After being diagnosed with PMR late 2015 and starting on 15mg Pred, four years later I am down to 2.5 mg. Meanwhile ... a few more medical conditions came along ...
Steroid induced T2 diabetes and age related macular degeneration.
A year ago I was borderline eyesight for driving and am now due for my next annual eyesight test !
I am hesitant to make an appointment just in case I fail on the driving element of the sight test,
Should I be judged unfit to drive anymore by the optometrist , is it my duty /responsibility by law to advise DVLA ?
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Polylinc
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You need to make that appointment with your optometrist - hard as it may be - if your sight is not good enough for you to drive, then you cannot drive. Legally or morally. As you are obviously unsure, then the safest thing to do is get it checked - you may find you are worrying unnecessarily- but you need to know.
I’m not sure if the optometrist is duty bound to tell DVLA, but you are. If you cannot pass the sight test then you are driving illegally and your car insurance is invalid.
I have literally only received the reminder for my annual eye test today and therefore need to consult my diary etc as to when I'm free to attend or when someone can take me .
My dad had to stop driving when amd got too bad. I think it's up to you by law... NHS link backs that memory I think. He made us take the car as he didn't trust himself. But had enough sight for mobility scooter which he used to get to local places. The site talk of other benefits and resources you can access too.
I think, from my experiences at least, in the UK it is our responsibility to notify DVLA. That is why people who are in denial still drive when they shouldn't - and the result can be accidents that result in life changing injuries for someone - at the very best.
You may not have anything to worry about - but how would you feel if you caused an accident?
Oh my goodness, if your eyesight is failing and your optometrist confirms you shouldn't drive any more, surely you aren't entertaining the thought of continuing to drive? My husband has lost quite a lot of sight in one eye. There's no requirement here for vision testing and none of the specialists he's dealt with have said anything about whether he can continue to drive or not. But I'm refusing to get in the car with him after dark unless I'm at the wheel (and I now drive only limited, well known routes, day or night), and lately he's been getting drives to the games of the soccer team he manages, thank goodness. But I wish there was a mechanism for ageing people to be retested on a regular basis.
We are here - every 5 years there is a medical test including hearing and a basic sight test and a statement from your GP. If you drive a large vehicle or tow a trailer and after 70 it is every 3 years.
I do get my eyes checked, used to be every two years before pred, now every year. Both hubby and I are nearsighted. But there doesn't seem to be any requrement on the part of the doctor to discuss our driving, and our driving licences are renewed simply by us paying for them and having our pictures taken. I'm proactively weaning myself off driving as much as possible, and not just for environmental reasons.
I'd hate not to have a car but we don't drive much. But if I thought I couldn't see properly I'd not be behind the wheel. They reckon the money you save not running a car goes a very long way towards taxis when public transport isn't possible...
Thank you for taking time to reply and compare our experiences ... but if you read my post again, you will see that I only got my annual sight test reminder today in the post.
I have been having eye tests annually since being iagnosed with possible ARMD just a last year and also have a seperate annual eye test because of T2diabetes, so in fact, I have TWO eye tests annually !
I too ( like your husband) am currently limiting myself to local well known routes and only in daylight ...
No my husband isn't limiting himself although he should be, I'm the one who is, because I am losing my driving confidence. He is the one with the bad eyesight and he would have driven himself last night if no one had offered to give him a lift. I refuse to drive with him at night now unless I'm behind the wheel, and that I don't think is going to last much longer. I find the new LED headlights blind me and there are too many of them now. Your post sounded rather as though you didn't want to take the test in case you were found wanting, that's all. Sorry if I misunderstood.
Do drivers over 70 need to retake their driving test?
In short, no. However, drivers need to reapply for their licence at the age of 70 and every three years thereafter. There is no requirement to take a test but applicants must declare that they are fit and healthy to drive and their eyesight meets the minimum requirements for driving via self assessment.
A medical examination is only required if those over 70 want to drive a medium-sized goods vehicle or minibus.
I have clotted to my optic nerves, ( both of them) do I have lost about 40% of my overall “ daily living skills” . I was sent to occupational therapy.
Different parts of the brain are involved that aren’t really connecting up right to the eyes- so it’s worse when my world is in motion.
Do you have access to Uber where you live? You can download the App on your smart phone and it remembers your credit card - so no matter where you are - no matter the town or even country!) all you do is click the app and it activates it. It works off GPS.
If you have a big screen iPad that has a phone function in it- or iPad and phone and a big tote.
Also- a side note: a new company has developed a blind stick with GPS in it that talks to you!
Maybe I’ll put up a post on here. I sent it to my occupational therapist who works with me on my vision ( about two months ago) and she had not heard about it yet. She was very excited!
Most people I have found are unaware that sightedness is in degrees- and the degree of compromise of sight varies and is often in stages... this is why I was sent to therapy.
Thank you KellyInTexas for your caring and comprehensive reply x
I'm afraid that it is absolutely your duty to notify the DVLA, and if your eyesight is that poor, it is your civic duty to have an eye test. Driving with poor eyesight would make you a danger to other road users and liable to prosecution if it caused an accident. People have ended up in jail for failing to declare medical conditions where they have caused accidents.
I don't know about optometrists, but doctors are bound by the GMC to notify the authorities of anyone who is medically unfit to drive who refuses to notify the DVLA.
This is one of the hardest conversations that ophthalmologists, orthoptists and optometrists have to have. But when a person’s vision does not meet the DVLA requirements - either poor central sight, significant visual field loss or double vision - we are duty bound to inform that person. It is then that person’s responsibility to inform the DVLA. We also have to document that we have informed that patient in their hospital notes and usually inform their GP. If a person continues to drive, has an accident and it comes to light that they have been told not to drive then they will not only be fined but the insurance company will not not pay out and they could be faced with a bill equivalent to the price of a house! There was a tragic case a few years ago of a 75 year old who had been told by both optometrist and ophthalmologist that his vision was below DVLA standards. He continued to drive, knocked down and killed a little girl and was jailed. Sorry to be blunt but please have that eye test asap. Hard as it is there are other modes of transport.
From the advice and your replies I think you know what you have to do. Driving is so precious in terms of independence and a feeling there is something in our world that we can control! However, not at any price. I suppose we are all aware we can’t drive forever as we grow older...darn it!
It's my understanding that the DVLA requirements for adequate eyesight include the use of glasses to correct defective vision you may have. Chances are that you will have eye test and then be prescribed glasses to correct your iffy vision.
Obviously it's not always as simple as this but you'll know once you have had eye check.
It is hard but if you are not legal to drive you should stop - you could kill yourself or someone else’s family - I had my cataracts done last year and now I can drive again - I know how difficult it is to give up this freedom - Good Luck
I had a bout of Vertigo in July 2018, reported it to the DVLA, and my licence was revoked (after the Vertigo cleared).
I was in the process of reapplying when I blacked out with a heart problem, (the paramedic accused me of trying to redecorate the bathroom floor with blood) taken to A&E, admitted to cardiac ward, fitted with a pacemaker, and discharged 3 2 days later. I also realised that my cataracts had grown so that my eyesight bo longer reached the standard for driving.
The day after I came home I sold my car and retired from drivinfg after63years.
Bus pass, taxi, and rail card covers our transport needs, supermarket grocery delivery soles the shopping. Net result is that we are better off financially.
Before the London Olympics a cyclist was out training when hit by a car. The driver was a local farmer who lived on a remote farm. He only drove from his house to the village - a quiet road that he'd been driving down for so long he knew every inch of it. But one day there was a cyclist there that he didn't see. When charged it was found his vision was so poor he should have been registered blind.
You may know the road - but you can't know what is on it. When something happens it is too late.
I suspect you would not be insured if you drove with defective eyesight. Best get checked before you kill someone!!!
(My late mother once knocked over a policeman as he was 'in her blindspot'. He was uninjured (thank goodness). He was more concerned at her traumatised state afterwards!!!
I don't know, about Driving- I don't myself- but I DO know about eyes and AUTO- IMMUNE Conditions! Can I be Blunt here? Well anyway, here goes....Basically F.ck the Driving, you could go BLIND! I'm also going to be rude....Get you Silly A*RS to the Optician! If I have Offended you, I'm Sorry- so long as you have booked that appointment.
An Optometrist can 'Spot' so much, by examining your eyes, it's just NOT worth 'Skipping' the exam- because of a, probably VERY slim, chance you might loose your Licence. Imagine, if you miss this Appointment, and a few months later Kill a Child- that you didn't SEE!
I Know that I haven't Pulled Any Punches and yes, it WAS deliberate, but, all done, with your best interests at heart- Truly So- I hope that you can, if you will excuse the 'pun', See that. Having 'Told You Off', well and truly, I will say this....I DO, no really, understand your, shall I say, 'Hesitation' in booking an appointment but, it really IS necessary Polylinc.
Sending you my Best Wishes a, NOT totally 'Unsympathetic', just Concerned
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