Driving assessments, car adaptations and time

[wilburlois15]

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I posted anything, largely because I've been waiting for this process to come to completion and boy it has taken a long time. And this is a long post.

In the UK, disabled people get driving licences with 2-3 year expiry and each time you renew it, your doctor needs to say you're ok to drive.

Mine came up for renewal in October 2022 so I went through the usual process with the licencing authority, DVLA. They they contact your doctor/specialist. My doctor got in touch saying they'd like me to take a Driving Assessment to see if I was OK to drive or if I needed the car adapted. At the end of December I got a call from DVLA saying they had my application and would require the Driving Assessment. End of January I got the paperwork and booked into a local centre (10 miles away - there seem to be a lot of them) for 28th February.

At the Assessment, you have a short meeting where they test mental skills, do the number plate reading sight test and then you get into the car. I drove for about 20 mins the usual way and then they asked if I'd like to try the hand controls instead. In this case, it is called a push pull hand control which is a lever to the right of the steering wheel for acceleration and braking. This is operated by the right hand so a ball is attached to the steering wheel to assist the left hand with steering (like bus drivers sometime have). This was fine and I drove for 45 mins back to the centre.

So far, so good, but then they told me that because I hadn't done the Assessment Route, I'd need to come back another time to do the Assessment and from this moment on I wasn't allowed to drive. And they took my licence away. My wife drove home.

They said I needed lessons to drive with the push pull hand control, probably 6-10hours. So I got some. Fortunately, a teacher lived in my home town, but there don't seem to be many people teaching disabled drivers. He taught people up to 30-40 miles away. Lessons are 2hours long and cost £35 per hour (BSM).

So I spent May and June doing 10 hours of lessons and went back to have the Driving Assessment on 4th July. I passed and then had to wait for DVLA to approve my application.

The licence came through in mid-August. Now it was time to get a car I could drive. The conversion costs about £1000 but my car was old so we decided to get a new car. New car arrived last week, conversion was yesterday and I drove it for the first time today.

So all's well that ends well. I'm 46 so in no mood to lose my ability to drive, but in order to prove my fitness, I had to jump through a lot of hoops and it took almost a year to get where I am now, including almost 7 months unable to drive. There are times where it feels like the DVLA would rather you weren't driving. Which is likely the case: there are lots of people on the roads who shouldn't be driving (usually because eyesight problems) and I was certainly one of those, but for me the disabled licence meant they could cut me short whereas for everyone else, they can't until a doctor says something.

And driving today was easy. No more shifting my legs clumsily around and being petrified I wouldn't react or stop in time. I can't say I enjoy driving but it was nice not to be stressed and tired.

So the message to you all is that if you doctor tells you to take a Driving Assessment, expect to lose your licence. And if you want it back, you'll have to work for it. And it's not cheap. The assessment is free but the lessons and conversion are not. But, it is ultimately a good thing: I wasn't fit to drive and now I am.

Hope all is well

Angus

[wilburlois15]

one thing I missed out was that between them taking away my licence on 28th February and taking lessons, I had to apply for a new, provisional licence. This took the whole of March and April because DVLA have a month/ 5 weeks turnaround time on anything.

[easygoin1]

It sounds like the troubles I am having to go through here in Alberta, Canada. I was concerned about my ability to go from the gas to the brake so checked into hand controls and found a program to get the financial help to have them installed and went ahead and then was told that my license would have to reflect that I require the hand controls. And wow is it ever a load of bureaucracy to make this happen. Have to be tested and the waiting list for the testing is 6 - 7 months long. If I was stopped on the road and the officer wanted to be unpleasant I was told the fine for not having my license say that I need hand controls could be up to $10,000 CAD!! All this because I wanted to be safe and other drivers to be safe! I am feeling like I shouldn't have been as concerned now.....

Good luck with your struggles!

[wilburlois15 in reply to easygoin1]

I have much sympathy with you. Fortunately it is now all over for me but the bureaucracy is crazy. My licence now says I need hand controls, which will be a problem if I need to hire a car abroad but at least I can use my car for everyday use.

The funny thing is you talk to the testers and they say that there are a lot of people who are on the roads but shouldn't be, but there is nothing they can do about it. In this country, once you are 70 you have to renew your licence every 3 years, and each time your doctor has to say that you are OK to drive. However, unless they have a good reason, a doctor isn't going to prevent you from driving

Good luck with the test!

[Cambridge_Chris]

This is all very interesting – thank you for sharing your experiences of the UK system! I live in the UK, and passed my test about 10 years ago but haven’t driven now for 9 years, and I don’t think I’d trust myself getting one foot from the clutch to the brake in a hurry, not to mention being happy with clutch control. By the sounds of it though, you possibly prefer the hand-control system? I hope so, it seems like it helps with peace-of-mind when behind the wheel.

But, as you say, there are a lot of people on the roads who possibly shouldn’t. My Grandfather had Parkinson’s, and he was still driving when he certainly shouldn’t have been! As you say, doctors are reluctant to take away a person’s licence, for very good reasons I suppose because it reduce a person’s independence.

[wilburlois15 in reply to Cambridge_Chris]

I gave up manual gear box a long time ago. Definitely couldn't handle the clutch! You're right about the hand controls ... definitely a lot easier now. I never went far, but driving used to be stressful and tiring and now it's not.

[Quiller]

I live in the US. I had to buy a new vehicle when I was about 15 years into this at age 35 and wanted a low seated vehicle easy to get in and out. Found what I wanted and had hand controls installed as at that point I was having difficulty with long travels in that my legs would fall asleep. I took lessons and went to the RMV with instructor in his vehicle. Passed and had the restriction on my license that I could only drive adaptive vehicle. I didn't use hand controld for local short distances then started using for brakes. Funny thing is now my upper body/arms hurt so from using crutch and rollator for 35 years that even pushing hand control hurts old bones. A doctor was never involved. It was my choice. I drive very little now as I haven't worked in some time but it is nice to have the option and know I am safe.

[carriemny in reply to Quiller]

So sorry to hear you don't drive much, hope you are still able to get out of the house and enjoy life.

[Dave381]

I live in the UK and had a bit of a different experience to this when getting adaptations/getting licence changed. Although it was a few years ago so my memory might be a bit rusty! Also guessing things might have changed a bit since then. I started driving automatic around 2011 for ease, although at the time I could still manage manual at a push. Then around 2016 I was really starting to not enjoy driving due the effort/ thought that had to go into moving my foot between the pedals so I contacted motability (as I have one of their cars) and they got me to contact the driving centre directly. I went along and did the assessment - but it was mainly classroom based with a few minutes on a closed driving course/track and that was it. They recommended lessons but they weren't compulsory. I can't remember exactly how it worked but once I had the report either they or I contacted the DVLA and my licence was swapped for a 3yr licence, (I didn't lose it all or have to pay for any lessons). Now when it needs renewing I just send the form to my consultant and he writes the necessary to get it renewed which I've done twice now. As I say, the process might have changed now, or maybe I was just lucky. I guess the moral of my story is - you're better to start the process off your own back before anyone else raises it and keep your GP out of the process if possible! My GP is very good, but they don't really have the knowledge of the condition or my background so will automatically in situations like this go with the worst case scenario and go from there.

I still drive quite a lot and do enjoy it, and can now relax and enjoy it alot more with the hand controls. Half of my commute is on the motorway so I also find cruise control useful as it can give your right hand a bit of a rest on longer journeys.

As mentioned I have a motability car (I know its getting into a whole other issue but is that an option for you?) So they pay for the basic push/Pull hand controls/steering knob and I also have a flip up accelerator pedal fitted so I can stretch my right leg out with my foot getting in the way - it also means my car can still be driven by a "normal" person. Also an advantage of having a newer car is, they often have automatic wipers and headlights, which again just makes things a bit easier.

Finally - I have also recently bought myself a set of Lynx removable hand controls, these are used by motability if you need a courtesy car etc. They are not quite as comfortable as the proper controls, but do the job. It also means you can hire a car abroad, with most hire companies allowing you to use them. They fit easily in a suitcase and take a few minutes to fit to pretty much any auto car.

[wilburlois15]

wow! That's a very different experience to me. I do wonder how the process would have been different if I had used my own initiative and got the car changed first. The problem is that once in the process, there is no easy way out, apart from giving up on driving altogether. They certainly didn't want me to make any changes to the car before I'd passed the driving assessment and got a new licence from DVLA. At least by keeping the DVLA out of the process, you've saved a lot of time; certainly 4 if not 7 months.

I think this is important from the perspective of doctors. By telling the DVLA I needed a driving assessment, my doctor forced me to go through the process. Whereas, if they told me to talk to the assessment people first, perhaps with the threat of going to the DVLA if I don't, my experience may have been a lot more like yours.

BTW, how did you get full motability? I applied, but only got the lower level of cover. This is fine, and means I will get (eventually) reimbursed for the modifications, but to get the required 12 points, it looks like I'd need to be totally wheelchair bound. I got 10 points and as far as I could tell there was very little chance I could appeal and get the extra 2. I can well believe this has become less generous over the years, though.

Thanks for the tip on Lynx. Will look that up!

[3WheelWonder]

mate…you live in an oppressive country!