World’s Oldest Driver

Bob Edwards learned to drive in a French car that had a lever instead
ofa steering wheel. And he's still on theroad, only now in a red
four-wheel-drive Mitsubishi.
The oldest licensed driver in New Zealand, and one of the oldest in
the world, has been driving for 88 of his 105 years and has no plans
to give it up, just as he intends to keep working out every morning in
his home gym, and to keep regularly cooking meals for himself and his
wife, who's 91.
"In fact, I don't think I'm old," Mr Edwards said. "Not really."
He's been involved in just one crash in his life and has gotten just
one speeding ticket, a citation that still gets him riled up years
later. When he broke his left hip three years ago, his doctors said to
stop driving for six weeks but he didn't pay them much mind. After
all, he says, he drives an automatic and only needs his right leg for
that.
In New Zealand, drivers older than 80 must have their health and
vision tested every two years to stay on the road. Many countries in
Europe and US states have similar requirements.
While stories about elderly drivers making mistakes or causing crashes
often make headlines, it's young drivers who tend to cause the most
damage.
"Older drivers, on a per-kilometre-driven basis, are involved in far
fewer crashes than younger drivers,"said Andy Knackstedt, a spokesman
for the New Zealand Transport Agency, which oversees driver testing.
He said that for many elderly people, retaining a license helps them
maintain their independence, mobility and dignity. "Our job is
reallyto balance that with the need to make sure our roads are safe,"
he says.
According to Guinness World Records, the world's oldest driver was
American Fred Hale Sr. who was on the road until his 108th birthday in
1998.
Mr Edwards drives three times a week to the store 15 kilometres down
the road. He picks up groceries on Sundays and the newspapers on other
days. Occasionally, he says, he'll drive farther afield, to a medical
appointment or to visit friends.
He grew up in England and he learned to drive in his uncle's car, a De
Dion Bouton.
"It was something new. Cars were just coming in," Mr Edwards says. "I
mean, it was just marvellous."
He got his first licence in 1925 at age17. Two years later, he saw a
Salvation Army ad seeking young men to work on the farms of England's
colonies.
"They told me Canada was very cold, Australia was very hot, but New
Zealand, they said, was just right," MrEdwards says. "So I picked New
Zealand."
He eventually bought a Dodge car, converted it into a truck and
started transporting the fossilised gum of native kauri trees from
Snells Beach in the north to the city of Auckland. Soon he was working
16-hour days and transporting butter, groceries and gas; he bought new
trucks and employed a couple of drivers.
Gas rationing during World War II effectively ended his business. For
much of the rest of his working life, he captained tourist and car
ferries, fibbing about his age so he could work beyond what was then
the mandatory retirement age of 60.
His wife, Lesley, stopped driving about 30 years ago. Her husband
always took the wheel, anyway, and he will stay with it as long as he
can.
"As far as I'm concerned, driving is a part of me," he says. "I mean,
that was me. I was a driver. And I could drive anything. Anything at
all."