What will happen if I contact the DVLA to say I don’t think they should be driving?

[WhiteboardMarker]

NC

Just that ☹️ eyesight has gone badly downhill the last few months

Feeling absolutely wretched, car is their last lifeline

Will they have to do a test?

I live in a medium size town surrounded by lots of rural villages. Thursday and Saturday are known locally as no-go days as it is market day when all the elderly drivers in the rural villages come to town to do a shop, visit the drs and go to the market. The local car parks on these days look like a bumper car ride. Cars just reversing into one another/ bollards/ mounting kerbs. The speed of cars driving through town on these days drops from 35-40mph to about 25mph. Almost every single incident on these days happen with a driver over 75.

Exaggerating just a tad?
I live in a small city, surrounded by countryside and villages, which is the natural focus for people coming in from a wide area on market days and I’ve never experienced the mayhem you describe. And as for

The speed of cars driving through town on these days drops from 35-40mph to about 25mph.

Should you be driving through town at 35-40 mph? I think it’s entirely a good thing if it drops to 25mph. Our small city has a speed limit of 20mph, and 30mph is usually the maximum in a built-up area.

So what, exactly? Are you saving enough money for a possible care home or to pay for carers/home help so you can easily afford that?

I live in a medium size town surrounded by lots of rural villages. Thursday and Saturday are known locally as no-go days as it is market day when all the elderly drivers in the rural villages come to town to do a shop, visit the drs and go to the market. The local car parks on these days look like a bumper car ride. Cars just reversing into one another/ bollards/ mounting kerbs. The speed of cars driving through town on these days drops from 35-40mph to about 25mph. Almost every single incident on these days happen with a driver over 75

Do you live in a Laurel and Hardy film? I live near a small market town surrounded by villages - very elderly demographic and I've seen two car park incidents in 25 years - and one was me in my early thirties. The older people going to the market, walking there, chatting, buying local produce are usually very lovely and polite. I hope I'll be doing the same and stuff the chippy young who have nothing better to do than moan about someone doing 25 mph.

I reported a friends father as she wasn't concerned about his awful driving, never told her i reported, one time he drove on wrong side of road, wrong way on a roundabout, he just wasn't aware of other cars and we had several close misses....i was terrified in the car...friend just laughed it off and said her dad needed the car...no idea what happened as they all moved away and i lost contact.

@Frazzledmummy123 exactly this. I have never expected my parents to run around picking up the consequences of the (rather complicated) life I have chosen to lead. What's hard is that I love my parents dearly, and they love their house and lifestyle dearly, and don't want to give any of it up. I get that, but what they don't seem to see is that clinging onto it as things get ever more difficult does make the lives of those who care for them a great deal harder. The costs of the decisions are externalised... they keep the pleasures, and its us (offspring) who bear the costs...

That doesn't work when the person in question is in complete denial. Dementia is cruel. Dementia diagnosis often comes with a driving assessment attached. Problem is declining reaction times or lesser cognitive impairment.

DM has early onset dementia. Its rife and we pat ourselves on the back and coo about all those people living to 90, 100 plus. Early onset dementia, defined as dementia occurring in a person under 65, is very rare, hardly “rife”. It’s not the same as having the early signs of dementia.

When the time comes for me I will be moving to a town which has great transport links not sitting there with my arms folding saying 'why should I move?' Where do you suggest? It may be different in the SE, but round here I don’t think anywhere apart from city centres could remotely be said to have good transport links.

Trouble is, the prang in the car park could injure her. It could also easily injure someone else, supermarket and town centre car parks in daytime hours have lots of toddlers/preschoolers around. You need your reactions well on then!

Even if she doesn't injure someone else, it's a hassle having to deal with the aftermath of having a car damaged. I lost a couple of days work as a freelancer because someone went into my car whilst it was parked. Why should I deal with that just because someone doesn't want to report an elderly relative who shouldn't be driving?

Probably nothing happened.

I agree he sounds an awful driver but just reporting someone for bad driving with no evidence isn't going to achieve anything, otherwise everyone would be doing it out of spite.

You actually have to get the person to the GP/Memory Clinic for an assessment/diagnosis in the first place. Mil point blank refused to go. Even when fil did get her there under false pretences she lied about her driving.

Sadly it's not an exaggeration where I live. I live in a small rural town and in recent years we've had separate incidents of two elderly drivers killed at the wheel by accelerating at speed from a parking space; one of these also killed a passing pedestrian. A pedestrian seriously injured when an elderly driver reversed without looking, knocked over a man, didn't realise and proceeded to drive over him (I was a witness to that one) and another lady who wrote off three cars including her own and was seriously injured trying to park. The most recent was one where a driver was again trying to park, mounted the pavement and drove clean through a shop front.

It's desperately sad.

@Comefromaway that was my experience with DF even at the memory clinic they were not keen to tell him he couldn't drive, they did in the end but DF intended on ignoring them! He's driving was truly terrible 6 years ago and I refused to ever get in a car with him again. DM was scared and refused to get in the car as well, DF had a prang with a dust cart and the dashcam showed he was at fault but he would not have it, everyone but him were wrong. Luckily by the time he was at memory clinic he was too frail to get in a car but given half the chance I'm sure he would have tried. Despite his diagnosis, us reporting to DVLA many times it was a battle to get his license revoked. DF was sectioned recently because of the dementia and the only way the psychiatrist could calm him down was to assure DF he would consigning him his license back once he was "better".

@REP22 I live in an area full of retirees and you have to have your witts about you as the driving standards are poor, the ability to stay in lane is something that seems to elude a lot of the older drivers, this morning I was nearly taken out by an old lady who suddenly swerved Into the overtaking lane without indicating to pass an equally old driver who wasn't keeping up with flow of traffic and was doing 20mph on a 50mph which was causing a traffic jam behind him. I have to have a medical every 3 years to ensure I'm fit to drive due to my health condition, yet my DM who is in her 80s has told me all she has to do is tick a couple boxes and say she's fine to drive and her new licence arrives a couple weeks later.

@WhiteboardMarker create a new email address and just use a false name. Surely for data protection they can't tell your DP who has reported them anyway. Could be a neighbour!

Statistically you’re more likely to be injured by a younger driver, combination of older drivers having only a slightly greater likelihood per mile of having an accident, and younger drivers driving more miles. So while we should absolutely be taking off the road anyone who can’t drive safely, any blanket measures like compulsory driving tests every three years for the over 70s, no driving licence for the over 80s, are going to cost a lot without having the transformative effect on road safety that some PP might expect.

Way forward I think is to increase the spread of technological solutions, make it harder to veer out of lane or drive at excessive speed without deliberate over-riding of controls. We already have proximity detectors, so why can’t a stationary car refuse to move if it’s about to be driven into something? Ultimately, although there’d still be some accidents, we’d all be safer with autonomous cars.

@MereDintofPandiculation the problem is people are allowed to just tick boxes and say they are fine, my DF has been sectioned because his dementia is so bad and yet he thinks he's "fine" to drive and we are nuts to suggest otherwise. This thread is about people being concerned there relatives are not safe to drive and there is absolutely nothing to stop them getting in a car and driving, it was a battle to get my DF licence revoked despite us telling him, telling DVLA and medical professionals he was dangerous. I haven't suggested we automatically take licences away once you reach 70 or 80 as some people will still be healthy enough and safe enough to continue driving, but if I have to prove I'm safe to drive every 3 years I don't see its an issue for others, yes it may be expensive but there's always ways and means of doing things if it's really needed.

why not re-test everyone every 10 years, w results available to insurers? The worse the result, the higher the premiums.

Helping my PILs out has made me think about old age. They only ever used their car and towed their caravan for holidays. When they became suddenly infirm and couldn't drive they had nothing to fall back on as it was all too unfamiliar. I have never known them use a taxi, bus, train, hotel or B&B. They never walked to the little shop at the top of the road but drove to one supermarket. No car meant housebound as far as they were concerned.

I worked in Colchester town centre when this happened:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086179/amp/Colin-Horsfall-87-killed-Cassie-McCord-16-days-refusing-surrender-licence.html

An 87 year old man had a minor supermarket car park prang and failed an eye test on the scene. Police tried to persuade him not to drive, but he refused to surrender his licence. Three days later, he killed 16 year old college student Cassie McCord when he crashed into her. He then died from his injuries three months later.

That young girl had her whole life ahead of her and he took that away from her through his own selfishness.

Cassie's mother campaigned for a law change, and Cassie’s Law was introduced in 2013 to give police the powers to fast track an application to revoke a motorist’s licence with the DVLA if they believe they are unfit to drive.

I remember this story well and it was such a tragedy; as a society we all need to do our bit to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

So my DH reported his glaucoma and he was sent to the optician for specific testing. He'd just had a test but the optician said the DVLA testing was different.

He then had "an episode" and the GP banned him on the spot, referred him for tests and told him to contact the DVLA. We did so and the licence revocation came through at the same time as the tests came back that he was ok to drive, so about 8 weeks, so they definitely did process his report!

In this province in Canada, every driver 80 and over is tested every 2 years.

The test consists of a vision test, plus a "in-class screening exercise". In addition, there is an "educational video that describes different driving situations", which can be watched at home.

In some cases, the person may be required to pass a road test.

During Covid, the renewal process was suspended, but now has restarted. My wife, who will be 82 in April, is very reluctant to go for screening. She is also insisting she will continue to drive, even if they won't renew her licence.

It's gonna be interesting.

My df was in an accident aged 87.
A van was coming out of a side road and hit df, legally it wasn’t df’s fault.
However his car was written off and df had to decide if to buy a new one.
I asked him did he think he would have stopped in time if it had been a child on a bike coming out of the side road.
He wasn’t sure so I told him that if he had an hour with an instructor and they were happy with his driving then I would feel happier too.
He never booked the hour. He didn’t get another car.

He complains though all the time about having to use taxis. Rural areas need better public transport.