To think that too many people are in denial that they should not drive?

You have a duty of care to everyone to inform dvla and police so they can arrange an assessment of his driving..

I hope this initiative is rolled out across the country.
There is no excuse for senior people to not have regular eye tests, they are free for the over 60s. During the eye test, the optician looks out for cataracts which are common in the over 60s and cause issues for drivers, especially at night.

Yes and there's loads of it, not just elderly people. The amount of people who drive really poorly is shocking to me sometimes.
I have Dyspraxia and I'd be shit. I'd endanger myself and others so I don't do it.

YANBU. There are so many people on the roads (not just elderly people) who shouldn’t be driving and how they even passed their test in the first place is beyond me. There’s so many women I’ve seen who sit so close to the steering wheel their chest is about an inch away, people who can’t see over the steering wheel and even people who go so slow on main roads for no reason to name a few. If your dad isn’t safe to be driving you need to do something or you’d never be able to live with yourself if he accidentally killed someone and you could have done something to help prevent it

For my grandad, it took a local tragedy where an elderly driver ran over and killed someone. As soon as grandad saw it on the news he stopped driving. He said he realised that absolutely could have been him that hit someone and he didn't want that to happen.

After dealing with the consequences of relatives who did no preparation for when things would become difficult and refused to make any adjustments or have any help until things were very bad we have started preparing already so our children do not have to go through what we went through

when we moved we moved somewhere with a lot of services and public transport nearby , although we haven’t ruled out another move in a decade if we feel we need more adjustments

we moved somewhere without an attic and as much storage as we had so not as much crud to get rid of

we have already done power of attorney for health and finances

I have had points where I have not been able to drive for a long time and this has reinforced my view that we need to be somewhere where a car is not essential . Unfortunately some of the people of my age are now moving out to the country and more remote locations and I wonder how they will cope if they can’t drive as public transport is almost nonexistent and taxis ditto .

As a society we are not planning enough , for ourselves, for ageing .

ILs (86 and 89) do tag team driving down M4 (4 hour journey). Absolutely terrifying. In total denial regarding health and age impairments on driving. They. Just. Don't. Care.

Well, ideally you move before it becomes a necessity, so that you're not dealing with a house move (and all that entails) when you're already struggling with your health and mobility.

You don't need a bungalow either, lots of older people still live in "normal" houses and install stair lifts etc. to help them maintain their independence.

FIL is approaching eighty and recently widowed - the only reason he still has his independence is because he has a mobility scooter and lives minutes away from everything he needs. If he lived anywhere more rural, it would have been much harder to get him to give up his car.

And when are you supposed to make this move to a location where you can walk to any resource you need? You can be over 80 and still not hitting things when you drive. But apparently you are supposed to give up your license so that young fools dont want to overtake you when it isnt safe to do so.

I wonder how many own fault accidents the OP has had - and how many her parent has had.

When we're older we'll be moving to a property that needs less maintenance. Ever tried finding a bungalow near to every service you might need - hens teeth are easier. There may be a few ground floor flats but not masses of them either.

Well, exactly.

It's really easy to say "well, I'd happily give my license up if I was eighty" when you're only 35 and are otherwise perfectly fit and healthy, and can happily walk everywhere, navigate the train/bus with no issues, etc.

FWIW I do think there are lots of elderly people out there who shouldn't drive, but I don't think it's as easy to get them to stop as people are making it out to be.

One person who believes he is more capable than he probably is sits in the White House, as an example, not that he is driving a car.

100% agree.

But the impact on your life of not having a car is not a justification for driving should your health deteriorate.

Nobody's saying that.

What they're saying is that it's really hard to ask people to give up their freedom and independence, especially when lots of elderly people believe they're far more capable than they are.

Heavy breaking 😂😂 we're mostly 20mph here occasionally reaching the giddy heights of 30 mph for about 300 yards. From my house 2 miles into town. I go from 20 to 40, back to 20, then 30, then 20.

Yep I'm in Wales.

A black box is of course not just for speeding. It monitors the way the car is driven, including heavy braking.

But the impact on your life of not having a car is not a justification for driving should your health deteriorate.
I have a degenerative condition and had to advise the DVLA when diagnosed. Every three years I have to reapply for my licence. Currently my driving is unaffected but I am very aware of the nature of my health condition that I am going to have to stop driving in the future. This will impact my life massively but that won’t stop me surrendering my licence as if I were responsible for someone being injured or worse killed I couldn’t bear it.

😂😂😂 I don't give a monkeys where I get fuel.

But living in Wales, buses are erratic, cancelled on a whim. I'd have to walk three miles to get one. Taxis since COVID have dried up, they won't leave the burbs because of costs. Our taxi firm just can't get drivers, they're all doing evri, DPD.

Son in Leeds at university had an Uber app. Four minutes from ordering to a taxi outside the restaurant. I was open mouthed at the speed.

@JohnofWessex do we or do we need to be less afraid of risk?

I hit 66 state pension age my insurance jumped £100. I've 45 years no claims. It's a logarithm, nothing personal. It's a bloody cheek though.

One of the mums at school a few years ago was a thalidomide baby. Her specially adapted vehicle meant that she could get her children to a special needs school, get her wheelchair in and out on her owne

That's for speeding which folks over a certain age don't do

AKA Motor normativity

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/17/motonormativity-britons-more-accepting-driving-related-risk

Thats what we need to challenge

Not having my car would massively impact on my life. I can take myself, my mom, and my kids to all our medical appointments, i can visit my friends all over the uk, i can go anywhere, at any time.

Being disabled and having a wheelchair/walking stick i'm dependent on, not having my car would be a disaster.. when was the last time you tried using a wheelchair on a bus or train? Or getting in/out of a taxi with one?

Just because your DH isn't impacted, doesn't mean it wouldn't seriously impact on other people.. how very narrow minded.

I don't think it's remotely odd.

I didn't drive until my late twenties and, without exaggerating, my life improved massively overnight. All of a sudden I could just hop into a car and go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I was no longer reliant on other people, or on waiting around for buses and trains just to get to the shops.

If you've never driven, you don't know what you're missing out on so it's not really a comparable situation, IMO.

I also never said it was a reason to keep doing it I said it was understandable that people didn't want to stop driving and that it's very easy to say "well, I'd happily give up my car" when you're not actually in that situation yourself.