6 ms·

Next year, the youngest Boomer will turn 60 years old. As the Boomers age out of driving, the lack of other options is going to become a major political issue.

Next year, the youngest Boomer will turn 60 years old. As the Boomers age out of driving, the lack of other options is going to become a major political issue. The post-war babies still have enormous clout, and I highly doubt they will accept a total loss of mobility when they're no longer comfortable navigating busy stroads and highways. They will soon be the ones pushing for better intercity bus / passenger train options.

bluGill 3y ago
They should be, but more likely they will just push relaxing driving standards so they can continue to drive despite not being safe. Same as nearly most other retirees are doing. Most retirees seem to drive less, but only a few have stopped. I don't think it has occurred to many that transit could be an option - unless they already live in a place where transit is useful and thus they are using it. Even then few seem to think they could get transit in other places they want to visit.
- pavel_lishin 3y ago
  For some of them who live in certain suburbs - like Plano, TX - they've likely lived most of their adult lives without ever actually seeing public transportation, much less using it.
- jewayne 3y ago
  Meh. I think those with means quietly vote with their feet, not quite aware of what they are doing. Have you ever been to / seen video of The Villages? Golf carts and pedestrians owning the street, with cars as guests. And this might be the most politically conservative place in America. Yes, they probably need an at least one experience of good intercity transit before they see it is possible, but now that the Brightline is running in The Old People Holy Land of Florida, many will have it.
- SoftTalker 3y ago
  > more likely they will just push relaxing driving standards so they can continue to drive despite not being safe Statistics don't bear this out. The most unsafe drivers are the younger ones.
  - kube-system 3y ago
    Accident rates per mile bottom out during people's 60s and then rise again. Drivers 85+ are involved in accidents at rates similar to drivers in their 20s. https://www.iihs.org/topics/older-drivers#by-the-numbers https://www.iihs.org/topics/older-drivers#by-the-numbers
    - SoftTalker 3y ago
      Big difference between 60 and 85. But I do grant that at some point, people should give up driving if their vision, reaction times, cognative function, etc. do not allow them to do it safely.
      - kube-system 3y ago
        Yes, but the older end of the baby boomer generation being discussed is already starting to climb up in insurance risk according to those stats.
pavel_lishin 3y ago
I certainly hope your optimistic take is correct, but I fear that they'll be pushing for more lax drivers' license exams instead.
- jewayne 3y ago
  Well, we know how that will turn out, unfortunately. We will end that experiment when the body count gets too high.
- mcpeepants 3y ago
  In my state at least, licensing requirements are already lax enough that my 94 year old relative has no problem maintaining (and, using) a valid license.
  - jewayne 3y ago
    How comfortable is your 94 year-old relative on a busy interstate, or worse, a 6 lane stroad? Just because somebody still has a driver's license doesn't mean they haven't lost mobility. Now, others have pointed out that if they don't have experience taking good transit, older folks wouldn't even think of using transit as opposed to staying home, which I have to admit has a ring of truth to it.
mauvehaus 3y ago
Have you taken a Greyhound across the country? I have. Put it this way: the boomers with clout are probably not accustomed to being around the folks that take the bus cross country. You meet people and hear stories that you wouldn't in other contexts. Whether that makes you uncomfortable or not is in you, but it's different than what I suspect most of us are used to.
AnthonyMouse 3y ago
> They will soon be the ones pushing for better intercity bus / passenger train options. Nah. Boomers mostly live in the suburbs, where mass transit is never going to work because there isn't enough density. But it's common for retirees to move once they no longer have any need to live within reasonable commuting distance of work and no longer need the three bedroom house because their kids have moved out. So they move to a retirement community in a low cost of living area and don't have to advocate for anything because those communities are already designed for that lifestyle. When they want to travel between cities they'll get on a plane.
- jewayne 3y ago
  > When they want to travel between cities they'll get on a plane. You've only solved one leg of the journey. Even airports are going to be more accessible with good bus options.
  - AnthonyMouse 3y ago
    Airports are accessible via Uber, which is only a fraction of the cost of the plane ticket. When you're visiting your kids you don't even need that on their end because they pick you up at the airport. When you're traveling the destination may not even be in the US much less the city or state where you have a vote on local transit systems. Also, that leg of the journey is the one served by Greyhound. Either way you have to get from the bus station or airport to your ultimate destination.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- rufus_foreman 3y ago
  >> Boomers mostly live in the suburbs This is true. I mean there is no official government definition of a suburb, but by any reasonable definition, most Boomers live in suburbs. The older generation, the Silent Generation, they also mostly live in the suburbs. So does Generation X. So do the Millenials.
dang_lmao 3y ago
[dead]
kube-system 3y ago
Why would boomers do this if the silent generation didn't?
Terr_ 3y ago
> As the Boomers age out of driving Tangentially, I believe anticipating that desperate customer-base is the #1 reason of the last ~15 years of investors piling onto "self-driving car" bandwagons. That's in contrast to the reason of "the appropriate technology finally exists to do it." Perhaps investments will _make_ the technology appear in time to catch that demographic wave... but I don't think it's guaranteed.
- hakfoo 3y ago
  [flagged]

bluGill 3y ago

They should be, but more likely they will just push relaxing driving standards so they can continue to drive despite not being safe. Same as nearly most other retirees are doing. Most retirees seem to drive less, but only a few have stopped. I don't think it has occurred to many that transit could be an option - unless they already live in a place where transit is useful and thus they are using it. Even then few seem to think they could get transit in other places they want to visit.

pavel_lishin 3y ago
For some of them who live in certain suburbs - like Plano, TX - they've likely lived most of their adult lives without ever actually seeing public transportation, much less using it.
jewayne 3y ago
Meh. I think those with means quietly vote with their feet, not quite aware of what they are doing. Have you ever been to / seen video of The Villages? Golf carts and pedestrians owning the street, with cars as guests. And this might be the most politically conservative place in America. Yes, they probably need an at least one experience of good intercity transit before they see it is possible, but now that the Brightline is running in The Old People Holy Land of Florida, many will have it.
SoftTalker 3y ago
> more likely they will just push relaxing driving standards so they can continue to drive despite not being safe Statistics don't bear this out. The most unsafe drivers are the younger ones.
- kube-system 3y ago
  Accident rates per mile bottom out during people's 60s and then rise again. Drivers 85+ are involved in accidents at rates similar to drivers in their 20s. https://www.iihs.org/topics/older-drivers#by-the-numbers https://www.iihs.org/topics/older-drivers#by-the-numbers
  - SoftTalker 3y ago
    Big difference between 60 and 85. But I do grant that at some point, people should give up driving if their vision, reaction times, cognative function, etc. do not allow them to do it safely.
    - kube-system 3y ago
      Yes, but the older end of the baby boomer generation being discussed is already starting to climb up in insurance risk according to those stats.

pavel_lishin 3y ago

I certainly hope your optimistic take is correct, but I fear that they'll be pushing for more lax drivers' license exams instead.

jewayne 3y ago
Well, we know how that will turn out, unfortunately. We will end that experiment when the body count gets too high.
mcpeepants 3y ago
In my state at least, licensing requirements are already lax enough that my 94 year old relative has no problem maintaining (and, using) a valid license.
- jewayne 3y ago
  How comfortable is your 94 year-old relative on a busy interstate, or worse, a 6 lane stroad? Just because somebody still has a driver's license doesn't mean they haven't lost mobility. Now, others have pointed out that if they don't have experience taking good transit, older folks wouldn't even think of using transit as opposed to staying home, which I have to admit has a ring of truth to it.

mauvehaus 3y ago

Have you taken a Greyhound across the country? I have. Put it this way: the boomers with clout are probably not accustomed to being around the folks that take the bus cross country. You meet people and hear stories that you wouldn't in other contexts. Whether that makes you uncomfortable or not is in you, but it's different than what I suspect most of us are used to.

AnthonyMouse 3y ago

> They will soon be the ones pushing for better intercity bus / passenger train options. Nah. Boomers mostly live in the suburbs, where mass transit is never going to work because there isn't enough density. But it's common for retirees to move once they no longer have any need to live within reasonable commuting distance of work and no longer need the three bedroom house because their kids have moved out. So they move to a retirement community in a low cost of living area and don't have to advocate for anything because those communities are already designed for that lifestyle. When they want to travel between cities they'll get on a plane.

jewayne 3y ago
> When they want to travel between cities they'll get on a plane. You've only solved one leg of the journey. Even airports are going to be more accessible with good bus options.
- AnthonyMouse 3y ago
  Airports are accessible via Uber, which is only a fraction of the cost of the plane ticket. When you're visiting your kids you don't even need that on their end because they pick you up at the airport. When you're traveling the destination may not even be in the US much less the city or state where you have a vote on local transit systems. Also, that leg of the journey is the one served by Greyhound. Either way you have to get from the bus station or airport to your ultimate destination.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
rufus_foreman 3y ago
>> Boomers mostly live in the suburbs This is true. I mean there is no official government definition of a suburb, but by any reasonable definition, most Boomers live in suburbs. The older generation, the Silent Generation, they also mostly live in the suburbs. So does Generation X. So do the Millenials.

dang_lmao 3y ago

[dead]

kube-system 3y ago

Why would boomers do this if the silent generation didn't?

Terr_ 3y ago

> As the Boomers age out of driving Tangentially, I believe anticipating that desperate customer-base is the #1 reason of the last ~15 years of investors piling onto "self-driving car" bandwagons. That's in contrast to the reason of "the appropriate technology finally exists to do it." Perhaps investments will _make_ the technology appear in time to catch that demographic wave... but I don't think it's guaranteed.

hakfoo 3y ago
[flagged]