Pensioner with undiagnosed Alzheimer's and tragic death of baby

[Kindofcrunchy]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-62503903

Can't believe there are no threads on this, or maybe they've all been removed so far, I don't know.

Maybe it's just the pregnancy hormones but I can't stop crying over this. What a tragic waste of life, easily prevented by family and friends of Robertson speaking up when they had concerns over her health. This just goes to show that there needs to be regular driving tests for people of retirement age.

There has to be a cut off somewhere.

I don’t believe many 80 year olds are truly competent drivers with good reactions etc.

perhaps they could do something like the hazard perception test rather than a full driving test.

The hazard perception test does not work very well on experienced drivers (was told this at a safety exhibition by police driver trainers).
How about not allowing young males to drive until they are 25, or anyone found to have used "recreational" drugs, or anyone with any mental health problems.

But those that don't have it, shouldn't have to lose their licence because of those who do. I have seen loads of teenage/early 20 drivers drive irresponsibility. And yet no one is suggesting that those of an equivalent age who drive responsibly should be covered by a blanket ban.

Actually they do, I’ve seen lots of people suggest 21 should be the minimum age.

I’m not suggesting a blanket ban. But those statistics regarding cognitive decline would suggest screening would pick up a lot of unfit drivers, rather than assuming all age 80+ are competent and safe.

So anyone with mild depression, anxiety, postnatal depression etc should not be allowed to drive. Paramedics who qualify aged 21 can’t drive an ambulance? Not exactly well thought out.

There has to be a cut off somewhere.

I don’t believe many 80 year olds are truly competent drivers with good reactions etc.

I can see a lot of young people woild have good reactions, but many are idiots whose speeding and darting around motorways cause problems for the people around them. Their inconsiderate driving causes others to have accidents. So let's ban young people.
And I have friends in their 50s who have lost confidence driving. Their overly slow and cautious driving causes frustration to other drivers and risks accidents.
My mum was in a car accident whilst driving when she was 80. She was waiting at a roundabout and a bus drove straight into the back of her. The (young) bus driver admitted responsibility. She carried on driving til she stopped at 84 when covid started. She was a good, safe driver. She lives in a village with poor transport so without driving, she is very isolated which is bad for old people's mental health.

Why does there have to be a cut off? Why not have compulsory retests?

Exactly, blanket banning people is a poor strategy to eliminate a few poor drivers. That's the point @fiftiesmum was making.

Sorry, I thought you were replying to my response challenging the blanket ban of 80+. It sounded like you supported the ban because 20% of 80 you have severe dementia. Apologies if that's not what you meant.

All we can do is hope for family members and friends to step in earlier.
As for younger people can always have exemptions for those that need to drive as part of their profession.
If a mental health condition is being treated by a GP etc then a fit to drive assessment can be made

How can they ‘step in’?

A good first step would be if more notice should be taken when family/friends/GPs tell the DVLA of their concerns

That’s how Shelagh Robertson fell through the cracks, she had few people close enough to her to notice and when they did they didn’t report it. I don’t think a dangerous driver’s chance on being on the road should rely on how great a conscience their friends have.

Men shouldn't be allowed to drive until they're 30. That would keep all of us a lot safer.

I've come across some odd attitudes to ppl having dementia and driving through my work.
One person saying how her dad has dementia but it's ok he only sieves in this village!
Another, we said to give up driving but he cried so we didn't take his keys.
I think often it could be that family don't want to acknowledge or face having to drive the person about and just ignore and let them keep
driving.
There should be some system of DVLA being notified of a diagnosis.

*drives not sieves !!

All we can do is hope for family members and friends to step in earlier.

no it isn’t “all we can do”

@Lapland123 this seems high. I went searching for some corroboration and ended up on dementiastatistics.org, which frankly had so many conflicting percentages I couldn’t make a lot of sense of it. The nearest I could find was that one in five over 80 year olds have dementia, but did not specify whether mild, moderate or severe. Do you have a link?

My lovely stepdad nearly got us all killed after pulling out at a busy roundabout, we had no inkling he had undiagnosed dementia. Thankfully my mum got him to a GP sharpish and made him stop driving.

I find it hard to believe that none of her friends or family would have noticed a difference in her whatsoever. Some responsibility needs to fall on them for not flagging her declining health sooner if they had any doubts at all

If you see people regularly, decline isn't particularly evident. It isn't the responsibility of friends and family to understand the subtle difference between aging and dementia. In the early stages, it really isn't obvious. Lots of people with dementia find their own ways of coping - my mum was clever enough in her more lucid moments to have my full name, address and contact details written out with a note to self to call if you need anything and to give to.the doctor if going to hospital - I only found that after she died, hidden in plain sight. Another feature of dementia is the ability to argue black is white to the point the person is so adamant something happened the way they say it did, you believe it must be you that's losing your marbles!

There needs to be an actual deterrent or new law in place so that people know you can't walk free from this, you HAVE to stop driving. Robertson may have just been involved in this incident rather than actively killing the baby herself but she's walked away free from any kind of repercussions and that is the part that doesn't sit right with me

You really need to read up on how dementia presents. You can't hold someone responsible for their actions when their ability to rationalise is faulty or no longer present. People with dementia are subject to all kinds of legislation regarding deprivation of liberty, family members with Power of Attorney or a court appointed guardian to make financial and medical decisions on their behalf. You can't at the say time blame them for actions they really.had no.cognitive control over.

This is a very, very sad case and I hope the parents are able to find some peace.

Convenient that she was “undiagnosed at the time”, is that seriously a mitigating factor? How the Hell can anything that was undiagnosed be proved, and struggling with knitting doesn’t bloody indicate dementia. Unbelievable.

It's not always easy to get someone to seek help if they don't realise anything is wrong. Someone I knew whose husband refused to see there was a problem moved house just so she could then persuade him to see a doctor by claiming it was part of being a new patient at the practice.