DVLA Over 70 Eye Tests

[Murphyv310]

I don't even set out to strange towns in the car, as I don't particularly enjoy driving.   Only use the car for going into town for local shopping and to the supermarket.   Anywhere further away, it is the bus or the train.     My problem with driving is simply that I get lost easily, and parking is always a problem in strange places.       Satellite navigation does not help because it seems obsessed with getting you on the motorway, and I have not driven on a motorway for over 30 years!
Generally, you could say that I have no desire to travel anywhere these days after having seen the whole world during many years at sea.
Bob

Hi Bob.
I think you are in a difficult position to be honest. Driving is a skill that has to adapt to differing road conditions, traffic levels, weather, other drivers mistakes and the differing roads including motorways.
There is talk that it could be possible the Govt will introduce tests for the over 70's, I personally think it's highly likely. You say you haven't been on a motorway for years, do you have reason not to? I started on a driving instructor course a few years ago, passed the very strict instructor theory test and did a few practical sessions till I was let down badly by Red driving school which is another story, the point I'm making is driving can be fun and rewarding and the more varied driving you do you will feel more comfortable and be able to happily drive on all types of roads and situations.
I read any new issues of the highway code and regularly do a commentary to myself (when the missus isn't in the car) doing these tasks vastly improves you hazard perception and makes you aware of signs, pedestrians, animals and other day to day things on the road and of course any small changes in the regulations.
I do hope your eyesight test goes OK but, and I'm not singling out you by any means, there are many older drivers that have poor eyesight, slow reactions, deaf or not even strong enough to do an emergency stop or sudden manoeuvre that won't admit they are unsafe on the road.
In saying that don't get me started on some of the young girls in cars putting lippy on or talking on mobiles and driving like there is no tomorrow..... pretty shocking.
Good luck.

[Sparks]

Thanks for reply.   I think Everyone should have an eye test for driving every three years (or even two years) whatever their age.    The ideal thing would be to allow opiticans to have a special DVLA test that the driver pays for when the test is due.     Anyone who drives a car can hardly use the excuse that they can't afford a single test every three years, as it doesn't actually involve very much!
I missed seeing two dots out of over 100.    It is most likely that I missed them by simply blinking at the wrong time. (The test took quite a few minutes, and no-one goes that length of time without blinking).    I did not get an answer when I asked if the machine took blinking into account!
I have not been on a motorway for more than 25 years simply because I do not go long distances in a car.   On the rare occasions we travel long distances, it is by train.    I am quite comfortable driving locally for shopping or picking up heavy items and drive three or four times a week.
My eyesight is extremely good.    I am monitored for interocular pressur that is controlled by eydrops, but do not have glaucoma!    My last hospital appointment was on the 13th of this month.    My report from the hospital arrived yesterday and it stated field of vision full in both eyes, pressures normal, vision exellent, with the note "Fit to drive from an ocular point of view!"    Visual acuity 6/5 +2  6/6.      I cannot believe that a result from an eye hopsital could ever be overruled by a Specsavers report!
My reactions are excellent (But I would say that, wouldn't I )
As for my eyesight, apart from the tests, I work to very fine limits in my hobby of miniature model shipbuilding.  (See image below and note the size in comparison with the pen)
I feel it is unreasonable in the extreme to make me wait for a month for the result.    
I feel that I am not being unreasonable in saying that I will take any eyesight test that the see fit to give me - but I want the result immediately!    
Bob
PS
To sum it all up, the point I am trying to make is that I do not object to the test, but I do object to the fact that I have to go on a 1 hour bus ride to another town to take it, and then wait a further month for the result, when a highly qualified hospital consultant has just declared me totally fit to drive only a week before!

[Sparks]

The drama is now done!    
This morning the brown envelope arrived, and inside it was my new driving licence to see me up to 2020!     All very impersonal, not even a standard letter saying something  like "we are pleased to confirm that the Specsavers eye test has confirmed what a top hospital already knew, that your eyeseight is perfectly good enough to drive!"
I since learned that I should have been told that I could wear my reading glasses during the fields test!    I did the test WITHOUT glasses at all, and still passed!
The delay of eight days was not as bad as last time, when it was over a month, but it is still too long!    
Bob

[Geordie McBoyne]

From the DVLA: https://www.gov.uk/monocular-vision-and-driving

So it seems you can legally drive a car even if you have vision in one eye.

Same goes for diabetes if controlled by diet only.

Geordie McBoyne.

[Sparks]

Yes, that is correct! But I still firmly believe that everyone who drives, regardless of age, should be tested regularly for eyesight! It is not unreasonable to expect an eye hospital report be accepted by the DVLA, and not to have it confirmed by Specsavers. But my main gripe is that I had to go on a one-hour bus journey to another town to get it done, (when I live in a city!), and then wait more than a week for the results.
When driving, there are three blind spots that I can't do anything about. Namely the car frame on each side of the windscreen, and the rearview mirror in the centre of the windscreen. The right hand frame of the windscreen has become very noticable to me since changing my old Nissan for the Nissan Pixo that has a much thicker frames on either side of the windscreen!
As for not wanting to drive on motorways, it is not a case of my own driving skills. But all too often, I have seen multi-vehicle motorway pile-ups on TV, where they all hurtle into each other like lemmings leaving a heap of tangled wreckage and carnage spread across the motorway. Very few vehicles seem to maintain a safe distance from each other wherever they are driving, but it is worse on the motorways because of the far higher speeds - often well-above the speed limit!
Bob

[Murphyv310]

True.... leaving a greater distance from the vehicle in front of you allows for slowing in an emergency and less chance of a pile up.

[Hartley118]

............
When driving, there are three blind spots that I can't do anything about.   Namely the car frame on each side of the windscreen, and the rearview mirror in the centre of the windscreen.    The right hand frame of the windscreen has become very noticable to me since changing my old Nissan for the Nissan Pixo that has a much thicker frames on either side of the windscreen!.....

It's a problematic example of The Law of Unintended Consequences that the rating of cars for safety in crashes has resulted in much thicker 'A' pillars either side of the windscreen, presumably to increase body strength, thus creating dangerous blind spots and making a crash more likely!

Martin

[Murphyv310]

Thicker A pillars are more of a problem if you have monocular vision, it's not proven that thicker pillars contribute to accidents, they do though contribute to a stiffer cabin and then the crumple zones do their job of protecting the occupants.

[Terry]

So it seems you can legally drive a car even if you have vision in one eye.

Same goes for diabetes if controlled by diet only.

Correct! 

Last night I filled in an on-line application to renew my licence - which expires on the eve of my 73rd birthday in April.

Naturally, I ticked the YES box in response to the question 'Can you meet the legal eyesight standard for driving?' but there is a subsidiary question 'Do you need to wear glasses or corrective lenses to meet this standard?' that I don't remember seeing before.

Having worn glasses full time since I was 14, my instinctive reaction was to tick the YES box to this question too but then changed my mind. 

I have had two cataract operations in recent years and, with the new plastic lenses, no longer need glasses for distance vision. However, having needed reading glasses many years ago and finding that the right pair were never in the right place when I needed them, I rapidly switched to bifocals. Then, as the muscles weakened further, I was having difficulties with the PC, so I used to perch a pair of +1 ready readers on my nose in front of my bifocals!

When I was told that I no longer needed glasses for distance vision after the second cataract was removed, I recalled the reading glasses fiasco and thought 'Oh no!' and elected for varifocals - which, in essence, are really trifocals - so now my reading glasses, my computer glasses and my unnecessary distance glasses are always where I want them - on my nose! 

So, although I always wear my glasses fro driving, I don't need  to, so I ticked the NO box.

If that question was on the application I filled in three years ago I have no idea how I answered it and might well have ticked the YES box. In which case it will be interesting to see if anybody at Swansea spots the change and queries it ...

[Sparks]

I find the right hand frame quite a nuisance when turning right, because I still need to see if someone is starting to cross the road on that side, as they often do. I suppose you know the sort of thing, someone is standing at the kerb waiting to cross, and then as you are almost opposite them, they start walking, assuming that you will have gone past before they get out that far! I make a point when crossing on foot to, wait until the vehicle has actually passed me before starting out to cross the road. I am pretty sure that with modern metals, they could make very strong frames a lot thinner than they are.
Bob