[sajo]

I have heard of people calculating a person's "Bone age" to gauge their bone health against their body age. Similarly, we should have a "Driving age" as well, to more or less gauge our ability and, more importantly, will, to continue driving on our roads. I think mine is about 65. Allow me to explain.

Facing all the lawlessness, road rage, crumbling infrastructure, poor policing, parking woes are all taking their toll on my "Driving age". As someone who gets his BP up by seeing anarchy being rewarded and good behaviour being penalized in the form of delays, harassment, receiving age of road rage, I dont think I have it in me to continue much longer with this arduous task called city driving. With all of the above increasing exponentially every year, and the decreasing capacity of law abiding drivers to deal with the consequences, I think I will fizzle out of my driving will in the next 5 years or so, unless something drastic happens to change all of the above. Which I doubt.
I have also ceased to be a petrolhead, and I dont think I will make any more automotive purchases even if I can. I drive because I have to, not because I want to.
What do BHPians think? How long can you go on at the current rate? Not saying one would totally stop touching a wheel, but taking one's car out as a viable means of getting about would cease.

[somspaple]

Originally Posted by sajo

....I dont think I have it in me to continue much longer with this arduous task called city driving. ..

First thing, I think the title is misleading. It refers to Driving in general but you seem to highlight City Commute in your post. I'm sure people will have very different opinions when it comes city commute vs general driving on highway or leisure.

As for me - why will I ever stop driving!?

[sajo]

Ah, I just assumed a vast majority of us drive around or move about in town more than we do between towns, I put it down to driving on our roads in general.

[am1m]

Uff, so true. Started out as someone who loved to ride/drive. Bangalore roads were still emptyish and highways were not great, but getting to them was easy. And that was not like really long ago, as recently as maybe 5-7 years ago, driving/riding would have been my default choice to get anywhere.

Now I'll do anything- take a metro+bus, walk, refuse to meet friends unless it's near a metro station, all to avoid driving or riding in Bangalore!

Still enjoy highway trips, riding/driving is still the best way to see the country, especially the remoter parts. But getting out of/back into Bangalore is a real pain.

[srini1785]

Its a rhetoric question to ask a bunch of petrol heads " How many of you want to drive for as long as you can?". The obvious answer would be "forever" and that's what predictably the poll results so far show.

[Jeroen]

Living in Europe, the Netherlands these days, it is easy; As long as I can and are able to!

I hope te be retiring in the not so distant future and I will be looking forward to be driving and enjoying my cars even more. The largest threat we have here in Europe is various restrictions in the making due to environmental legislation. So better make the most of it, whilst I can.

Jeroen

[Rajeevraj]

While I would vote for the last option of driving till the last breath, I think it may be end up being beyond our control. Already city driving in major cities is becoming a no no and a lot of people are already using cabs and other means of transport instead of driving. So we may end up getting to a stage where even if we want to drive, we will be unable/won't want to due to extreme congestion, easy availability of app based options, easy availability of public transport etc.

Realistically, I think for everyone, the answer will be be a decade or 2 of driving in the way we do it currently.

[supremeBaleno]

The day I have to give up driving, is the day I will feel old.

[boniver]

I'm 20 years old now, and I'm of the opinion that I'll drive for as long as possible. I don't get bored or irritated even when driving in traffic.

My father (currently 59 years old), has been driving from the age of 18 and hates driving now. He started driving at a time when our car was apparently the only one in a 1km radius, and the roads were completely empty. He loved riding bikes too, and didn't give it up even after having been in multiple accidents in his youth. However, he hasn't touched his motorcycle in 2 years now, and also doesn't drive unless absolutely necessary. He's also having back issues now, so I think it's safe to assume that his riding/driving days are behind him. During Durga Pujas this year I forced him to drive and he literally got out of the driver's seat as soon as we hit traffic about an hour later. I had to take over from there.

[Mortis]

Voted for 20 years. After that I have no idea if my eyesight will allow me to drive and also after that autonomous cars might be commonplace

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Voted for "About a decade or two more" as far as city driving is concerned.

I am in my early 30s now and I don't drive on a daily basis. Staying closer to my office, I prefer to ride my bike daily. Even in a smaller city like Bhubaneswar, traffic congestion has almost doubled in the last 7-8 years. I am undergoing a perception shift of having to think of a journey in terms of time rather than distance. The dread has already started to set in when I think of driving to some places within the city at peak traffic hours, I am sure this will worsen in the next few years.

[shankar.balan]

My Dad is 77. He still drives daily - yes now it is an Automatic Toyota but thats only because of the traffic and it is easier. But he does drive my Manual Gypsy too, once in a while and used to drive my Manual Heavy Clutch Yeti too and then does drive the fast little Mini as well now.
It’s about the “Spirit”.
Im hoping therefore, that I also should be able to drive for as long as that if not more...

[GTO]

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

[RaSing]

Originally Posted by sajo

Facing all the lawlessness, road rage, crumbling infrastructure, poor policing, parking woes are all taking their toll on my "Driving age". As someone who gets his BP up by seeing anarchy being rewarded and good behaviour being penalized in the form of delays, harassment, receiving age of road rage, I dont think I have it in me to continue much longer with this arduous task called city driving. With all of the above increasing exponentially every year, and the decreasing capacity of law abiding drivers to deal with the consequences, I think I will fizzle out of my driving will in the next 5 years or so, unless something drastic happens to change all of the above. Which I doubt. .

I think i can understand and agree with you. These thoughts come to every other driver who is stuck in traffic or is facing road rage, lawlessness etc etc on a daily basis. However for people who are driving occasionally or drive only on late nights, weekends wont be able to empathize.

[avingodb]

more than enough for highways, none for the city roads and parking searches.