A local tale

[andrew e]

Dignity? Maybe... liability possibly... however if some old fool has just unintentionally parked on the pavement as you pushed you daughters buggy pass, it makes you question things. Saying that I followed a timid woman the other day who carried out an emergency stop every time something came the other way and pulled to the kurb... she was mid 30's... I think retests for all after say 10, 20 years.

[r.welfare]

Why shouldn't my grandparents who are both over 75 now be able to go shopping and the like just because there 77 and 80?

No reason at all young Average, if their driving skills are still up to snuff. After all, Stirling Moss is 80 this year and I bet he's a better driver than most of us who are far younger.

 

The point I was specifically making is it can be very difficult to make the elderly driver in question realise that their skills and reaction times have deteriorated to the point of becoming dangerous, and that they should hang up the driving gloves before something like the incident Seth reported on has happened.

 

This is the issue I am currently facing with my father-in-law, not helped by the fact that my mother-in-law has to give him the keys once a month to fill it up, as the smell of petrol makes her nauseous.

 

Their Skoda Fabia is riddled with dents (to the point that it has bugger-all secondhand value, even though it only has 14,000 miles on the clock after 8 years!), so we know he's been hitting stuff - but he won't admit to it. He biffed someone else's car a couple of months ago and gave them his address, but by the time they came round with their insurance details the Alzheimer's had kicked in and he denied all knowledge. Luckily my mother-in-law handled the situation.

 

That's why I think the medical/re-test should operate more effectively once you reach a certain age. For those who still drive well, it shouldn't be a problem.

[Pete-M]

A chap I know is approaching 80 and it's getting to that dodgy time where it looks like he might have to give up driving soon. His son bought him an immaculate Fiat Punto a few months back and that is now ruined just by the old guy getting it in and out of his path. All four corners are damaged and the two rear 1/4 panels are stuffed in. Old guy reckons "It must have happened in the Asda car park" but it's identical damage to his last Punto..His son has now replaced the Punto with a Smart ForTwo. It's four foot shorter, so there's no excuse now.

[Mr Average]

Why shouldn't my grandparents who are both over 75 now be able to go shopping and the like just because there 77 and 80?

No reason at all young Average, if their driving skills are still up to snuff. After all, Stirling Moss is 80 this year and I bet he's a better driver than most of us who are far younger.

 

The point I was specifically making is it can be very difficult to make the elderly driver in question realise that their skills and reaction times have deteriorated to the point of becoming dangerous, and that they should hang up the driving gloves before something like the incident Seth reported on has happened.

 

This is the issue I am currently facing with my father-in-law, not helped by the fact that my mother-in-law has to give him the keys once a month to fill it up, as the smell of petrol makes her nauseous.

 

Their Skoda Fabia is riddled with dents (to the point that it has bugger-all secondhand value, even though it only has 14,000 miles on the clock after 8 years!), so we know he's been hitting stuff - but he won't admit to it. He biffed someone else's car a couple of months ago and gave them his address, but by the time they came round with their insurance details the Alzheimer's had kicked in and he denied all knowledge. Luckily my mother-in-law handled the situation.

 

That's why I think the medical/re-test should operate more effectively once you reach a certain age. For those who still drive well, it shouldn't be a problem.

I know exactly what you mean my other grandfather now 84, we literally about 18 months ago took the car away from him in the end before something like this happened. It was a difficult and traumatic to say the least, but in the end he understood why we did it. Mind this wasn't due to Alzheimer's it was macular degeneration.

 

I would be interested to know were the relatives of this old lady are, maybe she doesn't have any, there are oblivious to how bad her driving is, or they simply don't care.

[Mr Lobster]

AFAIK, when you reach 70 all you need to do to keep your driving licence is fill a form in to renew it. Thats it, no medical or anything. This is where the 'problem' with older drivers occurs. Few people will voluntarily hand back their licence if they don't have to I would imagine.A basic medical - in the same way that HGV licence holders have to have a more comprehensive one - would solve the problem and hopefully pick up any problems.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Am I right in thinking that doctors are obliged to thell the DVLA if you develop some fault which affects your ability to drive?

[Mr Lobster]

^ Not sure. I have a feeling that doctors aren't allowed to tell DVLA - something to do with patient confidentiality or something. Bear in mind though that it is illegal to drive if you have a condition which should be declared to DVLA and you haven;t declared it.

[Volksy]

I had to have a medical to do my bus licence, my GP who carried it out noted that I wear glasses/contacts so now my licence states that I HAVE to wear glasses/contacts if i'm driving.

[michiel]

Over here, if you renew your licence when your 60-65 it's then valid until you're 70; after 70 you need a medical check and if OK, you get a licence for the next 5 years, with a new check needed at 75, 80 etc. Stuff does go wrong occasionally in Holland, but it's mostly harmless. Don't really like riding with my father in law, but then I never really did: very slow, very scared or over-polite... glad he takes the train more often nowadays. I saw an old lady miss a dropped kerb by about 5 metres in her newish Suzuki the other day, scraping the underside of the car on the sidewalk, going up and off again. I didn't know whether to laugh because she turned very slowly towards the kerb and I thought she just wanted to do a u-turn at first, or report her to the authorities. In her defence it might have looked like the more logical route, there was a street on the other side of the sidewalk, you just needed to go 5 metres to the right first and then left-right again instead of taking the shortest route like she did.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Am I right in thinking that doctors are obliged to thell the DVLA if you develop some fault which affects your ability to drive?

No, the only thing that doctors can do is advise their patients that they suffer from a condition that impairs their ability to drive. Patients are then legally obliged to inform the DVLA about this. Whether this legal obligation means much in practice is subject to debate...As has been suggested above, it's ridiculous to set an age limit over which people won't be allowed to drive. People age very differently, and I have met people in their 80s who are in a better physical and mental shape than others in their 40s !I think a far better solution (again, as suggested by others) would be for drivers to undergo a compulsory medical assessment every -say- 5 years, with their physician being obliged to report any abnormal findings to the DVLA himself. This is perhaps a bit too strict, and probably not feasible from a legal/financial/resource point of view, but it could greatly reduce the possibility of a dead man crashing on you as you walk down the street, minding your own business (and, yes, I've actually seen such a case with my own eyes !!!).

[Guest]

I had to have a medical to do my bus licence, my GP who carried it out noted that I wear glasses/contacts so now my licence states that I HAVE to wear glasses/contacts if i'm driving.

If I remember correctly, the bus licence is good until 45 years old. To renew it, you then have to take a medical, and again at 5 year intervals until the age of 65. At that point the medical is required EVERY year, and its prob the same for large goods licence.At a guess there could well be some very elderly taxi drivers still out there working who havent been near a doctor in years, depending on how strict their local authority is

[mouseflakes]

If I remember correctly, the bus licence is good until 45 years old. To renew it, you then have to take a medical....prob the same for large goods licence.

I've been wondering what I'd have to do to renew my LGV license as it expires in 2011 (my 45th year) - thanks!