old driver ohhhhh dear

[Claymore]

.

 

[Limey Lurker]

>I got me thinking as to how many others are there driving without feeling in their sodding feet? the thought of one coming up behind a bike and not feeling the >brakes is frightening.

Well, there was Douglas Bader, for a start.

 

[ChrisR]

Brian.

I now have to drive an automatic car, due to having Multiple Sclerosis, and the DVLA restricting my driving licence.

I don’t have any feeling plus restricted mobility in my right foot/leg, however I have an adaption which moves the accelerator operation to my left foot, so both accelerator and brakes are operated by my left foot. I am now on my third car with this type of adaption.

However when this type of adaption is first fitted, you have to have instruction by a DVLA approved instructor, you then have to take a driving competency assessment test, again by a DVLA approved examiner, to receive a pass certificate which is held by the DVLA and a restricted driving licence issued for the maximum of three years, you then have to reapply, at which point the DVLA, contacts my Doctor, plus the MS specialist nurse or consultant, and if deemed necessary, take a further driving assessment. Glad to say, to date, I have not had to take a retest.

Just posted as this may be an answer for the father-in-law, if he has better feeling/control over his left foot, than the right.

Take care.

Chris R.

PS. All of my cars have been privately purchased by myself, plus paying for the adaption, only concession, I don’t pay VAT on the price of the adaption.

 

[doorframe]

I now have to drive an automatic car, due to having Multiple Sclerosis, and the DVLA restricting my driving licence.

My sympathies for your health issues.

I have always driven an automatic, due to wising-up far earlier than the average road user.

 

[Glynne]

I think elderly drivers will become more of a problem as life expectancy increases and it is difficult if the driver is a close relative. My Mum (now 92) drove well into her 80s but my sister and I had major concerns over her eyesight. To cut a long story short, we bullied her into an eyesight test and she failed the peripheral sight element so the optician quite rightly reported her to the DVLA who revoked her licence.
Despite trying to explain that she might not see a child on the edge of the road whilst looking ahead, she badgered and harassed the DVLA who eventually gave in and gave her, quite wrongly, her driving licence back.
It was only when both of us (and respective families) refused to get in a car she was driving did she eventually give up driving - and have we stopped ever hearing about it?
It is a very serious subject but.........when reminded that she failed the field vision test, her reply was it was because she was dyslexic!

 

[monkeybiter]

I found it very testing persuading my late dad to give up driving.

 

[Mike.S]

I found it very testing persuading my late dad to give up driving.

Would you have a chat with my 87 year old Dad?

He used to be a Class 1 Police driver (pursuits etc) and still thinks he has the same judgement/reactions. His recent collissions with a tree and oil drum - that leapt out at him - was only capped by him hitting the rear of a skip truck! He'll tell anyone that will listen that the truck driver reversed (it was stationery at traffic lights) to hit him deliberately as he pulled out from behind it (in order to beat it away from the lights, I suspect).

 

[monkeybiter]

I found it very testing persuading my late dad to give up driving.

Would you have a chat with my 87 year old Dad?

No thanks, once was enough :wink:
I can understand the 'pain' of coming to terms with the fact that you are no longer competent to perform a task, when you have always been proud of your abilities in that area. My dad had been driving ~60 years, had been a volunteer ambulance driver, had been a keen motorcyclist [even owning a motorbike shop in Ramsgate in the 50's] and to have his abilities questioned must naturally have caused offence and resentment at first. It is a also unquestionably a sign that the finishing line is in sight. Very difficult to get past.

 

[AES]

I really don't want to start a "it's better over here" type thread, but purely by coincidence, just today I was with my GP for a general health and sight test.

The reason for that is just a few weeks back I hit the big seven oh, and just like everyone else of that age here, I got a letter from the equivalent of the UK DVLA which said "If you want to keep your driving licence you now have two months to undergo a special sight and mobility test because you're now over 70". Included was a list of Drs officially approved to carry out the tests and conveniently included on the list was my own GP.

I was still somewhat nervous about it all though because I have an on-going back problem which is not yet fully fixed, even after a successful op last December. Fortunately my GP does know all about this, but that didn't stop her doing the full reflexes and feet feelings tests (somewhat reduced in my case) plus walking a straight line, balancing on a single foot and on both toes and heels, etc, etc, as well as a full sight test.

I did pass, and normally I would not have the test again until age 75, then at 2 yearly intervals thereafter. But in my case, due to the reduced nerve reactions etc ( I CAN feel the pedals and can brake fine, including full emergency) plus the fact that I'm still in the hands of "the back quack," she's only passed me for one year. If no improvement after that one year I'll have to take a special driving test, and/or see a specialist (assuming the back quack hasn't signed me off as fixed by then). If all OK then I'll be back to the "standard automatic routine" of next test at age 75, then 2 yearly thereafter.

The reason for saying all the above is that I was thinking today about what would happen if I do fail, and I have to say that if I had failed it wouldn't really have been the end of the world really, but it WOULD have pineappling well have felt like it!!! So I can very well understand people's resistance to giving up until forced.

So with those thoughts in mind, then reading the above, then also remembering my own father, years ago now, with whom I had a real "fight" to get him to stop driving (for his own sake as well as others), I really do think it's time that every "civilised" country had a system similar to our own here in Switzerland. Then at least if your licence does get taken away it's not because some family member has pushed you into it but because "officialdom" has decreed it, for good reason - AND there's no getting your licence back without proper medical support either.

Our system is not particularly expensive or difficult to administer either - you (the patient) pay for that test, but it's covered by the health insurance anyway (or a minimum portion is paid, according to the level of cover you've bought). And it's pretty simple/cheap to administer too I guess.

Not saying it's marvellous, but personally, having reached that "certain age" myself, I see a lot of factors in favour of such a regime and really few down sides to the principle.

(OTOH, if I had failed the test today perhaps this post would read much differently ).

FWIW

Krgds
AES

 

[Bod]

Having been through this with the father in law.
We discovered the local road safety office, runs a senior driver assessment scheme.
Father in law, accepted their assessment of his driving, and gave up the car.

Bod