DVLA Renewing licence when over 70!

People are missing out on necessary health checks. they can detect many conditions from looking at your eyes including Glaucoma, Diabetes and High Blood Pressure, these can be symptom-free in the early stages. People with no family history of eye disease are recommended to have their eyes tested every two years and it's free,



www.specsavers.co.uk/news-and-information/latest-news/free-eye-test-at-kirkby

Everyone is entitled to a free eye test every two years from the age 60, and more often if needed. There is NO reason for everyone over 70 to not have regular eye tests.

I wish my mother, 91 years old, and my FiL, also 91 years old, would both give up driving. I love my mother dearly, but sadly it is arrogance in both cases that makes them believe that they are still capable of driving. They’re not!

The most common failing is eyesight, if you or a relative can't read a number plate at 20 metres you are driving illegally and police are beginning to enforce that.
It's all very well being independant but I hope we all tell our loved ones when it's time to stop.

Mobility Scooters, there is a elderly gent goes to pick up his newspaper every day, normal enough, not when he drives diagonally across the traffic lights wearing his oxygen mask!

I fear that by the time I get to 70 I won't be able to see to drive - I also have very bad eyesight and have already given up driving at night however I think everyone should have annual eye tests from 70 onwards not only from a driving perspective. I still have my very old green driving licence - I keep expecting someone to tell me I need a photo card but so far no one has.

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My OH lost his licence due to his PD. We discussed it with the PD nurse and she felt that he was fit to drive. His medication was reviewed and the drug that was causing them concern was changed to another and he did eventually get the licence back - after a great deal of form-filling etc.

However he is not happy driving for lots of reasons and he hardly does it. He sometimes goes to the surgery (5 minutes away) and he puts the car in the garage - but very little else. I am the driver here now.

I have always found night driving a problem - I am very short-sighted and have a high degree of astigmatism. I now also have cataracts in both eyes, but the optician is not worried about me driving at this stage. At night I only drive routes that I know as I do not feel confident about it, whatever the optician says.

Do you have any serious medical problem? If yes, then to my practical experience, you will not be eligible for license renew. If it is curable and you will get the medical certificate that you can drive the vehicle, then in such condition, your license will be definitely renewed by the DVLA.

Source : www.fixithere.net/dvla-contact-number/

I was 73 in 2016. I have a passport. I just filled the form in without having to do anything about a photo and my photocard driving license appeared with my passport photo on it.

ROBBY I have replied to the thread you started.

Because of glaucoma I have to have an eye test every three years. I dread them but passed so far as only one eye is affected and very minimal sight lost.

applying for my UK driving license 73 years old next birthday

Hi,

I renewed my license at 70. Can anyone tell me, when Ive held my photo card license for three years at 73. Will i need go through the same procedure of counter signature on back of photo, and must counter signature person, fill in a section on form when i re-apply at 73.I have a up to date Passport. Please guide me on this Procedure.?

Because Ive been told, as long as i give my passport Number on Form, that i don't need to change license Photo, so no need for counter signatures or form filling by a counter signature person.
please can yo guide me on the procedure i will have to go through at 73.?

Thanking you all in anticipation Rob

Hi, Can you really do this if your from uk.?

Greatnan Tue 17-Jul-12 07:59:02

I renewed mine at 70 but it is valid for three years. When I get to 73, I will exchange it for a French licence, which does not have an age limit!

This thread fills me with dread- truly. I once spent 7.5 months in hospital and 2 years to learn to walk again, and now full knee replacement due to consequences. If someone cannot see properly, due to macular degenaration, cataracts or glaucoma - often a combination of all 3- they MUST be told NOT to drive, sorry.

pamelabrown foxie Annual medical inspection or twice annual check by a doctor before over 70s are allowed to drive? Have you tried getting an appointment with your GP lately?

Statistically, older drivers are safer drivers than under 25s because they tend to drive more slowly and more cautiously.

Of course any accident featuring an older driver doing something dangerous leads the headlines and leads to calls for us to take tests etc, but that is the danger of anecdotal evidence, they just not make the same fuss when a driver under 70 does something, the same or similar, which may be even more dangerous. An acquaintance was killed by a van driver overtaking on a bend he couldn't see round. The driver of the van was in his mid 20s.

I wish my 84 YEAR OLD DF would give up driving, he is a danger on the road, although he only drives about 200 miles a year he manged to have 3 little prangs last year that were all his fault, i worry constantly that he will cause someone's death.

I depend on my hearing too, when driving, and it's not very good.
ie when you're pootling along a suddenly a vehicle zooms up from behind and overtakes - you hear it before you see it.

I would welcome an annual eye sight test for anyone over 70 who wishes to drive. I'm surprised that insurance companies don't require it.

I also have a 3 year renewable driving license and I have to sign a medical disclosure with permission to allow contact with my doctor. If I could pass a law I would make it obligatory for all drivers over 70 to have a full annual medical to include a sight test before renewing their license. It would also include a timed reaction test which would not be very popular I know but it would take a good many unsafe drivers off the road.

If you're driving and its someone else that gets hurt, Whats it matter.

Sadly, this is a very serious subject.

I used to work for the DVLA before I retired, I think they are too strict on over 70s yes some over 70s are quite frail and dangerous drivers but these days 70 isnt that old and most 70+ people are very capable of driving well and efficiently. I think all that is needed is a twice yearly sign off from a doctor to say our health remains decent enough to drive with no concerns.

Thanks - www.dvla-contact-number.co.uk/

I will soon be 72 and if I couldn't drive my life would be impossible. Apart from having worn glasses for myopia since I was 9, there is nothing wrong with my health. I could walk the hind legs off most people 30 years my junior. I would be happy to take another driving test.
I thing people, especially men, between the ages of 17 and 25 are statistically much more likely to cause accidents.
Of course I realise that there are many people driving who should not be, and I hope their nearest and dearest would have the courage to inform their doctor and/or the DVLA.

I take the RoSPA driving assessment, for the second time. Suggested it should be retaken every three years.. This time I passed with an "A", only two points short of gold! A bit chuffed!
It's the medication they may take exception to in my case!

God bless him, my dad always kept his car keys by his chair after he was told not to drive again and he would always get my DH to give "the old bird" a spin every other week,he even kept it taxed and insured until the day he died.