NSW motor vehicle licence at 75year old

[Geoff_H]

Very shortly I turn 75.  NSW require that I get a medical from my GP.  She is requiring that I also get an optometrist report at additional cost.  I have a class 2 CASA medical certificate the DAME does my eyesight at no extra cost.  As a car licence can be a medical for a RAA licence this question is probably a revelamt topic for this site.  Anyone had to do the 75 medical?

[old man emu]

7 minutes ago, Geoff_H said:

She is requiring that I also get an optometrist report at additional cost

I'm not joking. Go to Specsavers. I got my eyes tested by them in response to a similar demand by a dopey doctor. I asked Specsavers for a copy of my eyesight test and I submitted that the NSW RMS for renewal of my Heavy Combination driver's licence and Bus driver's Authority. Satisfied RMS and I got the eye test bulk-billed.

 

Don't trust what your doctor says. Like the German Prisoner of War Camp Kommandant, doctors know F-all. Just  be careful when doctors start asking you your height and weight. They'll tell you that you BMI is over the limit claim you have sleep apnoea and send you down that path to financial ruin.

[tillmanr]

Aren’t eye tests covered by Medicare?  I have never paid for mine in 20 years of going to glasses.

[Geoff_H]

I did the class 2 basic a few medicals ago.  My doctor required a full eye exam and report as per heavy vehicle licence.  Took a lot longer than optometrist and cost $160, then my doctor charged $250 for rest.  Next med I went to DAME, she did eye test and charged $250. Full class 2 cheaper and let's me night fly, not that I do much of that these days.  I see that my dame does the road and maritime so I will go to her.

[BrendAn]

1 hour ago, tillmanr said:

Aren’t eye tests covered by Medicare?  I have never paid for mine in 20 years of going to glasses.

Yes. Specsavers did my test like ome above.  They bulk bill Medicare . No charge to patient.   And my licence is mc .

Edited October 15, 2022 by BrendAn

[FlyingVizsla]

We do the 75yr + Qld licence.  We combine the annual eye examination with this one - I think Medicare only pay for one consultation a year.  At the same time do the Commercial truck standard (if you want to) which involves peripheral vision test - as the optometrist said, its proof you are not a blind tunnel vision oldie causing accidents.  The Doc is happy because he doesn't have to get his receptionist to line you up in the passageway and set up the chart and walk back and forth getting you to read with each eye while the patients line up at the desk.  Optometrist is no charge, but if new glasses are needed then we pay for them.  Doc adds $30 for receptionist to do eye test, but bulk bills licence, unless it is Commercial Truck ($100 for tests + $110 appointment) and you MUST see an optometrist first.

 

Think of it as a birthday present - Optometrist, glasses, doctor, Dept of Transport.  In Qld our licences renew on your birthday.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Well said FV. But I reckon extracting this sort of money from old folk amounts to " demanding money with menaces" which SHOULD be illegal.

Alas, we are quite a corrupt country.

[facthunter]

Actually if the above is a good example of corruption we don't have a great problem. Which of you wants to move to WHERE?  Nev

[BrendAn]

6 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Well said FV. But I reckon extracting this sort of money from old folk amounts to " demanding money with menaces" which SHOULD be illegal.

Alas, we are quite a corrupt country.

I thought getting all that for free would not be considered corruption. 

[facthunter]

Unfortunately the more you get free the more you want for free. Nev

[Bruce Tuncks]

Why is getting something you HAVE  to get to satisfy regulations considered as getting " something for free?"

Surely if you are in a position to demand monies then you are also in a position to say just how much?

[Bruce Tuncks]

AND just who paid for those guys to have the ticket to enable them to demand money with menaces?

[Ian]

13 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

AND just who paid for those guys to have the ticket to enable them to demand money with menaces?

I think that you'll find that Australia is importing most of its Doctors https://www.racgp.org.au/health-of-the-nation/chapter-2-general-practice-access/2-2-gp-workforce with 51% being foreign trained. So basically Australia takes scant medically trained staff from countries with major health issues which I find a bit wrong and think that we should be training far more doctors and specialists through the public purse. I know that there are lots of people who still want to study medicine and miss out by a couple of marks. It would also be reasonable to make science, engineering and computing degrees free so we have a workforce with management who are comfortable with maths and building things, because currently this isn't the case. It would also mean that might have a workforce who can look after our rapidly aging population both from a medical and economic perspective.

I don't mind paying for things that are reasonable such as health checks, medicals etc, however a requirement for multiple different types of medicals is a bit silly. Also it is reasonably to take away a privilege if they pose a danger to others. However real risks should be apparent and it should be done efficiently. Unfortunately what we have now is not particularly efficient or risk based.

It would be nice if there was a single medical test for non-commercial vehicle operations and a single test for commercial operations. If someone is to unfit to operate a plane then then they probably shouldn't be driving a truck or in command of a ship either. Does anyone know an overweight truck driver?

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/truck-drivers-sleep-disorders-crashes/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-08/canberra-truck-driver-with-sleep-apnoea-sentenced-to-jail/12228490

 

 

[Geoff_H]

My Class 2 far exceeds the motor vehicle medical, but the beauricracy of the government prevents it from being a satisfactory substitute.  

[Bruce Tuncks]

I was once on a ( no account ) committee which had something to do with recruiting students for the University. The medical school could have been filled several times over with straight A students, but the feds ( who owned everything ) said no. Actually it was worse than no....  you needed 99 points to get into medicine, but you got 3 points added  if english was not  your mother tongue.

The resulting class all looked asian to me.

Things have improved a lot since then. I think the feds thought they would be up for millions in medibank costs and limiting the number of doctors was the best way to keep costs down. I dunno who realized that you only need to limit medibank provider numbers.

It still has not occurred to the government that you could solve the rural doctor shortage by making provider numbers geographically based, or is this yet another example of corruption?

Edited October 16, 2022 by Bruce Tuncks

[Bruce Tuncks]

Yep Ian, the easiest way to get to be a doctor is to get your degree in India and then go to England and then come here.

 

[Steve L]

Main Roads WA wouldn’t accept my current class 2 medical and told me to get an independent assessment on WA’s own form. After a few heated phone calls and emails I ended up telling them where they can shove their state and never entered WA again. 
If that’s not bureaucracy I don’t know what is. . . . . I’m retired now  😃

[Ian]

On 17/10/2022 at 10:23 AM, Geoff_H said:

My Class 2 far exceeds the motor vehicle medical, but the beauricracy of the government prevents it from being a satisfactory substitute.  

It's a pity that the Government didn't go through with the Australia card years ago. Rather than try to force it down peoples throats it could have been a smartcard that combined all forms of Government identity in a secure element. The current approach of putting credentials on a phone is a bit dumb. A phone is just a computer complete with all the associated security vulnerabilities.

A large chunk of the current medicare rorts would disappear if you had a simple tap and go style approach to medicare charges.

[Geoff_H]

Got my medical for Class C drivers licence yesterday.  Went to DAME that has been doing my class 2 medical's.  She was totally aware of my medical history, only cost $99.  Good result.  P.S.  she is  now my GP.  

 

[red750]

Vic drivers don't need a medical. Up to you to decide if you are unfit to drive. Renewed my licence for 3 years a couple of months ago, turned 78 last Saturday. Renewed online by Bpay.

[Ian]

1 hour ago, red750 said:

Vic drivers don't need a medical. Up to you to decide if you are unfit to drive. Renewed my licence for 3 years a couple of months ago, turned 78 last Saturday. Renewed online by Bpay.

This might explain why our neighbour had to intervene and get their fathers license removed in Victoria. Can't say that I think that its a great policy from a safety point of view.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I would like to see simulators used in driving tests. There are retarded young people on the roads who constitute as big if not more of a risk than the silly old buggers.

If you cared about safety, you would want these removed as well if not first.

There is truth in thinking that people are different when they rock up for a test, which is why I want to have high-school physics questions in the road license tests too.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Hey Ian, please tell us more about your defiant plane....   I assume it's the Rutan one?

[turboplanner]

3 hours ago, Ian said:

This might explain why our neighbour had to intervene and get their fathers license removed in Victoria. Can't say that I think that its a great policy from a safety point of view.

It's not quite like that; you have to make a declaration, which means that if didn't tell the truth and you have an accident due to a known medical issue, you're for the big jump as against in other States where your Doctor makes the decision.

[old man emu]

8 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

I want to have high-school physics questions in the road license tests too.

1. What Physics of Motion areas would you test? Speed/distance - Effects of varying tyre-surface friction - Effects of driver head-height on sight distance
2. How do you ensure equality when some people are matematically inclined and others are not?
3. How do you ensure equality when the majority of people have never studied the physics of motion?

Probably the best thing to test is a person's psychological approach to risk.

 

I would assume that as with every biological measurement, there would be a Normal Distribution (bell curve) of the level risk taking and those whose results showed to the extremes, being too timid or too risky, could be given remedial instruction.