on the road.

  • However, for old people, the question isn't if they are responsible enough, it becomes are they capable enough?

  • As I first began researching these stories, a lot of which were seriously tragic and heartbreaking.

  • My knee-jerk reaction was that we should be taking away people's licenses after a certain age.

  • We've picked an age for young people, so even though it doesn't feel totally right or fair, setting an age for the elderly, doesn't really seem like a totally ridiculous proposition.

  • We would just look at the numbers and find the most logical age. Right?

  • But, that's when I found out I was completely and totally wrong.

  • Ahh.

  • In particular, I looked at these two graphs released by AAA.

  • The first shows the car crash injuries, to the driver, the passenger, and to others, broken down by the age of the driver.

  • And well, even if old people are terrible drivers, according to this data, a 75 year old driver is less likely to hurt someone than a 35 year old driver.

  • The second chart is even more interesting.

  • It shows the number of deaths broken down in the same way.

  • Although older drivers are a bigger hazard to themselves, when you compare 80-year-olds to drivers in their late 20s, such as myself, 80-year-olds are less of a danger, when it comes to harming others.

  • That means I am more likely to kill someone, in a car accident than an 80 year old.

  • Go figure.

  • So if we go back to my initial idea to create an age limit based on the numbers,

  • well, if we created a cut-off at 80 years old, by that same logic, no one should be allowed to receive a license until they turn 30.

  • Old people do cause plenty of terrible accidents because sometimes they're not capable of safely operating a vehicle.

  • But, they're not alone.

  • People in every age group are causing accidents and hurting each other, and if you are under 30, you've got a higher chance or being involved.

  • My solution would be stricter license requirements across the board.

  • If you're able to drive, then you should be allowed to drive, but only after you prove that you can handle it.

  • Tell your grandma to like this video.

  • If she doesn't know what that means, that's all right.

  • Take that frail hand in yours and click that like button.

  • Get her an Instagram profile so that she can follow me @NOLANJSYKES, and also follow Donut @DONUTMEDIA.

  • Be nice to old people. I'll see you next time.

What's up, Notification Squad?

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