advertisement


Over-70s-face-driving-curfews-trackers-and-distance-limits

Eyebroughty

Eyebroughty

JohnC
Hi,

In another thread I saw a link to this website and also saw this article, judging by the amount of medical conditions the DVLA need to know about it does make worrying reading for some people.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/354607/over-70s-face-driving-curfews-trackers-and-distance-limits

https://www.gov.uk/health-conditions-and-driving

I know quite a few people over 70 who have an active driving life and some I know have one or more of the conditions in that DVLA link that would put them at risk of falling into this curfew trackers.

Big brother seems to be getting closer every day, or maybe this article was a joke, who knows?

I know myself I lost my driving licence four months back though making a mess of my Glaucoma eye test, but as I was only driving some 1400 miles a year rather than the 14,000 I did when I worked I decided to give up the car when I got the letter from the DVLA a few days later rather than go though the various things to get my licence back.

I do miss it, but not the driving, what I miss is driving along the roads that no public transport goes to get to places where I could leave the car and go walking for a day, other places I go I take the train or bus and now stay for a few days.

Be interesting if other members have heard about this and if it is going to become law at some point, I would have thought that many over 70's will have children and grand children who live more than 30 miles away and I would have thought that would have mental health issue for them not being able to get into a car and seeing their loved ones when they feel like it.

Cheers

John
 
It's a very difficult subject. The freedom to drive is a "right" we all cherish. And yet I bet we all know at least one elderly person who really should be prevented from taking charge of a deadly weapon with impunity.
 
Bob McC said:
But the doctor won’t inform the DVLA.
It’s left to the patient.
Click to expand...

I nearly got taken out by an elderly driver a few years back - a very near miss with him pulling out in front of my car and requiring a full-on emergency stop from me to avoid a collision by inches. He hadn't seemed to see me at all so I followed him until he stopped (turns out he was driving about half a mile to go to the pub!). His excuse on why he couldn't see me was it being down to his cataracts. When I contacted the police to let them know that he really shouldn't be driving, given he could barely see, they told me that both them and his family had been trying to stop him driving but that his doctor felt sorry for him and didn't want to deprive him of his license. The police said that without medical advice there wasn't much they could do other than try and persuade him to stop driving. Seemed like madness to me (and I heard there had been a number of similar incidents) but thankfully he didn't cause any serious injuries before he was eventually forced to stop driving (by him passing away!).
 
Bob McC said:
It’s already a hell of a long list of conditions you are required to inform them of.
Click to expand...

Got through the first 26 and breathed a sigh of relief. Then realised I'd only covered those beginning with A. Couldn't possibly continue to D as it might mention 'death'.
 
SteveG said:
I nearly got taken out by an elderly driver a few years back - a very near miss with him pulling out in front of my car and requiring a full-on emergency stop from me to avoid a collision by inches. He hadn't seemed to see me at all so I followed him until he stopped (turns out he was driving about half a mile to go to the pub!). His excuse on why he couldn't see me was it being down to his cataracts. When I contacted the police to let them know that he really shouldn't be driving, given he could barely see, they told me that both them and his family had been trying to stop him driving but that his doctor felt sorry for him and didn't want to deprive him of his license. The police said that without medical advice there wasn't much they could do other than try and persuade him to stop driving. Seemed like madness to me (and I heard there had been a number of similar incidents) but thankfully he didn't cause any serious injuries before he was eventually forced to stop driving (by him passing away!).
Click to expand...

Exactly this..
My dad kept having transient ischaemic attacks where he’d pass out momentarily at the wheel.
To the best of our knowledge his GP didn’t advise him to give up driving. Indeed my dad drove himself to the scans that diagnosed the condition!
On a few occasions he came round with the car on the pavement.
We nagged and nagged but he wouldn’t listen.
It finally came to a head when he came round in someone’s garden.
At that point we took the car keys off him and he never drove again.
He was mid 70s.
 
I pulled alongside an old geezer that had been dawdling along at traffic lights. Driving style poor to put it mildly
Wearing a hat
Realised he was around the same age as me, possibly younger
This lockdown has made me realise how much I love being at home listening to music. Walking the dogs around the fields.
Have even wondered about giving up my car as the boss has one and we so very rarely need both
be a mixed blessing not to be able to drive
 
Woodface said:
Driving is not a right, more a privilege.
Click to expand...

This needs to, and will, become a prevailing mindset, but it will take time. It will be achieved through progressive changes in taxation and licencing, of which this change is one.
 
It isn’t going to work though is it without the DVLA being given the right get a report off a driver’s GP every time they renew their license?
Relying on drivers to be honest will fail.
Many won’t be aware of the long list of conditions of which they are required to notify the DVLA, others won’t want to give up their license and lie, risking driving with invalid insurance.
GPs will resist, certainly round my neck of the woods where we have among the highest number of pensioners per capita in the country, and even if they comply will want a big wedge to fill out any report.
 
You have to tell your insurance company as well about any medical issues in that long list or your insurance is invalid.
 
foxwelljsly said:
This needs to, and will, become a prevailing mindset, but it will take time. It will be achieved through progressive changes in taxation and licencing, of which this change is one.
Click to expand...
Until you are 70, and fit and healthy. When of course, it will become a hideous injustice.
 
foxwelljsly said:
It's a very difficult issue. Taking someone's keys away is a powerful and hurtful gesture, but it very often save lives.
Click to expand...

In the example I mentioned above that was my view - I'd no interest in seeing the chap prosecuted etc., but it seemed to be an awful big gamble with other people's safety (including mine and my families!) to allow him to still drive when he clearly wasn't capable of doing so safely. Hence why I contacted the police and, from their frustration with the situation, it sounded like I wasn't the first.

Mind you they could have possibly waited outside the pub and then picked him up for drunk driving when he left and got his license removed that way. Going to the pub to down a few seemed to be his sole remaining pleasure and was pretty much all he used the car for.
 
"Could...if...if they have a medical condition".
I know when I was seeing double after the accident I was told I was "fit to drive if I felt I was". I wasn't, not by any measure. It took 6 months before I got close, even then it was only in daylight and good conditions.
My mother has been told she "may be fit to drive". She's not, I wouldn't trust her to cross the road. She is mostly blind in good light, any low sun and she doesn't have a chance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top