It will be 4 years this week since I had my one and only stroke which my GP is of the opinion that I have made a good recovery. But getting my driving licence back has proved to be more difficult than expected. In this respect I have not been helped by the fact that I have been totally deaf since contracting meningitis at the age of 10 and communicate by lip reading which means I get little help from the engines of quite modern cars.
Now I drove a manual 20 years old Jeep Cherokee an automatic motorhome so I have chosen twice to go down the manual road without success. I believed that I could eventually master the smaller quieter engined cars used by driving schools and Driving Assessment centers. But twice after waiting a year to get a temporary licence from the DVLA (the stroke hospital was no help) I have been unable to get the refresher lessons I needed. On my first attempt I got 1 hour in a car That I had never driven before just 2 days before my assessment. My second attempt was not much better with the the assessment center recommended instructor managing to giving me five 1 hour lessons of the ten I booked before going away on holiday and returning unable to work after having an accident.
Looking at alternative instructions I came across a company called iDrive in Carlisle who offer driving simulation lessons on simulatords that they imported from France but I was unable to arrange lessons in time for my assessment. The use of these simulators appears to be standard practice in France and some other countries. In France you need to undertake 10 lessons on a simulator before you are allowed on public roads.
has anyone else gone down this road as for me living alone they would be ideal for keeping my hand in while waiting a year and a day for that temporary PDAL licence.
Welcome to the community, I’m sorry to hear about your stroke and the difficulties you’ve been facing in getting back to driving.
I’m sure some of our members will be along shortly to offer their advice on this and I hope you’ll find this community helpful.
If you need anything whilst you’re using the Online Community, please don’t hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.
Anna
Hi @Mountaingoat & welcome to the community. Hope you are getting on ok.
Getting a driving licence back does seem to be one of the most difficult things. It seems you have had your share of bad luck in relation to it.
I have never come across simulators for driving but they definitely sound like a good idea. A great way of keeping your hand in.
Hopefully others will be along to share their experiences soon.
Best wishes
Ann
This is where I found the information regarding the use of driving simulators. It would be useful to know if anyone has successfully gone down this road.