OT: DVLA

[Tim Streater]

Anyone here had experience of renewing their driving licence after age

70? I'm just doing that (did it online), but ticked the box about eyesight as, in a year or two, I will need to get my eyes done for cataracts.

This has triggered the arrival of some paperwork, asking amongst other things whether I'd ever had any laser eye treatment. Well I have, but that was for something that may or may not happen in the future, and had no impact on my sight at the moment.

Anyone know what they are after or what they're like? I don't want to no longer have a licence when, at the minute, the only impact on my sight is that my prescription is changing all the time.

[bert]

In article <040420191748315321% [e-mail], Tim Streater [e-mail] writes

Had both mine done end of last year. Great improvement although things still do appear a little blue.

Rule No 1. Don't volunteer anything they don't need to know. Can you read a standard number plate at 20 metres? If yes you are OK to drive. If not you aren't. If in doubt an optician will check your eyesight more accurately and inform you if you meet DVLA requirements. If you fail push to get your cataract ops. Your optician should refer you in any case if you are getting marginal. Note some police forces are doing roadside checks at accidents and confiscating licences on the spot if you fail. It's a very crude check but that's the law.

[Robin]

Laser treatment can be associated with loss of visual field. Same happens with people with glaucoma in both eyes. That's not something that affects ability to read a number plate; it does affect ability to see eg a child running into the road. And may well have been tested by your optometrist. What will DVLA will want depends on just what you had done. But they may want a test by a DVLA approved optometrist and report that you are OK to drive.

The maximum penalty for failing to notify is IIRC a maximum of £1,000, and DVLA prosecute very, very few people. I've no idea how many more people who fail to notify end up inflicting greater penalties on themselves (and innocent victims).

[mm0fmf]

The bin lorry driver in Glasgow who had a history of blacking out, failed to inform the DVLA and continued to drive for a living. He killed

6 people just before Christmas a few years back. The DVLA did not prosecute him for failing to report his illness and driving whilst medically unfit. Even if the punishment for that clear failure had been served concurrently with the other convictions it would had stressed the point about driving when you know you are unfit. Instead, the DVLA by failing to prosecute, clearly signals that reporting illness that affect driving is not important to them.

YMMV

[Roger Hayter]

Indeed it does. He would have been found not guilty because the doctors, surpringly, passed him as fit to drive. If he had never seen a doctor at all he would have been in a more vulnerable position.

[Brian Gaff]

They are very hot on eyesight these days. There are two main problems they find in elderly people. Macular degeneration and the field of vision. The brain is very good at disguising both issues. Also its not uncommon for people waiting for surgery on cataracts to lose their licence until its done. Eye surgery delays in the UK are a scandal as are delays in AMD treatment mainly due to budgets and lack of qualified ophthalmologists.

Brian

[Brian Gaff]

I have of course never been able to drive, but many people do suffer bereavement when their licence is gone. I would advise you get all the tests done you can and as the previous person said, push for the op. They will not do both eyes at a time in any case, so get the worst one done first. The operation is not pleasant. I had mine done under a general, but if you are not squeamish then it can be dun under a local Often though they will not give you glasses till several weeks after as it has to settle down. The lens they put in is often a bit of guesswork.

Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Yes I wondered about that. The other side of the coin of course is that anyone in the medical profession is supposed to inform the dvla if you fail the test in any way, and if you continue to drive and get caught you will be prosecuted. Some years ago a person who worked for Social services had threats from a client simply because she reported him driving when he had been certified blind by the hospital. She had the CVI as most local authorities do when this happens. I find it very odd indeed that this document does not automatically get sent to dept of work and pensions and dvla.

The system is broken. Brian

[Bob Eager]

I'm expecting to have to have mine done in a few years. Not looking forward to it as I shall be completely blind for a while.

[Steve Walker]

My mother had hers done about 4 years ago. The results were excellent - better than 20/20 vision and no problems at all.

SteveW

[Martin Brown]

That isn't sufficient any more. They will also do a peripheral vision field of view test and if you are developing tunnel vision from undiagnosed glaucoma you will also lose your license.

Glaucoma can be well controlled by eye drops but if you lose your peripheral vision you will lose your driving license too.

Seems reasonable to me. There are way too many people driving around who are not able to meet the visual acuity requirements. Taking them off the road when they are involved in an RTC seems reasonable to me.

[Andrew Gabriel]

It's not just laser eye treatment to the retina - they've revoked lots of licenses of people who've had laser treatment to correct vision so glasses are no longer required. The problem is loss of visual contrast at night, due to the lens reshaping being less than perfect which is significant in low light situations when your iris opens widest. Shortly after this treatment became popular, DVLA published warnings that this treatment could lose you your driving licence (particularly as it tends to be done by younger people, and it's largely cosmetic to remove the need for glasses). I don't know if current treatment is now better than it used to be.

[Another Dave]

Why are you expecting to be blind at all? They only do one eye at a time and, anyway, you can still see a bit through the eye that's been operated on. That only lasts a few hours then you can see better than before.

I had my eyes done 16 years ago and even now I sometimes say "Wow" when I go out into the sunshine. It transformed and rejuvenated my life. Get it done as soon as you can.

Another Dave

[Jethro_uk]

No automatically. What *should* happen is the patient informs the DVLA who arrange a specialist eye exam (mine was done by the same people who actually do the regular one on the NHS, just they are paid privately ?).

There's a special setup for the field vision machine and they do both eyes at once. As long as your overall field is within parameters (mine is) then you get a letter saying you can carry on driving with no endorsements.

Bear in mind you can drive with only one eye, as long as it's "perfect".

[Jethro_uk]

OT to the OT, but does anyone recall the Russian (?) precursor to laser eye surgery ? They'd measure the eye, and calculate a series of incisions into the lens which when healed would "pull" it into the correct shape.

They had a ship which sailed around the world for hard currency and operated on 6 patients at a time ...

[Bob Eager]

Was that 20/20 in both eyes? Pretty good.

[Bob Eager]

I only have one eye.

[Bob Eager]

I do!

My eye is actually 6/5 ...

[Steve Walker]

Yes. When she went back for review, they referred to her as having "fighter pilot eyes."

Pity my eyes are crap - nothing in focus either distance or close up and still changing, so no laser surgery for me - even if I could afford it at the moment.

SteveW

[The Other Mike]

Is it?

Got a link to the legislation that enables then to do that?

Has such action actually been challenged and tested in the courts?

Furthermore how, at the scene of an incident, do they actually establish the testing distance?

Do they carry means of distance measurement traceable to national standards?

How do they prove the legality of the number plate they elect to use for the test?

How about fog? Street lights? Glare from other road users? Do they take into account these variations in visibility and have a means of measuring the ambient light level?

You may also have vision issues after an accident that may be temporary in nature.

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