Suddenly I'd lost my driving licence

Did you know that after a stroke your driving license is automatically revoked.

At first I wasn't fazed by losing my driving licence, I was too focused on my own recovery and walking for this to be of a concern. This later became quite awkward as I was having to go outside of my local vicinity for the next phases of my recovery.

I had no plans to go driving in a car, I knew that my motor skills were shot and my ability to concentrate with my ability for observation outside of my central vision was really poor. Overall I was too dangerous to be behind the wheel of a car.

The first occasion that I missed my ability to drive was to go to the Knox leisure works swimming pool, a distance of 6,5kms approx 15 mins drive, door to door.  Instead I had to walk and take the train and walk at my destination station. The walk to the station took about 25 minutes in my condition, the train journey was 5 mins and the walk from Boronia station to Knox Leisure Works swimming pool  was 20 minutes. With waiting time at the station was about an hour for a 15 minute trip in the car. This was a regular journey that was undertaken twice a week. I had to allow a whole morning for a 40 minute session in the pool.

My other therapy was visiting an Oesteopath, and this was a real eye opener. This was approx a 1km journey that required me to walk 25 mins to the train station, a train journey of 22 mins and then a trip on a bus for about 7.5kms. So a 25 minute car ride took about 1hr 40 mins, with waiting time.

My first time of sitting in the drivers seat was under close supervision of  the wife, it was about 2 months after the stroke. We went to an empty car park where I would try to maneouvre the car from one space to another. I found that I couldn't control my foot to take very small movements. We wither accelerated quite quickly or broke very sharpely, thankfully we both wore our seat belts otherwise my wife would have had a headache or a broken nose from the dash-board. I agreed that it was too soon to undertake my assessment and also that we'd revisit this in two weeks.

After two weeks we tried again, this time the acceleration was alot smoother but still un-safe if there were other parked cars around but the breaking was very sharp. Another 2 weeks grace was agreed.
After another 2 weeks the driving was a slight improvement and we agreed that I should put in for my assessment.

Prior to the assessment I also had to undertake some eye checks, because I have toxoplasmosis and  only have central vision in one eye, I was required by Vic Roads to verify that my vision had not been affected by the stroke. Thankfully this wasn't the case, I passed the peripheral field tests and my vision had been passed by an opthalmologist fit enough to drive.

The Vic roads assessment is required to ensure one is safe on the road, this was not an assessment of my driving skills but that I was not going to be a danger to myself or others on the road. The assessment was undertaken with a dual controlled driving instructors car with a driving instructor in the front passenger seat with the Occupational Therapist, with their Vic Roads hat on in the back seat.

My assessment was booked, I had to wait 3 weeks for a vacancy but this allowed for 3 weeks additional recovery time. I was immediately asked to take the drivers seat and we proceeded to go through the assessment. The pressures were much like that of a driving test and I had to remind myself that my driving itself was not being assessed. We did brake a bit sharply on one occasion but we arrived back all safe, I'd passed!

The first time I took the car out was a very nerve racking experience, it's much like taking your parents car out on your own for the first couple of times. I was still either accelerating really quickly or bracking a bit too sharply, however these becoming less often.

I'd become a really poor driver, much like someone who was a little bit too tense behind the wheel. Thankfully this is improving, I'm certainly improving a lot over time and say thanks to my wife for her bravery in allowing me to drive occasionally.