Not sure if I'm allowed to share campaigns on this forum, but this one touched my heart.
Ben Brooks-Dutton is campaigning for compulsory re-testing for older drivers, after his wife, Desreen, was killed by an 85-year-old driver who mounted the pavement. You may have seen Ben on BBC Breakfast this morning, speaking about the campaign. The campaign itself is not directly related to dementia, but I'm sure many members of this forum will recognise the issue.
It chimes with me because I've recently stopped my mum-in-law from driving. My mum-in-law has Alzheimer's, which has robbed her not only of her driving skills, but her perception of her abilities. She was absolutely convinced she was still fit to drive, even when getting lost on short, familiar journeys, and forgetting how to operate indicators, wipers, lights etc. To ask someone like my mum-in-law to declare herself fit to drive, without any independent testing, is a nonsense. To force me in a position of breaking her trust (not to mention the law) by disabling her car, because there was NO OTHER WAY to protect her and others, is an absolute travesty. Suffice to say, I'm just so grateful that it wasn't her who killed Desreen. It so easily might have been.
A link to the petition can be found here:
https://www.change.org/p/secretary-of-state-for-transport-introduce-compulsory-age-appropriate-retesting-every-3-years-once-a-driver-turns-70?recruiter=424927118&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
Ben Brooks-Dutton is campaigning for compulsory re-testing for older drivers, after his wife, Desreen, was killed by an 85-year-old driver who mounted the pavement. You may have seen Ben on BBC Breakfast this morning, speaking about the campaign. The campaign itself is not directly related to dementia, but I'm sure many members of this forum will recognise the issue.
It chimes with me because I've recently stopped my mum-in-law from driving. My mum-in-law has Alzheimer's, which has robbed her not only of her driving skills, but her perception of her abilities. She was absolutely convinced she was still fit to drive, even when getting lost on short, familiar journeys, and forgetting how to operate indicators, wipers, lights etc. To ask someone like my mum-in-law to declare herself fit to drive, without any independent testing, is a nonsense. To force me in a position of breaking her trust (not to mention the law) by disabling her car, because there was NO OTHER WAY to protect her and others, is an absolute travesty. Suffice to say, I'm just so grateful that it wasn't her who killed Desreen. It so easily might have been.
A link to the petition can be found here:
https://www.change.org/p/secretary-of-state-for-transport-introduce-compulsory-age-appropriate-retesting-every-3-years-once-a-driver-turns-70?recruiter=424927118&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink