Driving & Driving Test Tips: Traffic accident causes, joke question, cause of accidents

Question
Hello

Three quick questions.
In your personal experience, is advancing age often a cause of accidents, and about what is the time in life that driving abilities start to decrease.

If you see someone ahead of you who is weaving from side to side in the road, what is your best advice .. speed up and get in front of them or hang back.

No, this is not a joke question.  I spent 40 years in the LA area before moving to rural Washington and I always wondered, what does the traffic detail do about places like In n' Out hamburgers where I always noticed cars out the drive way and half way around the block.  I really miss those hamburgers. Does the company have to make any special arrangements for traffic control caused by their enormous popularity?

Thanks for your efforts to answer my questions.

Answer
1.  Age does come into play with older drivers, in that, many start to loose good driving abilities as they get older and can cause accidents.  But this skill is dependent upon the individual.  Many people age well and don't loose their skills as fast as others.  This could be their sight going bad, there cognitive skills deteriorating, or other mental/physical skills going bad.  

2.  This could be a drunk driver or a temporary condition such as some one looking for something in the car or a parent counseling a child.  It is always a good bet to stay behind a person driving in this manner, staying the correct distance behind them such as the 2 second rule (watch a point on the roadway and count two seconds before you pass the same spot).  But many drunk drivers also slow down a lot and clog up traffic.  If you can pass, do so as safely as possible and make sure to get well ahead of them but watch them to make sure they are not coming up on you from behind.  The best solution is to pull over and allow them to travel on until they are not in sight and then continue on yourself.

3.  No there is usually no one assigned to direct trafic for these places.  It is the same as traffic backing up onto the freeway at an exit.  Drivers must stay aware of traffic conditions at all times, even at popular locations that have a lot of congestion.  The only time trafic is monitored is usually at places that draw a lot of traffic such as Hollywood Blvd on the week ends where all the cruisers like to hang out.