Driving With Dementia

3rdforum

Hi all, my dad has been diagnosed with dementia a few years ago. He is getting worse ( albeit slowly). Our main concern is his driving. He has no insurance or NCT and we have left notices everywhere about the house telling him not to drive but he either forgets or quite possibly ignores them. We have told him the guards are aware of the fact there is no insurance. My question is, if a family member reports to the guards that he is driving without insurance, can they impound the car? We have tentatively explored this scenario with a garda friends but to be honest, they don't want to get involved. We are hoping that if we made an official complaint, it might force their hands? When we physically removed the car before, he went out and bought another one as he thought his own car was stolen.

Turtle_

Take the keys...? Might be better than trying to prevent him from driving. Is it in a regular driveway? Is it possible to get a security post to put behind it to prevent him from getting the car out?

spaceHopper

Sorry about your dad. You could try taking out the battery as a stop gap. Then keep up with the notes or convince him that the doctor told him to stop driving

3rdforum

I think I'll disconnect the battery. He is incredibly resourceful and won't hesitate to ring a mechanic to have it fixed so we may have to ring the local garages/tradesmen to give them the heads up.

lulu1

So sorry about your dad but you really must try and find a way to stop him driving before there is an accident and someone gets hurt

Del2005

Who owns the car and does anyone else use it? Can you get rid of it so he has no chance of driving it. If the Gardai get involved it'll be a day in court for him.

sheesh

I would hide the keys he might then think he has lost the keys and give up for a while.

Gael23

I would go a different approach. I would go with him to his consultant or GP and have an honest and frank discussion about why he can't drive anymore and discuss the consequences, to himself and others, if he continues like this.

iPhone.

Maybe the information HERE might be of help.

3rdforum

sheesh wrote: »

I would hide the keys he might then think he has lost the keys and give up for a while.

We already tried that and he went doolally trying to find the keys. Got very upset and its not something we wish to see again. I forgot to mention originally, my mum has dementia as well and both of them have a weird symbiotic relationship where each depends on the other but neither realise that there is anything wrong with either of them. It would make for a great dark comedy if it wasn't happening in reality. :-(

3rdforum

Gael23 wrote: »

I would go a different approach. I would go with him to his consultant or GP and have an honest and frank discussion about why he can't drive anymore and discuss the consequences, to himself and others, if he continues like this.

There is no point as he forgets within the hour that he had been talking to a doctor or even attending a hospital

3rdforum

Thanks for that link iphone. I have decided to tell him that I might be able to get his car into the NCT centre here in Galway quicker than he would be able to do it. I'll move the car to my house and hopefully ( after he reports it stolen and we will have to preempt that by notifying the guards ) he will forget about it in a month or so. We are afraid that he will go out and buy another car as its amazing how resourceful both my parents have become at circumventing obstacles.

Turtle_

Time to invoke power of attorney. Take the car and don't give him access to enough funds to buy a new one. It sounds like it's gotten to a stage where they're a risk to themselves and need to be protected. I know it's tough, going through the process myself.

3rdforum

WE have to get their consent to power of attorney and as they don't think there is anything wrong with them, they are unwilling to hand over authority. The HSE has told us, more or less, that they won't get involved. Why I don't know but when we asked about my folks being made ward of court, they took a backwards step, saying that it was onerous, procedural and would take up to two years. It is pretty obvious they don't want to get involved.

Turtle_

3rdforum wrote: »

WE have to get their consent to power of attorney and as they don't think there is anything wrong with them, they are unwilling to hand over authority. The HSE has told us, more or less, that they won't get involved. Why I don't know but when we asked about my folks being made ward of court, they took a backwards step, saying that it was onerous, procedural and would take up to two years. It is pretty obvious they don't want to get involved.

Okay that's difficult, thankfully my grandmother had no problem making my mum and I her attorneys. She actually asked us to. If getting them made wards of the court is going to take a lot of time, I'd get going on it now then. first stop would be a solicitor. Also, if they haven't already, your parents will need to be seen by a geriatrician. Might be worth getting the GP to refer if they haven't already been.