How would you manage if you lost your driving licence tomorrow?

[tomorrowisanotherdate]

For example, vertigo is a common one, I have had several friends develop vertigo and lose their license,

You cannot be insured to drive within 6 months of a vertigo attack, and both friends had attacks out of the blue in their early 40s - one only ever had one serious attack and had her license back in about a year - the other has never since gone 6 month between attacks, and has sold her car now

So suppose you have a vertigo attack out of the blue tonight, and can't drive for 6 months, starting now, how would that impact on your life?

Am I Being unreasonable to think lives should be planned around possibly being in this contingency, when choosing homes, jobs schools etc?

ps it will make me take into account public transport for when i (hopefully) retire to the coast in Wales if I have to stop driving again because the tumour comes back or I simply get too old and infirm.

45 years young, never had one to loose - never felt I've missed out except on the costs involved, of which I'm quite pleased

When I'm lazy I use a cab, the rest of the time a combination of busses, trains, bike and shoe leather.

I have a decent career as a teacher and get about the place OK, a car is not as essential as you might think.

I'm a chap and my wife doesn't drive either, and never has, we have a nice empty driveway!!

We would have to move house as there would be no way of getting DD to school. There is a bus every 1-2 hours from my village to town, but we'd have to change and catch another bus out again and it's impossible for her to arrive on time. And I'm not sure she could catch the bus anyway. The transport for the disabled she is eligible for (but has never used) isn't suitable for fixed arrival/departure times - it's all 'within a window'. I'd also have to give up my only out of home hobby as I'd have no way of getting there, even if we moved house so DD could get to school. Unless you never want/need to leave the village it's essential to have access to a car.

I live in a city and commute to work by bus. I have a car that I use about once a week.

there would be minor inconveniences - sone friends I would struggle to see and I would have less feed on. But I would survive.

It would be irritating but fine as I commute to work by train and the shops are in walking distance. I've chosen where to live partly to avoid being car-reliant, anyway, for environmental and health reasons.

I would manage but waste a lot of time on public transport and have to rely on DH more to ferry the kids around. I probably would have to quit the gym .. but maybe I'd be fitter from walking everywhere!

I live in a city and could manage if I had to, but the annoyance is owning and paying for a car AND shelling out for taxis and public transport. Before I owned a car, I didn't mind (that was pre kids).

Me too. Twice. I’ve never been told not to drive either.

as I keep saying, the onus is on you to self report - like if you have drunk too much to drive, nobody comes and tells you not to drive - you are expected to know what is and is not allowed. It depends on the severity. You might be allowed to drive, but you are not likely to have valid insurance unless you have been assessed.

My whole life would change for the worst. Every week I drive 100km (60 miles) to my daughter's place , stay there for three days and during that time I drive her children to school, football, drama etc. If I couldn't drive I'd be grounded which would make me very sad ! I'd miss all that interaction with my grandchildren, and would also miss my weekly times with my daughter. I hate to think of it !

Although I have a licence, I haven't actually driven in about 15 years so it would have zero impact on my life. I can walk or get the bus or train anywhere I need to go.

I'm having a panic attack just thinking about it. I drove SN foster child 98 miles to college each day. 24.5 miles in then drive 24.5 miles home then the same to collect in the afternoon.

I'd be fine, currently living in South London with excellent rail links into town and I can ride or bus to work when the weather is horrible. I don't currently have a car and no plans to get one. I do drive hire cars on holiday though so would be marginally less useful

I'd be fine, we live in zone 2 North London and rarely use the car. Tube station 5 mins walk, Overground 10 mins walk, primary school 5 mins walk, I wfh and DH's office 25 mins walk. Mostly use public transport at weekends and for after school activities. Get all shopping delivered and we have a good high street 5 mins walk away. Often go on holidays without the car although it would be a pain when going to the US and a few other countries.

Absolutely fine. I'm a city rat, doing the '15-minute city' thing. The car doesn't move often and I sometimes have to think where on the road I left it 😊

Limiting your life on the off-chance that something may happen to prevent you driving seems a bit of a negative approach. My life for the last 40 years would have been much less rich and varied. If everyone chose to do that, many rural communities would die out.

I haven't had a job that didn't require a driving licence since I was a student. I suspect the same would be true of many people who live outside the major cities.

If people adopted your approach, no-one would ever train as an HGV driver, a PSV driver, a taxi driver. Food chains would fail. Society & the economy would be much poorer.

If I lost my licence tomorrow, ds would have to change schools or switch to weekly boarding. I could survive with my bike, or the hourly bus service or by walking into the nearest town three miles away but I'd lose my job and would retire, meaning the tax man would lose the £15k a year I him pay in tax and my company would lose my skills..

As a family we'd adapt. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but I wouldn't limit our lives until it happened.

as a licence holder we are supposed to check DVLA with any new medical condition we get to ensure we can drive etc

Ordinarily it wouldn't be an issue as I only recently learnt to drive so I'm used to walking or biking everywhere, but I've got a work placement in the autumn in a place too far to cycle to. Possibly I'd be able to get the bus, depending on what my work hours will be (there's a bus but it doesn't run very often, I think just beginning of day and end of day for school commuters) or then I'd have to find other people travelling to the same place from my town and ask for lifts in exchange for petrol money (this is what my friend suggested to me when I told him I was looking to buy a car this summer because of my work placement. Probably quite a few people travel from my town to this work place but would be so awkward to ask)

It literally feels like someone has picked you up by your feet and is swinging you around upside down fast. Then when you start to come out of it it feels like being on a v rough sea.
It is much much more than just a dizzy spell. Mine is managed by me knowing my triggers and getting enough rest. Not enough rest equals vertigo attack

Yes, I live fairly near the shops, am retired and have a bus pass. When I worked it was about a mile away so that would be ok too.

i do think older people should consider this when choosing a house as they are probably more likely not to be able to drive for for one reason or another. I wouldn't move to the middle of nowhere

I wouldn't be able to get to work. Public transport here is dire, and the last bus to get home to my village is 6 pm [ one an hour, if they run at all ], and I don't finish work until gone 7. No bus service on Sunday's or bank holidays, and I work these days.
Work is too far to cycle, and dangerous on rural, unlit roads. So, I'd be stuffed!

It's not so bad if you are a couple and one can still drive, if you are a completely non driving household there is other stuff to consider like going to the recycling centre, holidays etc. If DH couldn't drive our caravan would have to go, there is no way on earth I could tow that and enjoy the holiday.

Honestly, I'd be fucked. I'd have to close my business. DH would be similarly fucked if he lost his.

“Am I Being unreasonable to think lives should be planned around possibly being in this contingency, when choosing homes, jobs schools etc?”

Yes that’s unreasonable and unrealistic. My job involves driving, I used to work in retail store based but this opportunity came up, it’s more money, flexibility and gives me a better quality of life….. should I of not gone for this job incase in the future I become unwell?

It would be very difficult. I live in a rural area, no public transport. I could get to work by walking 1.7 miles each day down a very narrow potholed country lane to the village where the school bus stops. There is a small village shop/post office there too. Other than that, stuck in the sticks!

I'd be screwed.

Work 17 miles away, which takes about 35 minutes by car and 2 hours by public transport (20 minute walk to train. Hope train is actually running today. Change halfway. 20 minute walk other side to work).

I'd also have been screwed in my old work, which was about a 20 minute drive away, but no trains and sporadic buses.

I don't live rurally, just shit public transport.