Newslink October Marketing Special

Area news
Assess what you see, and let the
oldies set their own parameters
Janet
Stewart
London & the
South East
From time to time I am approached by
someone to “check them over”, to see if they
are still fit to drive. The requests are nearly
always from older people, and come
voluntarily (possibly prompted by a family
member), not because of anything that a
doctor or optician might have said/
suggested to them.
Recently, a newer ADI wanted to tell me
about an experience he had had – basically
he was trying to make a point about how bad
some older licence holders are and how their
driving really doesn’t measure up.
When he had finished telling me how skilled
he was, I had the opportunity to put a few
questions to him.
The purport of what he put across to me
was that the elderly person he had been
assessing was not using MSPSL properly, she
had held the steering wheel on the inside
while parking and had been reluctant to drive
on the motorway (the M25 in this case).
Now, I don’t claim to have all the answers
and hope that I will never think that I do.
However, it seemed to me that this young
man had approached the assessment in the
wrong way. I asked him whether he had
begun by asking his client how much she
drove, where she drove and what she wanted
to achieve. No, he had not asked, he had
basically given a driving lesson as if to a
learner. While training to be an ADI, I worked
as a medical secretary and I remember the
senior consultant saying that before you do
anything else you should listen to the patient
– they know their body better than you do.
So when assessing an older driver it is
important to know what their objective is.
I usually begin by asking them why they
have come to me and try to establish how
worried they are about their driving, if at all.
After that, what journeys do they make, at
what time of day?
The most recent client I had in this
category was a lady aged 81 who was the last
in her group of friends who was still driving.
Since she was now the driver for three other
old ladies to go to their bridge club she
thought she should just make sure that she
was safe. She had never driven on a
motorway and saw no need to start now. We
looked at the roads around where her friends
lived, a couple of routes to the bridge club and
we did some parking at her chosen
supermarket.
In other words, I helped her in the areas in
which she needed help and did not try to get
her to do anything with which she was not
comfortable and would not need to do
anyway.
Most people only ever buy one copy of the
Highway Code – the one they get as a
learner! So I suggest that an up-to-date
copy would be a good idea, and I usually ask a
few questions about familiarity with road
signs and markings. If someone is going to
be making longer journeys we talk about
being prepared for traffic jams and planning
“The most recent
client I had was a
lady aged 81... she
had never driven on
a motorway and saw
no need to start now.
A trip to the
supermarket and
local bridge club was
enough for her...”
stops. Driving at night is more challenging as
one gets older because the muscles in the
eyes do not respond so quickly to glare and
often there is that second or two of panic
while blinking frantically and staring ahead
after passing someone who has failed to dip
their headlights.
Being ready for this to happen and looking
further ahead helps, as does looking slightly
down and slightly to the left.
It just so happens that last night I was
driving home through floods and in the dark. I
was most grateful to the Mercedes driver in
front who was travelling at about 30/35 mph
on a road that went from 40mph to 60mph.
From time to time he slowed right down and
went onto the wrong side of the road to get
round some rather deep water. I was less
happy with the person behind who was
following closely behind me and seemed to
be looking for an overtake. Twice I was
swamped by people coming the other way
and sending a sheet of water over my car. I
did not like this at all and actually considered
“I see my job as helping people to achieve their own objectives
within safe criteria and in accordance with the rules of the
road. Older people will never have heard of MSPSL, have
probably been putting their hand through the wheel to help
their steering for years and were driving years before the M25
was built (as was I!)...”
38 NEWSLINK n OCTOBER 2023