Driving License

General
1

Hi

Can anyone tell me if ataxia affects driving or affects holding a driving licence?

2

yes .. you are required to notify DVLA and Insurers .. they will tell you if they want you to be assessed.

Patsy

3

I have been asked by police if I should be driving. Like my doctor knows and I told the police. I am fine when I sit. You just have to be more careful and alert. What some other driver lack. My insurance company knows Im on disability. But they assume I can drive. and I can . It all depends on the driver. As of now I can drive.

4

The dvla want to take my present licence away and replace it with a short term one for 3 years. Should I fight this? I have been assessed by my doctor and he told me there is no reason why I should not be driving, my ataxia is very mild and I have lived with it all my life but diagnosed in 2004.

I think I should appeal against the dvla decision, has anyone gone through this, any advice welcome.

Thanks

5

I chose to give up mine, as even with hand controls I was struggling as then only using one arm for steering wheel (cos the other was controlling brake/accelerator) it made my arm shake even with special ball attachment so was resting whole arm across steering wheel, I found it exhausting, especially turning. I was always worried I would accelerate when I meant to brake as I got so tired.



I could have been assessed for more advanced controls but then was talking abut vehicles costing like £24,000 and them wanting £10,000 up front, as I had no idea how long I would be able to drive for I didn’t want to be paying all that back for rest of my life if ended up only driving another 6-12months, and didn’t want to risk knocking anyone over or killing a child/dogf if I couldn’t react quick enough if one ran in front of the car.



It left me mostly housebound been stuck out in a village where a taxi into town is really expensive and 15 min ride on mobility scooter to get to nearest accesible cash machine to get money for a taxi! .but I’d rather that than having to live with the memory that I’d killed someone (even accidently) , so you have to decide whether you could live with the consequences, if you chose to continue driving?

6

if you know you can drive. And your doctor says its ok. Yes you should appeal it!

ourhouse said:

The dvla want to take my present licence away and replace it with a short term one for 3 years. Should I fight this? I have been assessed by my doctor and he told me there is no reason why I should not be driving, my ataxia is very mild and I have lived with it all my life but diagnosed in 2004.

I think I should appeal against the dvla decision, has anyone gone through this, any advice welcome.

Thanks

7

I cant see what the problem is with short term licence - surely they only want to know if your condition as progressed.

Patsy