Driving advice please.

Based on the advice from my doctor I filled out the relevant form myself based on the advice I’d been given.

DVLA have a medical department who take the form and thereafter contact the doctor , largely the form In my case was to confirm the condition and provide my approval for my doctor to share the report , the form itself was generic and covers other medical questions thats in my case were not relevent.

DVLA will work with my doctor and determine if there is any problem otherwise I guess i’ll get the OK hopefully.

i’ve currently decides to not drive in the interim which is not a big issue for me but I can imagine a huge impact for others who drive for a living.

overall i want to go through the process so I’m totally within the rules and also that my insurance is onboard post DVLA decision.

I’d imagine different people might get different advice from either the DVLA or doctor , i’m acting on what i’ve been told in my case.

in my view there is nothing in my diagnostic report that jumps out as being of concern.

specifically i think they are looking for issues around impulsivity and awareness of impact of behaviours on self and others.

google “dvla assessing fitness to drive” and it should bring up the dvla medical guidance form , page 81 relates to asd advice

i’ve read other cases of people calling the DVLA for advice to be told they have to inform them so that kind of fits with my experience.

So your doctor made contact with DVLA?

Going through this currently , DVLA website is to say the least a little confusing and ultimately contradictory between advice pages.

Easiest page to find relating to ASD states you must inform the dvla if it impacts your driving , as others have said thats subjective and not something i’d want to justify in court should i not disclose and have an accident however gives the impression it’s down to your GP.

A far firmer guidance is given in the DVLA’s advice to medical professionals pdf which states that ASD diagnosis “may be able to drive but MUST notify the DVLA”

I checked the same ambiguity with  my doctor who was clear I had to notify the DVLA as a matter of course and they would make contact with them regardless of my 25+ year clean driving record to discuss my specific diagnosis report.

Can a diagnosed autist get a licence? Are there any extra hoops that have to be negotiated when you already have a diagnosis?

You don't need to disclose it UNLESS it could affect your driving. Now, that's obviously a tricky evaluation to make. I think if you don't disclose because you genuinely don't believe you need to, then you just accept the risk that investigators may decide otherwise if you're ever in an accident and that this could go against you, but it's unlikely that would happen.

Personally I wouldn't allow myself to drive if I thought I was in any way a risk on the road, so I have never disclosed it as having an impact. But I accept that there is always that risk that if I were in an accident, an investigation might find that my autism had an impact. 

Hi Song,

I hope someone else has advice for you here but, if not, please give the helpline a call - I am pretty sure they will have the answer. 

You might need to ask about disclosure to insurance company as well as DVLA? 

I am interested to know the answer so please update the forum. 

Contact our Autism Helpline team who are best suited to answer. They can provide you with information and advice on your issue. You can call them on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm, Friday 9am to 3pm). Please note that the Helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an advisor.

Please see the following link for further information: http://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/main.aspx

Best wishes,

Nicky-Mod