Is Ireland ageist?

challengemaster

SarahBeep! wrote: »

However, young males are more likely to drive erratically! I know it sounds like I'm generalising but when was the last time you heard of the young adult behind the wheel killing X amount of people being a female?

No, Some PEOPLE happen to drive erratically. It just so happens, that some of them happen to be young and male. You're also ignoring any reason/cause in crashes, and taken it that if a young male was involved in a crash, they were the cause..

That's the same arguement as this, just changed slightly.
"I've heard of X amount of girls dropping out of college" Now, lets ignore why and make a sweeping generalisation from that.
"Girls are more likely to be stupid"

You may not hear about it as much, probably because you really only ever hear about a crash if there's a male driving anyway, but from the stats the RSA have, it seems to me women are the worse drivers.

Insect Overlord

Judging from 18 months of driving around Limerick City, the standard of driving in general is rubbish. It doesn't seem to vary at all from male to female, whatever the age-group. I've no real experience of roads in the rest of the country, but I'd imagine it's similar elsewhere. The whole culture of driving in this country needs to be changed. If that has to start with our generation, so be it.

wayhey

I think Ireland's much more ageist towards the elderly, e.g. taking away age cards and attacking social welfare. Elderly people are much more likely to be isolated members of society. At least we have youth on our side- we're well able to protest and give out and make a racket about it. Elderly people can't. Makes me sick how they're treated sometimes.

Cian92

amacachi wrote: »

Supply and Demand tbh. Any services provided to people outside urban areas are generally subsidised by those in urban areas. Electricity, phones, water & waste (if you're on the main networks) etc. Is that fair? Not trying to have a dig or anything, just pointing out that everything has to be paid for, and in this country usually by someone else.

Rarely! Where I live there is no public water or waste system, you have to build your own. Electricity was subsidised back during the Rural Electrification Scheme, nowadays if no ESB lines are passing you have to pay extra to have them brought out to you. Yes, buses are subsidised but are infrequent.

QueenOfLeon

I think the way the insurance companies and the RSA treat young drivers is completely unfair, but I can't see any easy way to solve the problems with road deaths without a lot of hard work put in by the gardai and the government. Insurance for young male drivers is discriminatory. Out of interest I checked insurance quotes with my boyfriend a few months back. I have a learners permit, and at the time, NO driving experience, and my insurance policy would have been about €300 cheaper than the bf who has a full driving licence and 2 years no claims bonus. If we were both to go out and drive, its fairly obvious that I'm more likely to cause some form of accident, due to inexperience. As much as I like the fact my insurance will be nice and low when I actually start, I think its a bit unfair that the insurance companies seem to trust me more than a qualified, experienced driver.

Another thing I think is ridiculous about the stats...theres no explanation as to how these accidents happen. I don't have any figures but as Ginja Ninja mentioned before, the rate of suicide is highest among this age bracket. I'm only guessing, but surely some of these road deaths are caused by suicide? Another thing is drink driving. No amount of lessons are going to prevent someone from drink driving and causing an accident, its only something the gardai can prevent. Then theres other cases like falling asleep behind the wheel, medical conditions etc...unless the RSA actually release proper statistics showing how many road fatalities are caused by dangerous driving, you can't say that all 17-25 year olds are dangerous drivers.

meoklmrk91

QueenOfLeon wrote: »

I think the way the insurance companies and the RSA treat young drivers is completely unfair, but I can't see any easy way to solve the problems with road deaths without a lot of hard work put in by the gardai and the government. Insurance for young male drivers is discriminatory. Out of interest I checked insurance quotes with my boyfriend a few months back. I have a learners permit, and at the time, NO driving experience, and my insurance policy would have been about €300 cheaper than the bf who has a full driving licence and 2 years no claims bonus. If we were both to go out and drive, its fairly obvious that I'm more likely to cause some form of accident, due to inexperience. As much as I like the fact my insurance will be nice and low when I actually start, I think its a bit unfair that the insurance companies seem to trust me more than a qualified, experienced driver.

Another thing I think is ridiculous about the stats...theres no explanation as to how these accidents happen. I don't have any figures but as Ginja Ninja mentioned before, the rate of suicide is highest among this age bracket. I'm only guessing, but surely some of these road deaths are caused by suicide? Another thing is drink driving. No amount of lessons are going to prevent someone from drink driving and causing an accident, its only something the gardai can prevent. Then theres other cases like falling asleep behind the wheel, medical conditions etc...unless the RSA actually release proper statistics showing how many road fatalities are caused by dangerous driving, you can't say that all 17-25 year olds are dangerous drivers.

I would argue that that issue is far more a problem with the older generation, I know very few young people who will get behind the wheel of a car after even 1 or 2 drinks. Where as pretty much every Saturday night there are older men who get into the car and drive home when they are absolutely bladdered. A guy got caught recently near where I live after he left the pub sat into the car turned the ignition and fell asleep, however since there wasn't a youtube video of this particular idiot it didn't make the news.

whadabouchasir

If insurance companies are able to charge young poeple more for car insurance because they're a higher risk than older drivers then why can't insurance companies charge less to young people for health insurance? Obviously oung people are less likely to get ill and need medical treatment,so why can't our insurance be cheaper?Atm we're subsidising the health insurance of old people.

Bowel Cancer

Yes this country is disgustingly ageist. It is run for the older generations as they are the ones that vote. I'm 27 and it always pissed me off once I hit 17 how much **** I had to deal with. Of course older people are the only ones whose voice gets heard when it comes to ageism.

Bowel Cancer

whadabouchasir wrote: »

If insurance companies are able to charge young poeple more for car insurance because they're a higher risk than older drivers then why can't insurance companies charge less to young people for health insurance? Obviously oung people are less likely to get ill and need medical treatment,so why can't our insurance be cheaper?Atm we're subsidising the health insurance of old people.

That sums up the whole situation. Having their cake and eating it.

Insect Overlord

whadabouchasir wrote: »

Obviously oung people are less likely to get ill and need medical treatment,so why can't our insurance be cheaper?Atm we're subsidising the health insurance of old people.

Young people are less likely to suffer from certain illnesses, but to say we're less likely to get ill at all is a ridiculous statement. There's always a chance of picking up a sports injury, or getting hurt in the home, or picking up an infection from people in school/college. Just because it doesn't happen to you doesn't stop it from happening to other young people.

Bowel Cancer

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Young people are less likely to suffer from certain illnesses, but to say we're less likely to get ill at all is a ridiculous statement.

So you think young people are more likely to get ill than old people?

Insect Overlord

Bowel Cancer wrote: »

So you think young people are more likely to get ill than old people?

Nope. I'm questioning another poster's generalisation, not creating one of my own

Grindylow

In fairness, health insurance is health insurance. Everyone is just as likely to get ill! Young people are more at risk of breakages, etc, than an older person, but an older person is more likely to contract some form of illness so it pretty much balances out in the long run!

Pygmalion

whadabouchasir wrote: »

Obviously oung people are less likely to get ill and need medical treatment,so why can't our insurance be cheaper?Atm we're subsidising the health insurance of old people.

Because if that happened you'd be bitching about it in 15 years time, since you never get sick and you're just subsidising the young people with their sports injuries and STDs.

whadabouchasir

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Young people are less likely to suffer from certain illnesses, but to say we're less likely to get ill at all is a ridiculous statement.

This isn't ridiculous at all it's completely true.statistically young people cost the health service less and are less likely to need medical care.hence why the HSE pay GPs more for older patients on medical cards than they do for younger people on medical cards.

You may also have heard of risk equalisation within the health insurance market.Basically the government wanted to force the other health insurance companies to pay compensation to VHI because VHI had a higher percentage of older customers.Why?because insuring old people is less profitable since they are much more likely to make a claim.This is not a generalisation or unfounded speculaton it is the truth.