A New Zealand man is still driving despite already celebrating a century on Earth, and he’s the oldest man in his country to do so.
Bob Edwards got his first drivers license when he was 17 in 1925, and he learned on a French-made car that didn’t have a steering wheel, but rather a lever. He’s one of the oldest people on the road in the world, but he says it doesn’t really faze him. In fact, when he broke his hip a few years ago, he was warned by his doctor not to drive for at least six weeks, but because he drives an automatic he ignored the advice.
“I don’t think I’m old,” Edwards says. “Not really.”
Edwards says he’s only been in one accident and has only had one traffic ticket during his near-90 years on the road. Driving used to be his business; as a young man, he used his truck to work for farmers transporting fossilized gum from kauri trees. Later, he worked on tourist and car ferries. Nowadays he mainly uses he car to get back and forth to the grocery store, because he still cooks meals for his wife, who is 91.
“As far as I’m concerned, driving is a part of me,” he said. “I mean, that was me. I was a driver. And I could drive anything. Anything at all.”
Edwards isn’t alone; in January, 105-year old California woman Edythe Kirchmaier passed her latest driving test with flying colors.