Are Doctors The Right People To Be Judging Driving Ability?

[ToraToraTora]

.....especially based on arbitrary opinion on some medical condition or other.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/debates/2990973/Doctors-told-they-must-report-unfit-drivers-to-the-DVLA.html
Is this likely to stop pensioners going to the Docs if they fear getting grassed up and losing their freedom?

[Canary42]

So who do you think should judge them medically - Traffic Wardens ? Boy Racers ? Jeremy Clarkson ?

Your final point is a possibility, and a concern admittedly.

[EDDIE51]

It is about reporting a medical condition that effects driving not just an opinion on diving ability.
Who else would you suggest does it? The person could be suffering from severe dementia for example or have a history of blackouts ( remember the Glasgow bin lorry driver? that is what this is about)

[Gromit]

Anyone who cannot see properly 5 car lengths should not be on the road. End of.

Drivers should have mandatory eye tests every 10 years (every 5 years for the over 65s), and should not get a new license unless they meet the requirement.

A car is a dangerous weapon and many hundreds die in collision with one every year. A driver with bad eyesight is just as an unfit driver as a drunken driver..

( So the burden shouldn't be on doctors to repirt bad eyesight, it should be on drivers to prove their eyesight is acceptable).

[EDDIE51]

TTT the doctor has to have medical proof of the loss of driving ability.
They can not just go on someone 'grassing the driver up'. If they get such a report and it seems viable they have to ask the driver to come in for an examination. If the driver fails to come in for a medical then the doctor can report them to the DVLA.

[campbellking]

I am regularly terrified by some of my patients at the hospital with degenerative conditions who can barely walk, are very unsteady,and have no concept of safety, yet tell me that they are still driving. Others can barely see (my friend was knocked off her bike whilst wearing bright clothing in broad daylight by a motorist pulling out of a side road who subsequently 'scraped through' an eyesight test according to the police).
Unsafe drivers due to medical conditions are not limited to pensioners ,I was certainly not alone in asking a lorry driver in his forties to report himself to the DVLA as he had no proper control in his ability to bring his foot up and down. He was adamant that he would not.

[wolf63]

Years ago I interviewed a guy for benefits. He said that he had lost his job as a bus driver as his employer had found out he was only partially sighted in his right eye. I asked him about his other eye - it turned out that he only had one eye as the other was a glass one.

He said that he was looking for another driving job!

[ummmm]

Years back my accountants GP threatened to report him to the DVLA. He had a drink problem and although he didn't have a drink if he was driving his GP said he'd still have sufficient alcohol in his system to make him dangerous on the roads.

So, imo, GPs should be able to judge someones driving abilities.

[Sqad]

Tell me if I am wrong, but certainly in Spain the over 70's and the UK (I think) have to have routine medical checks for licence renewal.
Surely it is at that point, examined by DVLA doctors, that decisions should be made.
It is not the function of the GP to report liabilities.

[ummmm]

Sqad - as far as I know you just tick a box to say you're still fit to drive. No medical involved.

[murraymints]

self declaration for fitness..although dad had to go have his eyes checked because of macular degeneration in one eye because of diabetes..but his other eye was perfect so he passed no probs..

[ummmm]

Minty - my kids are all blind in one eye (classed as blind) and that's one of the first questions I asked 'will they be able to drive'

Their sight in their good eye is superior to both my eyes.

[murraymints]

oh dear ummmm..is it a genetic thing ? ... dad managed just fine and as you say , his good eye was much better than my two !!

[1ozzy]

If the question is about who is medically fit to drive.
Who better to judge than a doctor, an optometrist or maybe even a psychologist.

[Sqad]

Ummm......OK then that is not satisfactory.
I'm Spain it involves a full medical by a doctor.

[ummmm]

Yes, Minty, they get it from me :-( My youngest was referred to the hospital at his 6 week check. We only recently found out my oldest son is colour blind as well. He had no problems passing his eye test for his driving test...

If they were considered unfit to drive I'd hope the DVLA would be informed.

[murraymints]

Sqad ..the form dad had had to be counter signed by GP..but no medical..other than eye check

[Sqad]

Murray........just last week, I had my medical for licence renewal and it involved hearing test, eye test, coordination on a machine when one had to keep a car on a screen from ringing a bell when you hit the curb and also past history since your last application. I had had major surgery so I had to take a letter to me GP to add further details. She was a young female doctor who has always been " putty in my hands"......so no problem.

[RATTER15]

I work in an advanced dementia unit, one of our ladies with quite advanced dementia actually drove herself to the home in her own car. Her dementia was advanced enough that we were able to get a "Deprivation of Liberties" order on her so we could prevent her from leaving the building, as she would be unsafe to herself or others, and that judgement is made on her as a pedestrian.

[WesterRoss]

I turned 70 in September and all I had to do was renew my license. I will have to do this every three years but no medical required. A few years ago I was diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. This is a notifiable condition to DVLA and if being treated using a CPAP machine this is acceptable to DVLA and you get a letter from them confirming you are fit to drive. I have a check up for my OSA once a year with my consultant and I assume that if he was not satisfied then he would inform DVLA and I would be back on Shanks's pony.
I also know someone who has a glass eye and they have no problem with DVLA and drive regularly.

[murraymints]

Sqad..you are incorrigible !! ..but I luvs ya ! :o) x