Seriously how can people in their 80′s be safe drivers? Vision, reaction, perception of speed and distance are all factors needed to drive safely and I don’t think these functions are at their sharpest in 80 year olds

Lucky nobody was killed

I would say a lot of elderly drivers rely on their cars to get out and about and do their shopping and such things but agree that they should be tested at a certain age to make sure they are no harm to themselves or anybody else on the roads. That goes for people who may have heart conditions or any medical reason that may cause an accident. At least they are both ok and nobody has been seriously hurt.

Talk about a sweeping generalisation with absolutely no evidence of any kind behind it. If any age group were to be banned from the road based on accident statistics it would be young male drivers.

“what sort of cheese was that?”

They really made a mess of that pretty bridge in the middle of town. The car must have been going very fast in the town centre to punch a hole through a solid stone wall like that. Lucky no pedestrians were killed.

Help i flooded The engine

We’re they looking for Country Kitchen Buffet

Good job the river wasn’t in flood

hope there ok thats some drop

The guards didnt arrive till after d ambulance and fire brigade so they wouldnt get wet FACT even though d garda station is less than 120 seconds frm d bridge

Ageism is a prevalent problem in Ireland.

Speed of reaction is important for racing drivers and rally drivers.

For ordinary drivers, judgment, prudence and attention are vastly more important.

Generalising as a result of age is invalid and discriminatory. It’s down to individual assessment.

In this case, we should be open to the possibility of engine/transmission malfunction in view of the fact that the car was an automatic transmission.

Look at the age analysis of road traffic accidents.

I drove through Boyle once, I also wanted to end up in the river!

What was the make, model, and model year of the vehicle? Toyota is #1 in cases of sudden unintended acceleration and FORD is #2. The current unintended acceleration plaguing newer vehicles is the electronically-induced type. The engine throttle control systems depend on computer software to command them. Sometimes glitches occur…like in some of your other electronic devices…which can cause the command to be different than what you desire. The evidence of the glitch is often undetectable after the vehicle is restarted. Unfortunately, the EDR (black box) is not always accurate as shown by expert Dr. Antony Anderson in his analysis of a 2012 Toyota Highlander. The EDR results indicated the driver was not braking when she was doing so. The EDR results are inconsistent.

The key to avoiding a horrific crash during a SUA event is whether or not the vehicle has an effective fail-safe in the event a glitch occurs. If it does not, as in the case of the glitch-prone Toyota ETCS-i, then the vehicle may become a runaway with an ineffective means to stop it. Unfortunately, the safety standards aren’t as strict in automobiles as they are in airplanes. Some manufacturers have more effective fail-safes than others. In the case of Toyota, an embedded software expert, Michael Barr (see Oklahoma Bookout vs. Toyota court case involving a 2005 Camry) found that an electronic glitch could induce a SUA event. Another expert, Dr. Henning Leidecker, found that a SUA event could also be triggered by “tin whisker” formation, particularly in 2002-2006 Toyota Camry vehicles.

SUA events have been DEADLY for vehicle occupants as well as pedestrians and people in storefronts, buildings, and even homes. The numbers of such crashes are ever-increasing with the advent of the very complex ELECTRONIC throttle control systems.

With the increase in such serious vehicle crashes, there is a concerted effort to show driver “pedal misapplication” or a “medical condition” or some other reason for the incident…anything other than a vehicle defect. Investigators aren’t scrutinizing the buggy electronic throttle control software or other conditions that can elicit a terrifying sudden unintended acceleration incident. They usually just examine the *mechanical* causes which tend to be just red herrings in these cases. Investigators simply don’t have the expertise to find such electronic glitches. In fact, the staff at the NHTSA, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, do not have this very specialized training!

Think of it…the next step in electronically-controlled vehicles seems to be so-called “self-driving cars.” Do YOU want to be in a such a vehicle when there is no evidence that strict safety standards, particularly in the throttle control system’s software, have been adhered to? Will you just BLINDLY trust the automaker (criminally-investigated and nearly-prosecuted Toyota and soon-to-be GM and others?) to come through for you and your family’s safety *on its own*?

A recently published article speaks to these very issues and poses tough questions about Google’s “driverless” vehicles. Educate yourself carefully before you put your faith in automakers who have knowingly lied to their customers and the government for decades. Study the issue of vehicle electronic sudden unintended acceleration and ask WHY we aren’t seeing it addressed publicly. WHY is blame placed on the driver with little more than speculation about which pedal was used or with little more than an assumption on medical condition. This is being done *even when the drivers steadfastly cite a VEHICLE PROBLEM as the cause of the crash. Absence of proof is not proof of absence of a serious ELECTRONIC computer glitch or other electronically-caused SUA.

You could use the same logic that if everyone retook test how many would fail