Ashburton school student hit by car

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is horrifying. I wonder if the elderly driver had vision issues and then maybe also mixed up the gas and the brake or something. Until I saw that it was an elderly person I assumed the driver was texting or something (or maybe they were anyway). Or that someone had a seizure or a heart attack and their foot jammed on the gas. Learning that it was just sheer horrible driving is really bad.

This is not an MCPS bus stop location issue. It's an issue of an incompetent elderly driver. This driver could have jumped any curb and hit any pedestrian on any street anywhere. It's not like the stop was out on Rockville Pike. Unless we are going to make kids wait 250 feet away from the stop in the middle of a field somewhere, or install bollards along every roadway in the county, there is always going to be the potential for a horrible accident of some kind. This sounds like the kind of driver you might see on the news another day who gets the pedals confused and drives through a storefront.

Let's hope this is an impetus for making elderly drivers take steps each year to prove their fitness for continued driving. Reaction times, vision, cognitive performance, etc. Heck, all drivers. We are so lax in this country in qualifying people to operate these lethal machines with minimal training and standards compared to other countries.

If it hadn’t been a dangerous bus stop there would have been no one to hit!

This accident has nothing to do with the bus stop. It’s all about a driver who had no right being on the road.
Something needs to be done about elderly drivers

It had everything to do with a bus stop at a cross street on a main road. BOE has blood on their hands.

We used to live in the area and DH did not want our child walking to that bus stop and standing alone so we actually drove DC to school even though DC was old enough to walk to and from the bus stop alone. It is a very busy street with a lot of traffic. My heart goes out to the family.

[Anonymous]

It’s a driving safety issue. It needs to be MUCH harder to get and maintain a drivers license in this country, especially as people get up into their 70s and 80s.

My heart goes out to the little boy’s family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is horrifying. I wonder if the elderly driver had vision issues and then maybe also mixed up the gas and the brake or something. Until I saw that it was an elderly person I assumed the driver was texting or something (or maybe they were anyway). Or that someone had a seizure or a heart attack and their foot jammed on the gas. Learning that it was just sheer horrible driving is really bad.

This is not an MCPS bus stop location issue. It's an issue of an incompetent elderly driver. This driver could have jumped any curb and hit any pedestrian on any street anywhere. It's not like the stop was out on Rockville Pike. Unless we are going to make kids wait 250 feet away from the stop in the middle of a field somewhere, or install bollards along every roadway in the county, there is always going to be the potential for a horrible accident of some kind. This sounds like the kind of driver you might see on the news another day who gets the pedals confused and drives through a storefront.

Let's hope this is an impetus for making elderly drivers take steps each year to prove their fitness for continued driving. Reaction times, vision, cognitive performance, etc. Heck, all drivers. We are so lax in this country in qualifying people to operate these lethal machines with minimal training and standards compared to other countries.

If it hadn’t been a dangerous bus stop there would have been no one to hit!

This accident has nothing to do with the bus stop. It’s all about a driver who had no right being on the road.
Something needs to be done about elderly drivers

It had everything to do with a bus stop at a cross street on a main road. BOE has blood on their hands.

We used to live in the area and DH did not want our child walking to that bus stop and standing alone so we actually drove DC to school even though DC was old enough to walk to and from the bus stop alone. It is a very busy street with a lot of traffic. My heart goes out to the family.

Grosvenor Lane is busy, and the speed limit should be 25, but that is not what caused this particular accident.

[Anonymous]

My heart breaks for this family. I can't imagine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is horrifying. I wonder if the elderly driver had vision issues and then maybe also mixed up the gas and the brake or something. Until I saw that it was an elderly person I assumed the driver was texting or something (or maybe they were anyway). Or that someone had a seizure or a heart attack and their foot jammed on the gas. Learning that it was just sheer horrible driving is really bad.

This is not an MCPS bus stop location issue. It's an issue of an incompetent elderly driver. This driver could have jumped any curb and hit any pedestrian on any street anywhere. It's not like the stop was out on Rockville Pike. Unless we are going to make kids wait 250 feet away from the stop in the middle of a field somewhere, or install bollards along every roadway in the county, there is always going to be the potential for a horrible accident of some kind. This sounds like the kind of driver you might see on the news another day who gets the pedals confused and drives through a storefront.

Let's hope this is an impetus for making elderly drivers take steps each year to prove their fitness for continued driving. Reaction times, vision, cognitive performance, etc. Heck, all drivers. We are so lax in this country in qualifying people to operate these lethal machines with minimal training and standards compared to other countries.

If it hadn’t been a dangerous bus stop there would have been no one to hit!

This accident has nothing to do with the bus stop. It’s all about a driver who had no right being on the road.
Something needs to be done about elderly drivers

It had everything to do with a bus stop at a cross street on a main road. BOE has blood on their hands.

No they don’t, the real issue is the state or county should have rules in place to determine the competence of older drivers. Maybe more of a health screening requirement after a certain age.

I don't see it happening, but I wish it would. Old people need to get medicine, food, doctors etc, right? How will they get them? As long as they vote in republicans, who need to appease their base, it won't happen. They should, at a minimum, require an eye test once you reach a certain age.

In Maryland, a vision test is already required for ages 40 and up, each time you renew (every five years). At any age, if you have a medical condition that could impact your ability to drive, you are required to disclose it. At the age 70 renewal, Maryland requires a physician's report. Your ability to drive can be limited based on medical condition or driving record. You can be forced to retake the written or road test based on medical condition or driving record. There are already limits in place, but they are not sufficient for an aging population in a car centric area. My heart breaks for this family. This is a terrible tragedy and I think our state politicians could do more to prevent future tragedies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is horrifying. I wonder if the elderly driver had vision issues and then maybe also mixed up the gas and the brake or something. Until I saw that it was an elderly person I assumed the driver was texting or something (or maybe they were anyway). Or that someone had a seizure or a heart attack and their foot jammed on the gas. Learning that it was just sheer horrible driving is really bad.

This is not an MCPS bus stop location issue. It's an issue of an incompetent elderly driver. This driver could have jumped any curb and hit any pedestrian on any street anywhere. It's not like the stop was out on Rockville Pike. Unless we are going to make kids wait 250 feet away from the stop in the middle of a field somewhere, or install bollards along every roadway in the county, there is always going to be the potential for a horrible accident of some kind. This sounds like the kind of driver you might see on the news another day who gets the pedals confused and drives through a storefront.

Let's hope this is an impetus for making elderly drivers take steps each year to prove their fitness for continued driving. Reaction times, vision, cognitive performance, etc. Heck, all drivers. We are so lax in this country in qualifying people to operate these lethal machines with minimal training and standards compared to other countries.

If it hadn’t been a dangerous bus stop there would have been no one to hit!

Where is a "safe bus stop"? This could've happened on a quiet road, too. The driver was not speeding. The driver lost control of the car. If that happens on a quiet road, even a cul de sac where kids are waiting on the curb, they would get hit.

For goodness sake. You trying to find blame on anyone else but the driver is not helping. It's like you want to blame BOE for anything and everything, like if a tree fell on a kid waiting at the bus stop because the BOE should've known that a tree could fall and hurt a child. BOE fault, right? Give it a rest.

My heart aches for the family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is horrifying. I wonder if the elderly driver had vision issues and then maybe also mixed up the gas and the brake or something. Until I saw that it was an elderly person I assumed the driver was texting or something (or maybe they were anyway). Or that someone had a seizure or a heart attack and their foot jammed on the gas. Learning that it was just sheer horrible driving is really bad.

This is not an MCPS bus stop location issue. It's an issue of an incompetent elderly driver. This driver could have jumped any curb and hit any pedestrian on any street anywhere. It's not like the stop was out on Rockville Pike. Unless we are going to make kids wait 250 feet away from the stop in the middle of a field somewhere, or install bollards along every roadway in the county, there is always going to be the potential for a horrible accident of some kind. This sounds like the kind of driver you might see on the news another day who gets the pedals confused and drives through a storefront.

Let's hope this is an impetus for making elderly drivers take steps each year to prove their fitness for continued driving. Reaction times, vision, cognitive performance, etc. Heck, all drivers. We are so lax in this country in qualifying people to operate these lethal machines with minimal training and standards compared to other countries.

If it hadn’t been a dangerous bus stop there would have been no one to hit!

Where is a "safe bus stop"? This could've happened on a quiet road, too. The driver was not speeding. The driver lost control of the car. If that happens on a quiet road, even a cul de sac where kids are waiting on the curb, they would get hit.

For goodness sake. You trying to find blame on anyone else but the driver is not helping. It's like you want to blame BOE for anything and everything, like if a tree fell on a kid waiting at the bus stop because the BOE should've known that a tree could fall and hurt a child. BOE fault, right? Give it a rest.

My heart aches for the family.

100%. Enough with blaming MCPS for this.

[Anonymous]

A statement by the driver: “I lost control, and it was out of my control,” he said, saying he was “very, very sorry.”

According to WTOP:
The driver, who said he was 82, has not been charged.

[Anonymous]

There’s a 98 year old across the street from us who still drives.
I pray that she’s never out driving when my kids are at the bus stop at the end of our street.

Elderly drivers should definitely be under more scrutiny than they currently are. They’re a menace to public safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A statement by the driver: “I lost control, and it was out of my control,” he said, saying he was “very, very sorry.”

According to WTOP:
The driver, who said he was 82, has not been charged.

He didn't seem that sorry on the news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A statement by the driver: “I lost control, and it was out of my control,” he said, saying he was “very, very sorry.”

According to WTOP:
The driver, who said he was 82, has not been charged.

Yet. Hasn't been charged yet. At the very least he failed to exercise due care and attention and failed to control his speed to avoid an accident (i.e. didn't stop in order to not leave the roadway).

My late grandfather was still driving around at 93. The problem with all these laws is they don't require the elderly driver to affirmatively prove they're still competent to operate a vehicle. It's like as long as they're not actively in a memory care unit, the doctor won't do anything because nobody wants to upset Gramps and do the hard job of taking the keys away. Maybe if the doctor had to actually sign a form every year that put themselves on the line to say, "Yes, Mr. Jones is safe and able to operate a vehicle" instead of making it dependent on a concern being reported first and then more info being sought, there would be less of this. Those frequent Silver Alerts, where we're all supposed to be on the lookout for a confused elderly person operating a vehicle and getting lost somewhere? Those shouldn't be needed if driving laws were worth anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a 98 year old across the street from us who still drives.
I pray that she’s never out driving when my kids are at the bus stop at the end of our street.

Elderly drivers should definitely be under more scrutiny than they currently are. They’re a menace to public safety.

Yeah, try doing something about it, the old farts will immediately scream 'My freedums'!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a 98 year old across the street from us who still drives.
I pray that she’s never out driving when my kids are at the bus stop at the end of our street.

Elderly drivers should definitely be under more scrutiny than they currently are. They’re a menace to public safety.

Yeah, try doing something about it, the old farts will immediately scream 'My freedums'!

With any luck, we'll all be old farts one day.

[Anonymous]

We convinced my dad to stop driving at 82. He still regrets it three years later but it’s incidents like this that assure us we did the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is horrifying. I wonder if the elderly driver had vision issues and then maybe also mixed up the gas and the brake or something. Until I saw that it was an elderly person I assumed the driver was texting or something (or maybe they were anyway). Or that someone had a seizure or a heart attack and their foot jammed on the gas. Learning that it was just sheer horrible driving is really bad.

This is not an MCPS bus stop location issue. It's an issue of an incompetent elderly driver. This driver could have jumped any curb and hit any pedestrian on any street anywhere. It's not like the stop was out on Rockville Pike. Unless we are going to make kids wait 250 feet away from the stop in the middle of a field somewhere, or install bollards along every roadway in the county, there is always going to be the potential for a horrible accident of some kind. This sounds like the kind of driver you might see on the news another day who gets the pedals confused and drives through a storefront.

Let's hope this is an impetus for making elderly drivers take steps each year to prove their fitness for continued driving. Reaction times, vision, cognitive performance, etc. Heck, all drivers. We are so lax in this country in qualifying people to operate these lethal machines with minimal training and standards compared to other countries.

If it hadn’t been a dangerous bus stop there would have been no one to hit!

This accident has nothing to do with the bus stop. It’s all about a driver who had no right being on the road.
Something needs to be done about elderly drivers

My parents moved to MD at 75 in 2019. They only had a vision test. No Doctors report, no road test.

It had everything to do with a bus stop at a cross street on a main road. BOE has blood on their hands.

No they don’t, the real issue is the state or county should have rules in place to determine the competence of older drivers. Maybe more of a health screening requirement after a certain age.

I don't see it happening, but I wish it would. Old people need to get medicine, food, doctors etc, right? How will they get them? As long as they vote in republicans, who need to appease their base, it won't happen. They should, at a minimum, require an eye test once you reach a certain age.

In Maryland, a vision test is already required for ages 40 and up, each time you renew (every five years). At any age, if you have a medical condition that could impact your ability to drive, you are required to disclose it. At the age 70 renewal, Maryland requires a physician's report. Your ability to drive can be limited based on medical condition or driving record. You can be forced to retake the written or road test based on medical condition or driving record. There are already limits in place, but they are not sufficient for an aging population in a car centric area. My heart breaks for this family. This is a terrible tragedy and I think our state politicians could do more to prevent future tragedies.