This short article came through on the newsfeeds. It’s in The Telegraph, and it centres around a question posed by a reader who says that their 81-year old mother wants to return to driving after a minor stroke. The reader asks about refresher training for older people.
Honest John – The Telegraph’s “expert” – replies:
The Institute of Advanced Motorists can help with this ([website link]) and so can RoSPA. But your county council may offer this kind of course. Many do. Take a look at its website.
Any driving instructor can do this – and legally. I’ve signed off letters for such assessments myself. Unless IAM and RoSPA can guarantee that the assessment is carried out by a registered instructor, anyone else who is a member of those organisations would be breaking the Law if they charged for any such assessment. Let’s face facts: these people will not be giving such training away for free. Even “your county council” will be paying someone somewhere to do the assessment, and if they’re using IAM or RoSPA they’d better make sure that qualified and registered ADIs are being employed.
IAM and RoSPA might well be able to put people in touch with suitable ADIs, but whether that’s what they would do is another matter. On top of that, IAM and RoSPA membership does not automatically mean that someone is an expert at medical driving assessments. The majority of members of groups like these are simply anoraks who see a vastly enlarged image of themselves when they look in a mirror. These groups regulate and audit themselves, unlike ADIs who are regulated and monitored by the DSA. ADIs are licensed to take payment for their services, whereas IAM and RoSPA members are not.
At the very least, Honest John is in error for not mentioning driving instructors alongside IAM and RoSPA. His advice is potentially very misleading without much more detailed qualification.