Report neighbour or leave him alone?

My dad can’t drive due to having a brain tumour yet still gets out the house.

Parking skill is not the same as driving ability. While I understand your concern, it only arises because you’re watching. Stop watching. Get a better hobby.

I would. For the sake of your conscience if nothing else.

You’re good to admit it. We saw someone outside a restaurant. Difficult watch! Would u tube help?
My friend taught me, she passed later in life, I couldn’t believe what a game changer it was. Why don’t you book one hour lesson with an instructor. It’s easy when you know the right technique.

Have one more driving lesson. The modern way. You’ll be fine after that.

It’s a tricky one, but having been seriously injured in a crash that was entirely caused by an elderly unfit driver, I’d say report.

If there aren’t any issues with his eyesight and abilities they won’t remove his license but at least you’ll know it’s been looked at.

Definitely report.

I was knocked off my bike by an elderly driver a couple of years ago. I was on the main road, the driver came out of a junction and drove straight into the back of my bike. She told me afterwards that she didn't see me which was very worrying. My bike was damaged, luckily I wasn't hurt but it could have been so much worse.

Report your neighbour so that he can be assessed. For his safety and for everyone around him.

Are you able to talk to him rather than report him?

Please report them.

I was debating reporting DF but I had never actually seen any bad driving, then their gardener said he had repeatedly reversed into his truck when coming out of the drive. I reported at that point, but I do remember thinking why on earth was it down to me as he was the one who had been impacted by the driving. Not everything should be down to the elderly persons DCs. Having said that I reported him anonymously in November, a couple of weeks later he stopped driving anyway because he had been in hospital with confusion and I asked the doctors to tell him to stop driving as he would listen to them. He finally got a letter from the DVLA in June, forwarded to our house as in a care home with dementia since March.

Wouldn't have helped the 3 year old killed by an elderly lady mounting the pavement near me a couple of years back. The point is a competent driver can handle emergency breaking etc,
Hitting the acceleration instead of the break seems quite common in panicking pensioners.
Yes if you have concerns OP I think it's your duty to report. I'll have no issue taking my dad's keys if he gets to that stage.

I once reported a neighbour to DVLA, his eyesight had deteriorated so much he was pretty much driving from memory. I didn't do it in isolation, a few neighbours had noticed and we were concerned. I would rather that than he get in an accident.

I was about to report my own Dad but luckily the treat made him book his private cataract operations. He knew he shouldn’t be driving.

I agonised over reporting someone then did, the dvla took 5 months to send them a letter and it basically asked her and her gp if she was hiding any medical issues. They didn’t account for a general deterioration. So she was signed off as fit to drive. Luckily she decided to stop driving a few months later.

I hate reverse parking. I'd rather drive around and park somewhere much further away than have to reverse in. I've got reversing sensors too.

My parents had a next door neighbour who was like this, they were stressing every time he left his driveway. In the end a neighbour on the same street reported him to the DVLA but I'm not sure it made a difference. He ended up driving his car into a shop window, luckily late at night. He still drove afterwards though, in a new car!

The OP would not get a friendly reception!

I never understand why the onus is put onto the driver to report to the DVLA they have sight issues even when they are severe. Surely it can't be beyond modern technology for the NHS platform to contact the DVLA platform to suspend a driving licence if there are any medical issues , or a driver has failed to report for a mandatory medical test related to driving?

Report him, I have in the past for a neighbour who was clearly a danger to himself and others with his driving

a while later I was chatting to his son who said he was really pleased the DVLA stopped him driving as they were really concerned about him but he wouldn’t listen to anyone in the family telling him to stop driving

I didn’t say it was me who contacted DVLA but it confirmed I did the right thing and I would do it again. No harm done if DVLA says he is ok to continue driving

Parking ability is not necessarily the same as driving ability.

My spatial awareness is crap - always has been, in all areas of life. It’s just the way my brain works (or doesn’t). It just means I have to take extra care judging small distances. However, I’ve been driving for 30 years, in built-up areas, city centres, on motorways, country lanes, all sorts of traffic conditions, and never been involved in any kind of accident. (I admit to having had to attend a speed awareness course, though, when I was caught doing 54 in a temporary 50 limit area).

Over-confident youngsters are, in my experience, far more likely to be dangerous drivers (as reflected in insurance rates).

OP's neighbour may be an unsafe driver who ought to be investigated, but you can’t tell necessarily from his parking skills.

We tried reporting our FIL! On the quiet because asking him countless of times to give up made him so very angry. He had bad eyesight, deaf. Driving, and yes, dented a neighbours car, knocked a biker off his bike in a carpark, ran over someone's foot. We informed the GP too. Absolutely nothing happened, DVLA did nothing, doc did nothing.

Hope you get a better response.

Exactly!
Even when the DVLA did get in touch with DF it was a fairly incomprehensible form asking nicely if he felt he should still be driving. Given at the time DF would have struggled to tell you what day it was or if he had taken his daily insulin, it’s difficult to ascertain the point of it.

I feel it would be very easy to add in a simple on screen reflex test when people go in for their eyesight test for driving. It would cost very little and be easy to administer. Instead authorities ignore the problem and everyone else piles all responsibility for reporting and taking car keys in beleaguered adult DCs who have more than enough to worry about.

There isn’t an automated process for DVLA to get notified about eye tests/ medical conditions because it would cause people to avoid doctors /eye tests /being honest with medical people for fear of losing their license.

We have a good system. Can’t speak for everywhere as our driving is State based, not National for requirements. Right from 17yo when you get a license, you need an eye test to renew (you need to renew in person and they do it there). When you are a young driver you have short periods for renewals as they give discounts for no driving offences and it’s more prominent in the younger population. Then your period for renewal increases. As you get older, the period for renewals decreases. You need an eye test there at each renewal. I’m now on 3 yearly as ‘older’. However, not old enough for the driving tests, I have nearly a decade yet for that I believe, then when I go to renew I need to take a driving test in addition to eyesight (luckily no parking involved though, just general driving😆).

Only real problem is there is nowhere enough testing slots to do the oldies along with people trying to get licenses in the first place, so they have accredited services where oldies can go and do the test and their ‘pass’ is electronically shunted through to the license people so they only need to do the eyesight test there. The oldies have to pay for that service if they don’t want to wait for gosh knows how long for the appointment with the licensing dept but the majority do pay for it. Only thing is we also have a hybrid category for oldies who are identified as being somewhat questionable and on the way to being struck off where they can be deemed okay to drive within 5km from home to access essential services on familiar roads and at some point in yearly testing that gets taken away when there is decreased confidence they can do that. Never understood that, as you are either okay to drive or you are not, but better than nothing I guess.

Maybe true for some people, but I know from experience with my own father that you can actually go through all the medical tests and be registered partially sighted and no medical person said to my dad that he couldn't drive or had to contact the DVLA. I know it seems obvious, but he really did need someone in authority, like a doctor to spell it out to him. He didn't believe me.

For god knows long this has come up in parliament. There was a coroner’s report recently too about 3 deaths due to elderly drivers with extremely poor eyesight. That coroner suggests that self-reporting is not working. Apparently there are hundreds of thousands of dementia sufferers but, according to the dvla, only about 30k. This shows the extent to which elderly drivers fail to report their notifiable conditions to the dvla.