Posted on 01/19/2019 8:23:06 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip is said to be doing fine after his SUV flipped in a car crash Thursday near the queen's country estate in eastern England. The 97-year-old was behind the wheel during the collision...
The force of impact shattered the windshield and jolted the prince, who was strapped into the driver's seat. He walked away without serious injuries but witnesses said he was lucky to escape alive.
One witness said Philip was lightly bleeding and appeared "very shocked" but was pulled from the wreck with the help of bystander Roy Warne. "I helped him move his legs which were a little trapped and a bit crushed, then I saw his face and I realized who it was," Warne said.
Two women in a second vehicle were hospitalized with minor injuries and a nine-month-old baby was found uninjured in their backseat. Police are investigating what caused the crash with many people surprised to hear Philip was behind the wheel at his age.
"Prince Philip, as we know, is a very determined headstrong individual who has wanted to retain a sense of individual freedoms right up to the age of 97 and you can understand that," said Royal correspondent Roya Nikka. "This is also a man who served in the navy, who served in the Second World War, a man who has seen action, who has been active his whole life."
But over the years he's had to dial it back, giving up flying planes and playing polo. In 2017, he retired from his royal duties.
The prince is said to be home resting with the queen by his side. While he escaped uninjured, Buckingham Palace isn't taking this lightly. Some say it's unlikely he will be allowed to drive on public roads again.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
No, not in January in a northern latitude. Nonetheless, it looks like he pulled out into oncoming traffic.
According to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in England:
“Older drivers, who represent 15 percent of all licensed drivers, cause 7 percent of all two-car accidents (both fatal and nonfatal). Younger drivers, on the other hand, who represent 13 percent of all licensed drivers, cause 43 percent of all two-car accidents.”
So if you’re going to use a one size fits all thought process for driving safety, then everyone under about 25 years old would have to forfeit their license twice as fast as a senior driver.
Seniors driving in England are not unusual. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) figured in November showed 110,790 people aged 90 or over still held driving licenses. There were 314 license holders aged at least 100. The oldest were four people who were 107. And they, also, say, “The decision to hang up your keys is a tough one but should be based on personal advice from your GP (family doctor) and family, rather than being based on some arbitrary age.”
Prince Phillip was a pilot of which he gave up his license in 1997. He did give up polo at the age of 50 but switched to another equestrian sport, carriage driving, which he still enjoys. So he’s an active 97 in English theology. But the decision by his doctors and his family will be the test.
There are other battles to fight on the public roadways that are more important, and by the numbers, more destructive. I would feel far more safer on the roads with a senior driver than a fool with alcohol or drugs in them which is the number one road killer in our country.
rwood
What’d anyone expect from driving on the wrong side of the highway ?
We did sort of the same thing. Disabled Hubby’s dad’s car. Next thing we knew someone from the dealership he had dealt with all his life was there to tow it into the shop because....there’s something wrong with it. lol We had to go to the dealership and then take it to a storage unit. Next thing we knew he was driving the dealership nuts with 30 calls a day wanting to know where his car was. Was a huge fiasco and we never heard the last about that stupid car. He had dementia.
Well, I’m not far behind the Prince in age and stand for him. Age doesn’t cause accidents. In this case the sun blinded him. That happens to people of any age. You go Phillip!!!
“My mom was driving on the freeways of San Diego at 99. She had some fender benders—when people crashed into her——”
At least that’s what she told you.:-)
Most women are better at self-restricting their driving than men are-—I am one of them.
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I would rather drive the highways with 90 year olders than these spaced out Coloradans.
Thank god my 8o y.o. dad isn’t stubborn. He gave up his motorcycle 15 years ago because he knew he couldn’t handle it anymore and he admitted to me as he was driving us to an estate sale last weekend that it might be time “real soon” to give up his driving all together.
Well, I’m still driving into town to church and to shop, and I’m 83. That’s 12 miles each way. And I drive through town over to the hospital for blood tests, another 5 miles or so.
When I was a teen and early 20s, I did a little NASCAR racing, and I still know how to drive, and do it carefully. Also say a prayer each time I start off, that I won’t have an accident or hurt anyone else.
No damage to my car for four or five years now, and most earlier damage was getting scraped while in the supermarket parking lot, and the like.
I don’t know the details, but the Prince’s accident sounds like something that might happen to anybody, whatever age.
“Same as most other men who are 97———he’s no different.
Time to stop driving. Period.”
I had a relative who drove until his 100th birthday.
He had bought a new Ford Deluxe in 1946 and drove it to work at the bank, a 4 mile drive, and to church, 2 miles, every week until he retired.
Then it was to church each week and twice monthly to town until he reached 100.
His reason for parking his beloved Deluxe?
Without power steering it was too difficult to park the old girl and he was too old to pay the money for a new car.
He lived to 110 and hated being chauffeured around.
When they pulled him out, he said, “I’m alive, I’m alive! Thank God”. When told he was very lucky to survive the crash, he replied, “What crash?”
Should have disabled his phone, too.
Sandringham is a LOT further North than you are, and the sun is nowhere nearly as high in the sky in winter there compared to your far southern location.
Having lived well North, yes, the sun CAN be in your eyes at 3 in the afternoon.
“He had bought a new Ford Deluxe in 1946 and drove it to work at the bank, a 4 mile drive, and to church, 2 miles, every week until he retired.
Then it was to church each week and twice monthly to town until he reached 100.”
Good for him,he restricted himself-———apparently no highway or night time driving.
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A phone is a lifeline. sheesh
Until you can’t reach it. That what the little pendants are for.
Just checked on google maps and there’s a “give way” sign on his road. He better pay for the other car’s occupants’ injuries, buy them a new car (hey, he already got a new car, no slackers on his end) and a huge “sorry I’m a twit and shouldn’t be driving” check before they sue the Royals for every pound they have. Or are they immune to being sued?
LOL! Well, where we are during the winter months and all the afternoon sun can be brutal. If you happen to be driving west that is.
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