President
AA Upper India.
Dear Sir,
We as senior citizens protest the proposed amendment to ban seniors from driving beyond 72 years. Look at the statistics and you will find its the younger lot who account for road rage, rash & Drunken driving, overspeeding, complete disregard for traffic rules....etc. They get driving licences at the drop of a hat from an equally incompetent issuing authority who have no idea of the fundamental rules. Result is mayhem on the roads. What was not there only a few years earlier, now first time owners of cars, all youngsters who were earlier on a M/cyles, turn on to a main road w/o looking or, when there is no gap, carry on driving on the wrong side till they can suddenly flip onto the left side at a given time down the lane. Others have now taken to taking a U-turn without going around the roundabout, regardless of the danger they pose to others, besides themselves. All of them 100% youngsters!
On the main G.T. road it is common to see a truck or a tractor approaching you on your left and right at the same time....no traffic police bothers as it is considered quite normal.
About the motorcyclists, they are so arrogantly rude and undisciplined on the road, that the less said the better. And who are they- all youngsters! In Delhi they actually demolish road dividers at places of their convenience to take short cuts. Yet no one bothers, despite their damaging national property and endangering the lives and vehicles of other road users! Doing anything about them is too much trouble! Instead, we senior citizens are easy target. In the process the typical Indian way of showing ' something' is being done without bothering to address the main problem at hand and which takes an effort, is being proposed to be followed aimlessly.
We senior citizens are far more bothered about hurting our bones and drive much more carefully. Yet they want to ban us instead, so that the mayhem can continue on the roads.
In one television show on travel, a foreign commentator 'sarcastically' stated that there is mayhem on Indian roads with no discernible rules being observed and that the general approach is ' Lane driving is optional and overtaking is compulsory" being the general attitude! In another instant, a British traffic policeman on a visit stated in the newspaper that he was aghast at what he observed on the Indian roads. That between the airport and the hotel he found such brazen disregard of basic regulations that, because of the danger they posed to themselves and others on the road, in a city like London, he would have made numerous arrests. But in India...Que Sera Sera!
Issuing of licences should be outsourced, by law, to an NGO or a totally independent regulator who employs only globally competent personnel to teach and then test license seekers before they are approved. Thereafter, just and objective enforcement has to be thought through to make the effort effective.
Yet it doesn't bother us!
So what do we do, kick the nearest dog!
Jai Ho!

S.S.Gill

President
AA Upper India.
Dear Sir,
Kindly refer to a press news appeared in the Times of India on 16th January, 2010 vide which a proposal is being finalised to debar Senior Citizens at the age of 72 years & above to drive their own vehicles. In this connection, it is pointed out that Senior Citizens even at the age of 80 years & above are driving safely in compression to younger generations. If they are debarred, then they will be at the mercy of Threewheelers/Taxi at the risk of their own life as most of them are living alone and has to attend their day to day activities by driving themselves.
The Council is representing senior Citizens all over Delhi & a list of 603 active Senior Citizens may kindly be seen from pages 115 to 148 in the place below Souvenir-2008. I therefore, request you to take up the above issue with the Ministry of Surface & Transpor, Govt. of India, New Delhi as your Association is the largest motoring organisation.
J.R. Gupta

President
AA Upper India.

Dear Sir,
I have read the AAUI President's article in The Upper India Motorist issue of Feb-2010 with interest and some concern.
The entire issue of restraining or prohibiting the elderlys from driving on the apprehension of their capacity or habits or limitations is misplaced in my views. In fact it is the youngers who are more unruly in driving on the roads. One does often suspects that driving licenses are issued/obtained without properly testing their ability to drive. This phenomenon hardly ever exists in the case of elederly citizens who by nature are more sober & careful - may be somewhat slow in driving on the roads. Most accidents involve only younger drivers.
In view of the above I do not at all support any amendment to the Central Motor Vehicle Act only for the elders. The present Act itself provides for the required checks etc while renewing the driving licenses. What is really required is observance of the provisions of the Act while issuing & renewing the licenses - uniformly for all.
I can be contacted on telephone no. 9811671671
R.P. Singhal

President
AA Upper India
Dear Sir,
I would like to state as an AAUI member, and for the record, declare that this "72 years driving age limit" proposal (brought to my notice by "The Upper India Motorist": Vol. No. 60, Issue No. 2, February 2010) is perverse, uncivil and incomprehensible;
Sure, let's test elderly citizens over a certain age for their driving skills in the name of road safety...
All I can add, concerning this moronic proposal, is that I know many otherwise healthy teen-agers who, in my opinion, are far, far more dangerous on the roads than several octogenarian drivers, whom I have the privilege of knowing...
So, what's wrong with a simple eye/reflex test for the over-72's?
Is Mr Kamal Nath, Union Minister, listening...?
Or do the wretched, semi-educated, "Babu's" - who have framed our laws since time immemorial (their elected political masters being always too busy elsewhere, to deal with such mundane matters, matters which they were presumably elected to resolve).
Arjun Sahgal

drive.