One in every three people with dementia still drives. What matters currently from both a legal and a practical perspective, is whether the person is still able to drive safely. Driving although automatic for some, involves a host of mental abilities including attention, concentration, spatial awareness, decision making, being reactive and focused.
A Bill backed by Rachel Maclean, the Conservative MP for Redditch, calling for newly-diagnosed dementia sufferers to complete an automatic driving test could change this. She is arguing that GPs should inform the DVLA as soon as a diagnosis has been made and a new test should be proposed. This will stop families from having to convince determined relatives that they need to give up life on the open road, could protect other road users but will compromise an individuals’ freedom.
DVLA rules
Legally a driver must tell the DVLA if they suffer from dementia or they can face a fine of up to £1,000 if they fail to inform the DVLA of a medical condition that affects their driving. Consequently, they could be prosecuted if they are involved in an accident as a result.
The DVLA is responsible for recording drivers’ medical conditions and has a priority to preserve road safety for the driver and the wider public. As part of this accountability, they have a duty to consider ‘fitness to drive’ based on a medical condition and this can only be assessed if it is made known to the DVLA.
The DVLA dementia guidelines aimed at medical professionals to assess ‘fitness to drive’ categorises dementia as ‘a cognitive condition’ and, more specifically, ‘a psychiatric disorder.’ Currently, when they are alerted to such a condition they must consider how variable the condition is, both in terms of rates of progression and its immediate symptoms. These factors determine whether it is appropriate to require a formal driving assessment.
A person suffering from dementia can exhibit a range of signs to a medical assessor, from relatively minimal impairment, with slow progression, right up to someone who shows accelerated signs of poor or short-term memory, disorientation or lack of insight or judgement.
The current system allows for an individual to be assessed on a specific case-by-case basis. However, new proposals mean that a diagnosis of dementia from a GP will automatically lead to a new driving assessment.
Road safety
The nature of dementia means that symptoms such as memory loss, difficulty concentrating, struggling to follow a conversation and mood changes gradually build-up. My view is that the nature of the disease is such that a driving assessment should be mandatory in these cases once a diagnosis has been agreed and a GP should automatically inform the DVLA. This is a matter of assessing risks and this is a clinical, rather than a legal decision.
However, there needs to be clear and consistent criteria for assessing ‘fitness to drive’ to protect both the driver in preserving their right to drive, as well as facilitating the need for the DVLA to maintain road safety. Then the DVLA will be able to make full assessments and appropriate revocations will be made. These changes, where a GP has the power to recommend the DVLA insists an individual takes a new test, would then lead to a new dementia motoring law being passed in a bid to improve road safety.
