my 93 yr old mother insists on driving !

If she is having injections then she has the wet form of AMD which is a faster deterioration that the dry kind.

You could call the clinic where she is having treatment and raise your concerns.

The driving guidelines say that someone must have 6/12 vision in both eyes. If her vision is below that limit then her ophthalmologist should be advising her not to drive. Consultants can contact the DVLA to revoke driving licenses but most are reluctant to do so.

Does she get letters from the clinic - perhaps you could see what her latest vision results are?

Mair you have twisted my post I DID MY NOT say my dad s did not have his sight checked every time he attended of course he did what I said was he wasn't asked or told not to drive.... at 92 and with only half his sight Ieft in one eye I m presuming they didn't expect him to be driving Had he have said to them Am I safe to drive he would have been given the negatives answer perhaps this lady has purposely never asked

You brush off she just has minor disabilities how on earth do you know are you her ? Topsy says her mother is very FRAIL has VERY limited mobility in her shoulder and neck and MD at a stage where she is having injections ( very expensive they are too) she has numerous dents in her car from bumps and is obviously quite bloody minded and stubborn a great combination for being on the road

Your defensive passion is admirable but common sense needs to reign

I am with you Mair . Ageist and OTT remarks backed up with "She may be a danger to other road users" . I would be more afraid of getting in a car with an 18 yr old cocky new driver . The OP has decided to cancel her trip until she ha her own transport so problem solved .

Badenkate "Oh gosh, Araabra I'd forgotten the Swindon roundabout. I lived around there when they built it and we used to call it the Magic Roundabout."

Aren't 3 or 4 called "Magic Roundabout"? Those big roundabouts with the little roundabouts embedded require some skill. If mum can navigate a Magic Roundabout, she can surely continue driving

Anyone who backs up a slip road on a motorway should definitely not be driving regardless of age

It is bad yet I think if a younger person did it you would not suggest they should be prevented driving. Even if the police caught them it would probably be points and a fine. I presume that at the time this lady did it the road was quiet.

Your complaints about elderly people driving slowly in your rural area, harming nobody, suggests to me an impatience in you which hints that you might not be among the best of drivers yourself! Like the OPs mum maybe - girl racer.

I live rurally and it pisses me off the number of elderly people driving very slowly (slower than a tractor!), hovering across the white line, not indicating when they turn etc.
Yes, they want to stay independent and go into town to do their shopping but what about the other road users and pedestrians?
Some months ago I followed a car being driven extremely erratically. The elderly female driver stopped the car at a 45 degree angle in the middle of the road for about ten seconds and then began driving again. She did this 3 times. I was following slowly because I was driving the same route home. After the third time, I rang the guards (police) to report her giving the car details and then she drove another couple of miles and pulled into an empty car park outside a small woodland park. I had to get back to school to collect my son so I didn't hang around.
Luckily, we encountered very few cars on that particular road that afternoon and the nearest town was about 8 miles away.
Another time, I stopped to help an older lady who had crashed into a ditch. She had several unsecured dogs in the car so I don't know if they distracted her but there was no other car involved and no obvious reason for her to have driven into the ditch.
Unfortunately, there's very limited bus services rurally other than the dial a bus type service and no taxis so some people feel that driving is a necessity but at what price?

Anyone who backs up a slip road on a motorway should definitely not be driving regardless of age. That's just an incredibly stupid manoeuvre and shows they lack awareness.

Sometimes the young and old are the worst types of drivers. The old think that because they have been driving for a very long time that they are great drivers.
I was driving my DP (parent) around one day and I veered out to pass a cyclist. DP did not see why I moved out. Worrying but did not drive after that.
I have a DC (adult child) who passed their test only recently and they think that because they have just passed the test that they are the best driver. Like the OP's DM this young one belts along the motorway at 80/90. I find that terrifying! DC criticises my speed limit adherence and generally think I don't drive fast enough. I go with the speed limit and conditions for the road and weather
I was with a friend of my own age whose car was in the garage. Not one single complaint. Even the EXH had been in my car without a moan!
It is all relative to the individual, the car and the road conditions.
SPF

Me too FarNorth - if my children told me they were concerned about my driving safety I would certainly not ignore them. I would of course be heartily pissed off about not being able to drive, but that is neither here nor there.

How would you feel, Mair, in that situation, and what would you do?

I wonder how ready those of you who are keen to take this healthy and sharp witted womans drivign license off her would feel if YOUR children tried to stop you driving based solely on their judgment on just one motorway drive when perhaps you were agitated or distracted and drove badly, when you knew you still had your wits, and eyesight that meets the driving standard.

If my adult child told me that they believed my driving was dangerous and/or that they wanted me to make sure that my eyesight was still good enough for driving, I would feel alarmed that they might have spotted changes that I had missed.
I would then arrange to have my eyesight tested, if it had not been done recently, and/or would arrange to have my driving assessed, perhaps by a driving instructor.

Just a thought, maybe nobody has asked her if she drives because at present her sight is good enough anyway?

Reading your post again, "she has never had an eyesight test for driving" , how do they know if her sight is deteriorating if they do not test it?

I am amazed Elaine. Its clearly not the same in every trust in that case.

www.gmc-uk.org/news/27477.asp

This is a link to the new guidance for doctors on reporting to the DVLA. It has been out for consultation but that finished in November 2016 and as far as I am aware has not yet been published.
Mair my mother has wet and dry AMD and in all her appointments she has never had an eyesight test for driving. No-one has ever asked if she drives (she doesn't) and I have been to all of them with her. She lives in Edinburgh.

Note too:
she "has never had an accident other than bumps on her car"

These are presumably built up over many years if its an old car.

How many of you will have an accident free record when you quit?

Blue Belle.

I am well aware of AMD as my mother has it! Certainly at my local hospital where she has her injections her sight is checked every time as it is routinely for every patient at the eye clinic. I am shocked that your dads hospital neglected to do this!
Of course its not the consultants, but specially trained technicians who perform the simple distance reading check!

If the OPs mums eyesight is below standard then she will be obliged to stop, but by all accounts that is not the case.

I am not sure what point you are making about a young disabled person. This lady's disability is very minor indeed. Many younger people drive with far more severe disabilities.

The OPs fear of her mothers driving is based on the one isolated occasion three years ago on a motorway. That is certainly no basis to try to get her banned!

I wonder how ready those of you who are keen to take this healthy and sharp witted womans drivign license off her would feel if YOUR children tried to stop you driving based solely on their judgment on just one motorway drive when perhaps you were agitated or distracted and drove badly, when you knew you still had your wits, and eyesight that meets the driving standard.

It may not help you immediately, but when we had a similar problem with my mum (younger, but had dementia) she would not listen to any of the family. Had she lived, she would be the same age as OP's mum and I think for that generation of women, the freedom represented by driving was a big factor in their lives.
We knew how my mum felt about stopping driving, and we got round it by suggesting that she had a driving assessment. Someone has suggested the IAM, we simply asked the mechanic who looked after her car, who she had known for abut 50 years since he was an apprentice.

She agreed to abide by his decision, and when out with him, did something quite dangerous, and somehow, with him, was much better able to face up to facts.

BlueBelle you are so right, I rest my case.

As soon as I was diagnosed with dry MD I informed the DVLA and I had to go to a local driving school to show that I could read a number plate from the required distance which I passed with flying colours.

If she is having injections in her eye (s) she definitely has wet Macular.

There are very few insurance companies who will insure somebody with MD (personal experience) so that is something else to look into- with which company is she insured and do they know? If not as you are aware, she is paying insurance for nothing.

Oh gosh, Araabra I'd forgotten the Swindon roundabout. I lived around there when they built it and we used to call it the Magic Roundabout. I never did completely work out how you got from one side to the other

Mair just listen to yourself if you were to reverse this and say the young man was 18 years old had an eye condition had hurt his neck and shoulder in a recent rugby tackle has been seen driving on the motorway at 80 mph he has also done three point turns in an inappropriate place People who drive in his car are terrified ( or did original poster say petrified ) has dents in his car from near misses but do stop being ageist and picking on him he s sure to be a good driver in a few years let him carry on it wouldn't it sound like nonsense ....In your rush to defend this lady's rights you are forgetting the other road users rights

MD it's a progressive eye disease that won't get better it takes away part of the vision the central part and can affect colour perception too, the monthly injections can hold it for a while at the stage it's at when started but won't cure it The consultants don't normally check if you are driving, well they never did my Dad ( who wasn't) and at 93 they probably don't even consider she is

Perhaps, using Swindon roundabout, she could prove her abilities? I find ability tests to be helpful in decisions.

Lots of people drive dangerously or carelessly and get away with it. Nothing can be done about it unless there is an accident or police witness the offence.
It is just the same for a 93-year old or a 23-year old.

If someone has a medical condition or disability which is likely to prevent them from driving safely, they are not legally allowed to drive.
It is just the same for a 93-year old or a 23-year old.

So, topsy, find out the situation with the eye condition and whether the professionals involved, and the DVLA, believe your mother can drive safely.

Perhaps her doctor or optician don't realise that she drives? They may not think it necessary to mention it.

Last time i was in a car with my 84 year old Dad he drove over someones grave ! He shrugged and said "oh well the are dead anyway"

Nobody is suggesting the lady should stop driving simply because she is elderly, just that it would probably be as well to check her eyesight and ability.