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news
Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgMotorist who was told not to drive due to failing eyesight admits killing cyclist
A motorist who had been told by an optometrist not to drive because he had cataracts in both eyes has admitted killing a cyclist and said that he did not see the rider before the fatal crash.
John Johnstone, aged 84, will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to causing the death by dangerous driving of 57-year-old Hanno Garbe near Aviemore in March last year, reports STV News.
Sales manager Mr Garbe, who had moved to the Aviemore area with his wife Dagmar in 2007, was taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness where he died from his head injuries.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that after the fatal crash on 4 March 2019, Johnstone, from Kingussie, failed a roadside eye test.
Police found that he was only able to read a registration plate from a distance of 4.8 metres, rather than the 20 metres required by law.
Johnstone, who appeared at the hearing via video link from Inverness Sheriff’s Court, also told officers when interviewed that he had not seen Mr Garbe prior to the collision on the B9152 near Loch Alvie.
The court heard that in October 2018 optometrist Ellen Torrance had told him following an annual eye test at Specsavers in Inverness that he must not drive due to his deteriorating eyesight.
Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC told the High Court: “The accused was aware that he could not drive until after a successful cataract operation. As at March 4 in 2019 he had not had the operation.”
“He stated he was struggling with watching television, following the ball when playing golf and also driving.”
“At the conclusion of the eye examination Ellen Torrance told the accused that he had a big drop in his distance vision and a cataract in his right and left eyes.”
“She concluded the accused did not meet the driving standards and told the accused he could not lawfully drive, must not drive and must notify DVLA of his condition.”
Two months later, Johnstone attended an eye clinic at Raigmore Hospital which resulted in the same conclusion.
Lord Fairley, the judge presiding over the case, placed an interim driving ban on Johnstone and has called for reports pending sentencing next month.
As in England & Wales, while medical professionals such as GPs can advise someone to surrender their driving licence to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency as a result of health conditions including poor eyesight, they cannot compel them to do so.
In its webpage entitled Surrendering your driving licence, the government says:
There’s no legal age at which you must stop driving. You can decide when to stop, but medical conditions can affect your driving and might mean you have to give up your driving licence until you can meet the medical standards of fitness to drive again.
When you decide to stop driving or are advised by your doctor to stop you’ll need to tell DVLA and send them your licence.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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23 comments
This seems unbelievable to me as an Aussie. Here (NSW) all drivers over 75 must pass an annual medical assessment, and in almost all cases the practitioner submits the report online to TfNSW. It's rarely left up to the driver to inform them. It's not just eyesight either, the assessment covers a range of medical conditions.
Where it falls down is elderly drivers who are declared unfit to drive just sell their car, buy a mobility scooter and continue to cause havoc on the road. No regulations stop a nearly blind person with dementia using those things.
even with a bus pass, there is nothing an 84 year old, "frightened he'll never drive again" to fall back on - the car has killed it all off and in effect keeps them it's prisoner, and indirectly everyone else to boot.
one life abruptly and untimely ended, another - presumably - devastated.
over a year's wait for any sort of justice - for what it's worth.
'there is nothing an 84 year old, "frightened he'll never drive again" to fall back on'
Well, except that he lives in a small town with shops etc, and ~1/2mi from his house is the train station on the Edinburgh - Inverness main line! In the other direction is a golf course.
He could get a taxi. The cost of running a car at zero mileage will buy you a lot of taxi trips.
This, yet again, begs the question why aren't over-75s eyesight tested annually?
I was asking this ten years ago.
"When you decide to stop driving or are advised by your doctor to stop you’ll need to tell DVLA and send them your licence."
If a doctor deems you unfit to drive, they should be obligated to submit a simple form to the DVLA to await the driver to be in touch. That way the doctor is not "removing their licence" but is informing the DVLA to ensure that the correct action is taken.
Simply "asking" people to send in their licence clearly doesn't work.
Although only half his age I went through the cataract process a few years ago. I stopped driving when advised and informed the DvLA, who promptly revoked my licence. I was fortunate that I didn't have to wait long for the operations which took place 6 weeks apart for each eye. Then need to wait another 6 weeks to heal and complete the meds before getting an eye test and a letter from the optometrist confirming eyesight meets the required standard. In all I was not driving for about 5 months, but I was lucky not to have too long to wait for the operations. I would imagine many would have to wait longer, and for someone elderly they may feel they might never drive again. That could be quite frightening. I agree that the current rules rely too much on the honesty of the individual to disclose medical conditions that impact driving ability. Eyesight is something often ignored by many and I expect there are an awful lot of drivers out there with defective vision.
And allows the BBC's headline - "Aviemore cyclist killed by man who was warned not to drive"
Hell's bells - Johnstone was 84. His cataracts didn't suddenly appear in 2018.
Annual sight tests, and triennial driving tests for anybody over 70. Or hand in one's licence.
I would go further than this and introduce five yearly tests for everyone including driving ability and medical fitness.
I have not been retested since I took my test in September 1985 which is plainly wrong. Things have moved on considerably since then both traffic wise and with the actual ability of cars.
Now of course as a BMW driver, I am one of the best drivers out there......;-) but can you say the same for most of the other people on the road? (And no, I am a reasonable driver helped by the fact I cycle too!)
It is time to stop killing people with cars, so time to start testing and testing frequently. Fail the test, return to a provisional. Get done for six points, lose your licence and return to a provisional. A driving licence is not a right, it is a responsbility and thus, it is time people treated it as such.
Agreed... it does seem odd that there is a compulsory annual roadworthiness test for vehicles, yet nothing to prove ongoing fitness to drive of the operator.
Nice suggestion but where does it stop? We shouldn't use an edge case to push for changes to fundamental protections such as medical confidentiality, no matter how justified it might feel in this case.
But if it saves one life......
And unlike the constant calls for a helmet law, getting older drivers tested regularly will save lives.
Is there nothing about cycling into which you can't drag your helmet obsession? You don't like cycle helmets, we've got it, now do give it a rest.
He loves it. Told me to shut up with my opinions about how serious covid was as he's scared of that but is happy to spout conjecture about wearing a helmet.
He loves it. Told me to shut up with my opinions about how serious covid was as he's scared of that but is happy to spout conjecture about wearing a helmet.
They don't need to disclose anything that would break medical confidentiality, there could be a simple system that they flag to the DVLA that there are concerns over the person's ability to drive, the DVLA could then get in touch, giving the driver the option to disclose the details, surrender their license without giving details, or book for a test that would determine whether their ability to drive is still sound (this may not work with some conditions but in a large number such as eyesight, etc would)
What concerns me is the number of older people I see that struggle to walk and get in and out of their car, complain about their bad leg/knee etc, yet still feel they are safe to operate a 2 tonne car, without any thought to how they could perform an emergancy stop, or what would happen if that pain in their leg comes back in the middle of driving etc. We finally managed to convince my 90 year old grandmother to stop driving last year when her car had it's MOT, we convinced the mechanic to tell her that it would cost more to get it road worthy than the car was worth (not that far from the truth). Yet she still mentions the idea of buying another car, despite the fact she walks with either a stick or a frame 95% of the time.
Some pensioners can be difficult about stopping driving. Just look at the Duke of Edinburgh. My mother in law has dementia and can be difficult about a lot of things. My wife and her brother had to take the car away from her in the end, with the excuse that they wanted to give it to my nephew as he'd passed his test. Her driving had become worse and we were all getting more and more worried. Luckily she didn't ever drive far any more but it was a big cause for concern. Saying that my nephew needed the car for his job was an excuse she finally accepted.
wrinklies_cards021_1024x1024.png (link is external)
There are already exceptions to medical confidentiality, with fitness to drive included: https://www.gmc-uk.org/ethical-guidance/ethical-guidance-for-doctors/con...
We don't need to fundamentally change anything, we just need to shift the balance slightly so that doctors (and indeed the patients themselves) are more likely to report to the DVLA.
It's not an edge case though is it. It's a tip of the iceberg case, the most serious case because nothing else had been done. Do we have to wait for more people to be killed like this before something is done? I've lost count of how many times where I've watched roads Police programmes and they've stopped an elderly person (usually gentleman) and revoked their licence on the spot. In every single one of those cases, the person was stopped driving before they killed anyone, if only that had happened with this chap, but then we wouldn't be having this conversation either.
Doctors already can disclose this:
https://www.gmc-uk.org/ethical-guidance/ethical-guidance-for-doctors/con...
My deepest condolences and sympathy to Dagmar, and to the family and friends of Hanno Garbe, and all that knew him.
Agreed.
A terrible outcome all around ;-(