Glad you were OK!
About a year ago, I was walking back to the parking lot after finishing work. I was looking down, since I was pushing a bunch of heavy gardening gear on casters over a bumpy sidewalk. I heard a screech of brakes and a crash nearby. I looked up, and maybe 50 feet ahead of me was a Volkswagon Beetle, coming OVER the curb, over the sidewalk, and careening down the hill, where it crashed into a corner of the building. If it had been 30 seconds later, I would have been roadkill ("sidewalk kill"?). I was really shaken up. The driver was a young woman, probably from the nearby college. She was OK but pretty shaken up too. The building only had a couple minor chips to the bricks. The car, however, was probably totalled.
I think new drivers can be almost as dangerous as older ones. Of course, as a middle-aged mom with too much on her mind, I have been known to do some pretty absent-minded things while driving on occasion.
In Washington, DC, I believe they are considering a law to require older drivers to retake their behind the wheel drivers test periodically. And I think AARP is lobbying heavily against it. Personally, I know an awful lot of elderly drivers who shouldn't be behind the wheel. I feel for them, not wanting to give up their independence, but I think public safety should be the first consideration.