Dear Jim: Watch out for this.
Dear Jim:
Well for some unknown reason (perhaps a complaint from some neighbourhood-watch do- gooder) the government has asked me to get my Optometrist and Doctor to verify that I am able to drive safely.
The Optometrist was no problem although he didn’t ask about eye-hand coordination where I don’t even register on whatever scale you might want to choose. His bad! Passed with colours.
The doctor was another story.
He had a 4-page questionnaire that had to be filled out in detail.
When he called me to do the form, I was driving 120 km/hr on the highway with noisy slush splashing all over the place. I also had my cell phone in my hand so I could hear everything.
As a result, his first question “how is your hearing” was impossible to hear.
“I said I beg your pardon. “He laughed thinking I had made a joke. At that point I still didn’t know the question, so I just said “perfect”. “Good” he says.
Next, he asked if I ever get dizzy. Are you kidding, dizzy is my middle name. What a question. I said, “when I get up quickly, I feel dizzy.” Oh, he says what are you doing about that.
“I don’t get up quickly and try and stay on my feet all day”. Seemed happy with that.
Do you ever feel like going to sleep while you are driving?
Oh boy. I said “not often but I have a safety trick. after 2 pm I drive with my left elbow on my left knee and my hand on the wheel. When I fall asleep my arm drops and I wake up.” He wasn’t as impressed with my response as I thought he should be.
“Do you find yourself going through stop signs?”.
Now I don’t want to lie. I have been going through stop signs all my life. For goodness sakes there is one at every intersection on the planet. I have treated a stop sign as more a suggestion than a mandatory obligation.
He didn’t say “more than usual” so I answered no.
Same thing with traffic lights. Now I have sailed through the odd red light, but I haven’t killed anyone so it’s no biggie.
Do you have difficulty driving in the rain and/or at night? Now you got me there. I can’t see anything after sundown. Driving in Barbados at night on narrow roads with no sidewalks I would often arrive back at my hotel with purses, watches and the odd hat hanging off the side mirrors.
This is a dangerous process. With the stroke of a pen, I could be banned from driving. It was clear to me from my answers that I shouldn’t have been driving for the past 5 years.
I picked up the form from his office and saw all kinds of personal medical information on the form that I didn’t think he needed to provide. It looked like I wouldn’t even be here when my licence comes up for renewal.
I hope they improve the UBER service on the West Island.
I thought you should know about this process and treat it seriously.
Bill Meder
514 992 2916
