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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be shocked that dh thinks deaf people should not be allowed to drive

77 replies

StoorieMidori · 07/08/2008 12:17

Started with this news story.

I am aware of arguments for and against deaf drivers (and have deaf friends who drive), but wondered what the MNers thought.

So Yes or No, AIBU????

OP posts:
cthea · 07/08/2008 23:50

But it had been safe for 11 years. Do you think he was playing Russian roulette everytime he got into the car? Which other ares of life do you think deaf people should be excluded from? For their own safety, you understand.

marcelthemonkey · 07/08/2008 23:50

PussinJimmyChoos thats exactly right The fireman should have slowed down to make sure there was no one coming before he went through. Apparently this wasn't the first accident he had had in the fire engine.

I hope i haven't offended anyone that wasn't my intention.

BionicEar · 07/08/2008 23:51

With all those who say being deaf tend to heighten your visual awareness when driving. As a deaf person myself, I find that I am constantly checking the situation around me, and in the mirrors. Probably do it more, than your bog standard non deaf driver.

Personally I find it insulting that there are people on here saying that I shouldn't drive becuase I'm deaf. What other things would you stop me from doing, because my hearing isn't 100%?!

Every one of us take risks every day, and it doesn't matter who we are, there's always someone whose life goes pear shaped, and there's nothing that any one of us can do about it, cos it's sod law!

PussinJimmyChoos · 07/08/2008 23:52

Marcel - not offended...good healthy debate and it does raise a valid point. But you know, you take a risk with everything in life

marcelthemonkey · 07/08/2008 23:54

This particular guy couldn't hear at all and couldn't speak either.

Like i said in a previous post a tragic accident that could have been avoided had the fireman slowed down

PussinJimmyChoos · 07/08/2008 23:54

Cthea - deaf men should be exluded from sex for their own safety or they will get hammered with frustration by their partners....yes...my ex was deaf and its hard enough saying left, right, at the best of times, without tapping them to get them to lipread you first....so, yes, no more sex for deaf men unless they do the 'knowledge' of the fanjo in manner of learner London cab driver!

Mind you, I'm sure I'm just as bad as can't lipread DH if am blowing him....mind you, if he can talk while I'm blowing him, you could argue that I'm not doing a good enough job...

marcelthemonkey · 07/08/2008 23:55

I agree walking out the door every morning is taking a risk,

Think its a reminder whatever your hearing ability to drive safe and be aware!

cthea · 07/08/2008 23:56

PussinJimmyChoos makes a good point about direction of sound. To locate where sound is coming from you need two functioning ears so the tiny time difference between sound getting into one and then in the other ear tells you where the noise is coming from. This means that you can be partially deaf (in one ear) and not be able to locate sound. Better than not hearing at all, obviously, but still a big limitation. I don't know how many partially deaf people are driving around.

marcelthemonkey · 08/08/2008 00:00

cthea I agree. I have difficulty sometime pinpointing which direction a siren is. I know someone who is partially deaf (in one ear) and she is a very good, but very careful driver as we all should be.

cthea · 08/08/2008 00:01

PussinJimmyChoos - it doesn't sound to me like deafness is a big limitation in that department

PussinJimmyChoos · 08/08/2008 00:02

Pah - you haven't heard my hearing aid squeak during sex....

VeniVidiVickiQV · 08/08/2008 00:08

PJC - that thought is going to stay with me when I put DD's hearing aid in tomorrow and it squeals at me!!!!!

notcitrus · 08/08/2008 00:31

Sirens are designed so that people will hear them but have a hard time telling where they are coming from - and thus slow down. So the fact that I have no clue where any sounds are coming from is not a disadvantage when driving!

(in fact, hasn't been a problem since I left college, when I could never tell who was playing loud music late at night and thus which door to thump on to get them to stop it... the downside of having perfect hearing at a few pitches...)

Now signing with two hands while driving, or turning round to lipread a passenger - that's a hazard! But responsible drivers don't do that.

cthea · 08/08/2008 10:25

Notcitrus - I thought nowadays there are sirens that are more directional, so you hear them very loudly when they come towards you and then the sound all but disappears as soon as they've gone past.

theyoungvisiter · 08/08/2008 10:59

cthea, I think the nee-naw nee-naw ones are non-directional, and according to a programme I heard on the radio, were designed that way so criminals couldn't tell which direction they were being pursued from!

But (again according to this programme) there is a new kind that involves blasts of white noise that is supposed to be more easily identified. Not many emergency vehicles seem to have them though - at least round our way I haven't heard any.

I think the louder/quieter thing is slightly different - they seem to have speakers that face the front of the vehicle which makes it less noisy for drivers behind, but it doesn't help in telling you whether the vehicle is coming from the left, right, front or back - all you know is whether it's getting louder or not.

Am LOL at the problems involved with lip-reading during sex! Perhaps you could develop a sort of touch signal, you know, tap right buttock for right a bit, tap left buttock for left, tap small of back for faster, etc etc!

WRT the original debate though, I think the whole deafness thing is a complete red herring tbh, an emergency vehicle should NOT be speeding through red lights at a speed at which it's possible to kill anyone - deaf or not, perfectly sensible drivers occasionally get things wrong and make stupid decisions - it could equally have been a hearing driver who just misjudged where the sound was coming from, or a newly passed learner who panicked, or a child crossing the road who didn't think.

I'm incredibly sorry for the driver of the fire-engine, but for the defence pretend that this is somehow the fault of the deaf driver is just insulting.

Does anyone know what the verdict was in the end?

snorkle · 08/08/2008 12:14

Of course the solution isn't to ban all deaf people from driving - I'm amazed that people have that reaction. I strongly suspect that statistics would show you are far more likely to have an accident as an under 25 male driver than as a deaf one, so should we ban them too? I also find it stange how advocates of making older drivers retake their test change their tune when they get older themselves.

noonki · 08/08/2008 12:55

The OP should be should drivers of emergency vehicles have more training

My DH is a paramedic and he always is shouting at crap driving by other emergency vehicle drivers, slowing down at a junction adds only a few seconds to a journey.

deaf drivers are generally much more aware on the road than hearing drivers and will generally react to all of the other drivers pulling over

it's the fireman at fault not the driver

snorkle - I am all for banning all males from driving under the age of 25, my ds's will be misimformed (by me) that they can't drive until then!

Original poster
StoorieMidori · 08/08/2008 16:09

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to read this thread.

The verdict in that case is here

OP posts:
unfitmother · 08/08/2008 18:29

The verdict sounds fair, thanks for that.

ReallyTired · 08/08/2008 19:11

I think that the out come of the trial was fair. Although 6 penalty points and a £750 fine seems incredibly light there is little point in a more severe punishment. I don't think that sending him to jail would have achieved anything.

The driver of the fire engine probably won't be allowed to drive a fire engine again and he will have to live with the results of his error for the rest of his life.

RubyRioja · 08/08/2008 19:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

unfitmother · 09/08/2008 13:13

I've just realised, I take my hearing aid out when I get in the car! I find it cuts out distractions and I am better able to concentrate,

kath20011 · 28/01/2009 22:27

hi am a deaf person and i drive fine

FairLadyRantALot · 28/01/2009 22:44

oh pussinjimmychoos...you made me laugh with that sextalk...

as for OP...I don't think that deafness will effect driving, as it is much more of a visual thing....

mm22bys · 30/01/2009 11:06

YANBU.

Someone deaf probably uses his mirrors a lot more effectively than we do, and don't forget all those drivers who still use their phones (albeit handsfree hopefully!) and their ipods....