A404 dementia crash: Teen's family pleas for law change (From Bucks Free Press)
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A404 dementia crash: Charlotte Pitwell’s family pleas for law change
9:27am Tuesday 26th June 2012 in Wycombe district By James Nadal
Wrong way driver crash: Teen's family pleas for law change
LAWMAKERS need to re-examine the rules on elderly motorists’ fitness to drive, coroner Richard Hulett says after the accident which claimed Charlotte Pitwell’s life.
The 19 year-old's grieving family have made an emotional plea to Prime Minister David Cameron to change the law after the crash last September.
Stanley Tomlinson, who was 89 at the time, drove the wrong direction on the Marlow bypass and collided with the car she was in.
He was later found to have dementia.
See full story on related link.
The Pitwell family slammed the current rules which allowed someone with Mr Tomlinson’s impairment to continue driving untested.
Mr Hulett said: “It is the case that many people want to continue with their independence but sometimes it goes beyond the point at which it should.
“As far as I’m aware there’s been no political will.
“Hearing a case like this when a young person of 19 years and with prospects ahead of her has died like this you have to think that politicians and others of influence should turn their thoughts to what should happen.”
Father Andrew Pitwell, 42, a lorry driver from High Wycombe, said: “He was 89 years old, It was an accident waiting to happen.
“The law needs to be looked into and have a doctor’s regulation rather than a self regulation. The doctor is going to make sure he does the right thing, that’s what the law needs.
“It takes things like this to get the ball rolling.”
He said he will take his campaign to the highest echelons and had this message for David Cameron: “Look into the law and realise it’s hard to get a licence, but once you’ve got it it’s easy to keep it.
“If you are sick and at that age, you are a time bomb.
“I hope Mr Cameron reads the Bucks Free Press. It was Charlotte but it could have been a lot of people that night.
“I just want to add I miss her deeply.”
Grandmother Stella Pitwell echoed her son’s comments, imploring politicians to change the law.
A tearful Mrs Pitwell added: “We’ve now somehow got to get on with the rest of our lives without Charlotte.”
Wycombe MP Steve Baker said: “I’ve already instructed my researcher to find out exactly the state of the law as it is today and if the Pitwells would like to contact me I’m very happy to meet them and discuss the best way forward.
“In the meantime, all my staff and I would join the public in sending them our condolences in this tragic situation.”
He said, if necessary he will lobby Ministers, for a change in the law, once he has fully researched the current legislation.
The DVLA said there are no plans to introduce restrictions on driving based on age and there are no plans to re-test drivers either.
Currently, letters are sent to drivers before their 70th birthday, inviting them to reapply for their licence.
They are issued with a medical questionnaire. It works on a self declaration basis.
Drivers over 70 then have to reapply every three years. If any medical conditions are declared, the DVLA will consider whether to revoke a licence or seek medical records and may even request another test is taken.
Everyone regardless of age has a legal responsibility to declare at any time any onset of a health condition which may affect their driving and failure to do so is a criminal offence, the DVLA said.
Comments(7)
busman2009
says...
1:25pm Tue 26 Jun 12
bluebanana
says...
7:04pm Tue 26 Jun 12
He is a shockingly bad driver & I dont want him driving so I filled in the forms for him for his 73 year renewal.
I think the DVLA need to be more assertive with medical checks i.e go direct to people's GP. People like my dad may think they are ok drivers so wont think to ask their GP for advice.
I'm doing all I can to get my dad off the road but he's not viewing it like its for his benefit. He thinks I have it in for him. I even spoke to a police officer saying my dad was an accident waiting to happen & he said just tell my dad's GP.
A full retest every few years would solve these issues. Although I'd like to see everyone retested every 5 years, not just the elderly. However, I know the government have already dismissed this idea as they claim there would not be enough examiners?! Surely it would create jobs if nothing else!
BigDuddy
says...
7:12pm Tue 26 Jun 12
bluebanana wrote:I had this same dilemma 10 years ago when my father was still alive , I refused to help him and convinced him to stop driving ,making myself available as often as i could to give him lifts .
Totally agree with this. My dad is 73 & has a 'notifiable' illness that DVLA would want to know more about, but he has not told them for 2 reasons. 1) he's afraid of losing his licence 2) filling in the forms confuses him & wouldn't know how to tell DVLA even if he wanted to.
He is a shockingly bad driver & I dont want him driving so I filled in the forms for him for his 73 year renewal.
I think the DVLA need to be more assertive with medical checks i.e go direct to people's GP. People like my dad may think they are ok drivers so wont think to ask their GP for advice.
I'm doing all I can to get my dad off the road but he's not viewing it like its for his benefit. He thinks I have it in for him. I even spoke to a police officer saying my dad was an accident waiting to happen & he said just tell my dad's GP.
A full retest every few years would solve these issues. Although I'd like to see everyone retested every 5 years, not just the elderly. However, I know the government have already dismissed this idea as they claim there would not be enough examiners?! Surely it would create jobs if nothing else!
I could not live with myself if I helped him when I belived he was not fit to drive and something like this happened .
bluebanana
says...
7:59pm Tue 26 Jun 12
I will be doubling my efforts (and sending him a copy of this article) to try & get him medically assessed to see if he's fit to drive. I cant see that he will be, he can barely see 10m, takes minutes to focus on something, gets dizzy spells & is easily confused.
demoness the second
says...
8:18pm Tue 26 Jun 12
He stopped immediately - he knew he was dangerous and could potentially cause an accident.
gpn01
says...
11:25pm Tue 26 Jun 12
demoness the second wrote:Refreshing to hear about somebody who had the personal insight to recognise that they were no longer 'safe' and did something about it.
In contrast, my Dad had Parkinson's Disease. Before he was even diagnosed formally, he was having numbness in his feet and this affected his driving.
He stopped immediately - he knew he was dangerous and could potentially cause an accident.
.
One of the problems with people is that, sometimes due to their condition, they're simply not aware of the gradual erosion of their capabilities - whether that be their mental cognition or their physical ability tor respond and react. That's where those who can see the decay (and increased risk) have a moral responsibility to tell the person concerned. That responsibility may even extend to ensuring that if the person is unwilling or unable to recognise that they're a potential danger on the road then something should be done to prevent them continuing. This isn't easy to do (and the law doesn't really facilitate it - and there's always the difficulty of who is competent to certify whether someone is safe or not). As difficult as it is though, too often people shirk the responsibility as they don't want to hurt, upset or offend the person concerned or potentially cause them an inconvenience. These "friends" don't seem to get it though - if you're a real friend or care strongly for somebody then you'll willingly do whatever it takes to ensure they don't expose themselves, or others, to undue risk. Easy words, heartbreaking to do, but necessary.
gpn01 says...
1:15pm Tue 26 Jun 12
.
Perhaps there should be mandatory re-testing for all drivers every five years?
.
There also needs to be a societal change too. There's too many occasions when somebody who isn't capable of driving safely (either due to age, medical condition or whatever) and yet friends or relatives turn a blind eye because they don't want to upset the individual. That mindset needs to change.