It is a thorny issue alright!.

My Dad had a stroke about 18 months ago and it left him with 'gaps' in his field of view. He was sensible and responsible enough to decide himself that he shouldn't be driving any more, but I do wonder how we'd have dealt with it had he insisted on driving. He has also said himself that if the same were to happen to his older brother, he would definitely have, at least tried to, carry on driving.

Of course another aspect is what, if anything would happen should you report your neighbour to the relevant authority. I'm not going to go into detail, but a few years ago I contacted the police regarding a functioning alcoholic driving to work still well over the legal limit. Nothing happened, she hasn't been stopped (though fortunately, as far as I am aware, has not caused or been involved in any accidents). We no longer live in the area, but after the wrestling I had with my conscience before deciding to do something about her, it botheres me a lot that she is probably still driving to work after drinking 10-15 cans of lager the night before.

As a child growing up in the Shetland Island's, i remember 2 cases, both, weirdly, involving teachers at the junior/high School i went to. The 1st was an elderly primary School teacher knocked down and broke the leg of a young boy, she hadn't seen him at all. Obviously this could have been much worse, but she did then give up driving. The 2nd was a secondary School teacher who only went to the Doctor and got diagnosed with some degenerative eye condition after driving his car off the road into a deep ditch.

www.contactthedvla.co.uk/guides/anonymously-report.../

Am I missing something here? That page has examples of reports, at least one of which has a name attached and a specific request to remain anonymous.

Thanks for that, ExA35. It's easy to see how it has caught out so many people - if you do a Google search of "Report bad driving", it appears at the top of the results.

My late father also had vision issues following a stroke in his mid seventies. Subsequently his GP told him if he "felt OK about driving again" then he had no problems in allowing him to drive. My brother went with him on his first journey............... and realised he was a liability and told him so. He sold his car the following week and never drove again.

Regarding the Spanish perspective... at least here in Spain there is a compulsory test of sorts every ten years (every five years after the age of 50), involving eyesight, hearing, hand-eye coordination and reflexes. The licence states whether the driver has to wear corrective spectacles, too.) Given the compulsory carrying of ID documents and, for drivers, the actual licence, it is a simple matter for the police to stop and check things (no "reasonable suspicion" needed!) and if necessary ground both driver and car.

Not sure I agree with the DGT advice for older drivers to switch to automatics; too many adjustments to make and a lot of ingrained muscle memory; you might as well advise drivers to retire to a country where they drive on the other side. As HJ repeatedly points out to no avail, dozens of pedestrians are killed every year in "wrong pedal" accidents. Left foot braking obviously works for some people but not everyone. I think it's something that should have been established right from the start - if the motor car were being invented from scratch today, it would be a hybrid automatic of some kind and with two pedals, separated with a physical barrier in the footwell - left for brake and right for accelerate and end of story.

Edited by Bilboman on 27/03/2018 at 15:50