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We may soon have 70M boomers too old to drive, too car-dependent to stop
- jokoon 8mo agoMore reason to build railways
- waffletower 8mo agoMany will be able to drive safely well into their 80s.
- sandy_coyote 8mo agoMy dad is 82, and like many in his generation, suffers the curse of the industrious man- he will continue to perform physical feats for which he assumes capability until he injures himself (and possibly others). Driving is just one of these things. So far, he has gotten operations on his hips, hands, shoulders, and back after overexerting himself while gardening, moving furniture, and... walking. When I ask him to consider the risks of driving, he brushes me off like I'm being ridiculous. It infuriates me. There's no arguing with him. And I'm absolutely gonna get a phone call one day that I'm not gonna like.
- jryb 8mo agoRegardless, we're talking about a distribution of abilities, and the number of people who can't drive safely is going to increase dramatically in the near future. The point of this article wasn't to judge all boomers.
- foxyv 8mo agoMy Dad is running into this problem now. He mentioned buying a Tesla to get the self-driving feature. I really hope he doesn't kill anyone.
- tim333 8mo agoI've been saying to my mum, 89, to delay replacing her Jazz till they have a suitable self driving car but it's taking longer than I thought. She still drives ok thankfully.
- foxyv 8mo agoI have the 2013 Fit (Jazz) and it refuses to die. Still runs like the day I bought it despite 200k miles. It looks like hot garbage because the paint is burning off in the sun, but it's still perfect somehow. My main goal is to teach my parents how to use Uber/Lyft.
- Recurecur 8mo agoTesla FSD is currently very good, and I think _on average_ is better than the typical driver (no distractions, no substances, no fatigue, 360 deg vision, faster reaction time). Granted, that isn’t helpful if you hit an edge case. Still, I think overall it’s a good thing.
- true_religion 8mo agoAren’t common things like children walking into the road still problems that Tesla can’t handle?
- foxyv 8mo agoFSD seems pretty okay when it's supervised. But Tesla is cagey about the safety issues. They keep trying to SLAPP people who report on problems. It also doesn't help that Elon Musk slashed the NHTSA after they began investigating the issue. I guess I'm in a wait and see position about FSD.
- silexia 8mo agoMy grandpa refuses all help but has dementia symptoms badly.