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View Poll Results: How Many Driving Years Have you Got left?
I am done with Driving already! 4 1.05%
About 5-7 years more 11 2.89%
About a Decade or two more 52 13.65%
Are you kidding me? I will drive to my grave! 314 82.41%
Voters: 381. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 13th December 2019, 18:16   #16
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
I'm a very "glass is half full" kind of guy, and am reasonably thick-skinned too. So, the problems you mention don't bother me as much.

Of course, it helps that I don't have a daily commute to work and that my driving is primarily at nights (less traffic), early mornings (zero traffic) and highways (for Team-BHP test drives).

Voted for the last poll option
You are living it up

How much ever enthusiast, Mumbai traffic and roads will squeeze out driving enthusiasm out.

But then there are always team BHP and good friends who plan just to drive together, talk about cars and rant about the traffic and bad roads together

If I have had a really bad week, I go drive on the freeway early Sunday morning. Makes me feel I don't live in Mumbai for few hours.
Do join in sometime, it helps keep one and one's car happy!

Last edited by VWAllstar : 13th December 2019 at 18:17.
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Old 13th December 2019, 18:51   #17
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

I am scraping 60. I would expect to be in full driving form for another 20 years and limited driving form for 5 to 7 years thereafter. I understand that roads, traffic & road discipline in India have only gone in one direction - from medicocre to terrible to a disaster. But I don't think things will continue to deteriorate forever to the hadal zone of the sea. Change in laws, change in alternative modes of transport, change in technology will all bring in a different picture,and the optimist in me believes a better picture, over the coming 20 to 25 years. So the 25 year older version of me might still be puttering around the roads of Delhi. Many on this forum will disagree that things will get better. But they do. Only we don't notice it. In the 1960s and 1970s everything essential from sugar to kerosene could largely only be got through the ration card. In the 1960s to 1990s a landline could only come after years of waiting or kissing some MLAs feet. Till 1990 Indian Airlines commercial staff literally thought they were doing you a favour and it was quite common for the clerk at the check-in desk to scream at the passenger for the slightest reason (!! -true). Till ~2000 as a nation we were eternally short of foreign exchange. Things change and so will our traffic. So 2044 here we come.
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Old 13th December 2019, 21:36   #18
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

I'd drive as long as eyes, ears and quick reflexes are there. Beyond that you are a threat to yourself and other road users
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Old 14th December 2019, 09:57   #19
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

I was told by one of my senior citizen friend that after the age of 65 if one gives up on regular chores and activities, one has to give it up for good. It is well nigh impossible to get back to your good old days if there is a longish break ( due to illness or certain circumstances beyond your control) in your retirement days. I'm assuming driving would be one such activity. There would be many more.
I guess adjustment and moderation would have to be exercised to tide over old age issues. Driving at night would have to be curtailed (even if you are blessed with reasonable eyesight), driving speeds would be considerably slower ( cater for slower reflexes), safer and less congested routes over faster ones, etc. But giving up driving altogether, Nah. Haven't felt that way at all and I'm only 74.
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Old 14th December 2019, 10:31   #20
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

I'm not much of a future planner but I've worked out this bit already. I reckon, that owing to our unhealthy lifestyle, we will be constrained to drive on long trips or bear with hectic trip schedules once we hit the wrong side of the fifties. Accordingly, along with some close friends, we have planned to buy and modify a Tempo Traveler! That way we could easily make long trips together sharing the driving responsibilities among ourselves. Plus the other gracefully aging family members are going to love traveling together in comfort of a bigger vehicle.
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Old 14th December 2019, 12:55   #21
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

My dad is currently driving at 81. I intend to keep driving (and playing golf) as long as my body permits. Going to my grave having enjoyed life is what it is all about
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Old 14th December 2019, 15:36   #22
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

Nice thread.

I dread my daily commute to clinic and back home. The traffic at my place, a small tier 2 city bursting at its seams with loads of 2 wheelers, 3 wheelers, cars, UVs, jugaads, cycle rickshaws and bovine forms and none following rules, is horrible, Leoshashi can vouch for it. Dad drove till he was 65 and has given up due to his medical issues as well as the erratic traffic. I seldom drive in city limits, I prefer my driver to do the honours.

But I love driving a lot. It's a kind of pressure reliever for me. So whenever I get a chance, I take a trip on highway. I would love to drive till I can but then that's not in our hands.
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Old 14th December 2019, 16:58   #23
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

The poll should have had another option - I shall continue to drive till I safely can.

I would like to drive till I am alive, but age-related degenerative diseases - eye ailments, neuromuscular disorders, etc. - may compromise my (and my passengers') safety at the wheel some day. If I (and my doctors) consider myself healthy enough to drive safely, I will continue to do so till that day. But then, that day might come in a decade, or four.
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Old 14th December 2019, 17:33   #24
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

I'm almost 60 and wouldn't give up staying mobile or becoming dependent on cabs. I'm bored when I hire call drivers, as I did when my son got married and there were lot's of things to do and I couldn't do driving duties. During my son's wedding reception (30-03-2019): I was back in the driver's seat drove him to the parlour and the reception venue and after the event, I drove back at 2 am with my Honda City loaded with gifts and kept it home and jumped into my Elantra and drove back (all this after standing in the event with my son and dil for almost 4 hours) for a second run for gifts and ferrying people and slept only to be woken up by brother when he had a flight to catch at 4 am and drove him to the airport and came back. It was very satisfying. I haven't had a dedicated driver in all my life. I think driving is a way to keep you alert, senile dementia at bay and one way of staying fit.

Last edited by Durango Dude : 14th December 2019 at 17:41.
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Old 14th December 2019, 17:36   #25
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

My father lost one of his eyes to glaucoma when he was 45 and stopped driving after that. I can’t forget that in my life.
I love driving. Until the day I am able to drive, I feel that I am independent. It is dreadful to even think about the day I can’t. That probably sums it up.
But the day I fell I am a risk for others on the road, I will stop.
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Old 14th December 2019, 19:07   #26
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

Hi

I don't believe a petrol-head would ever reconcile to the idea of saying goodbye to driving!

City driving, especially in congested cities and areas, may act as a turn-off temporarily but thought of quitting it altogether is a big no-no.

Highway driving, driving on hills and occasional off-roading is icing on the cake.

Not only drive to the grave but through the grave - HeHe.
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Old 15th December 2019, 02:11   #27
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

I dont drive to work anymore. But I do get behind the wheel and enjoy it every social outing. I hope / want /pray that I will never loose the joy of driving, because if I do, an important part of me would have died.

Last Poll option.
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Old 15th December 2019, 12:11   #28
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

I voted for the last option and hope i shall live to se it.

Seriously, i do hope so. As some have opined, it is sad to see that adherence to rules, regulations, laws and courtesy have just deteriorated over time. I started driving when i was 12 years old, though driving may be not the right word. I used to start the car to charge the batteries when my father was on tour, reverse it in the compound and move it back and forth - fooling around. Occasionally, when my parents were not around, i used to take it out on the road within a kilometer or so of our house. I am nearly 65 now and hope i have at least 2 decades of driving left.

Incidentally, my father was an enthusiast too. He bought a new car when he was 89 years old. Unfortunately, he died just 6 months after he bought it.
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Old 15th December 2019, 12:47   #29
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

I’m yet to get my driving licence! Hope I drive to the grave, but not literally!

On a more serious note, I’d say as far as my health allows me to drive safely without killing a pedestrian or too. I hope I make it to the near end of the century. So what option on the poll do I choose? You tell me.
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Old 15th December 2019, 12:52   #30
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Re: How many "Driving Years" do you think you have left?

I'll drive as long as it is physically/medically possible. I know of people who've been forced to quit driving under the hard stare of their doctor due to serious health problems (heart, liver, spine, brain etc.). One such gentleman even had to sell his 6 month old 18 lakh XUV 500 at a depreciated price.

Drive all you want to right now. You never know when you will (God forbid it) reach the end of your driving career.
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