Qld: Grey group angry at judge
BRISBANE, April 24 AAP - An advocacy group today called on the judiciary to stop stereotypingthe elderly after a judge showed sympathy for a man who broke an 80-year-old driver'sjaw in a road rage incident.
In sentencing the man yesterday, Southport District Court Judge Robert Hall said hetoo, was often annoyed by elderly drivers.
Val French, chairwoman of the Older Persons Speak Out group, said such comments couldbe "the thin end of the wedge" and violence was never acceptable in society.
"It is very dangerous for the judiciary to decide that they can judge in terms of stereotypes,"
Ms French told ABC Radio today.
"And it is stereotyping to say that all old drivers are a nuisance and all old driversgo slowly."
Judge Hall sentenced 33-year-old former jockey Warren Keith Watts to 150 hours of communityservice with no conviction recorded for breaking the jaw of Ronald Parry-Jones at RunawayBay on the Gold Coast in July 2000.
"I have to say I'm young enough to sympathise with you," said the 61-year-old judge.
"I'm often annoyed by Volvo or Kingswood drivers in their hats who drive more slowlyand timidly than I think they should."
But Mr Watts had "gone too far" when he punched NSW tourist Mr Parry-Jones in the facea number of times after his car had become stuck behind that of Mr Parry-Jones.
Ms French said Judge Hall should have known better than to make those comments.
"I think he really needs to rethink his attitude towards the whole community," she said.
Professor Mary Sheen of the Queensland University of Technology centre for accidentresearch and road safety, said older drivers were sensitive to their skills, includinghearing loss and fading eyesight.
Prof Sheen said she had been researching elderly drivers and their driving habits.
She said some drivers felt that their right to speed overruled everything but the rightsof other road users were often ignored.
These people included pedestrians, cyclists, school children and "cautious and carefulolder drivers", Prof Sheen said.
AAP rad/sc/pw/bwl
KEYWORD: JUDGE LEAD
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