I am 43, was diagnosed at 22 as RR but two years ago told I’m now secondary progressive. Was not a shock as the deterioration was obvious. What is worrying me is driving. I drive an automatic but when do I need to look at hand controls. Today my foot slipped on the brake, no harm was done but I’m scared I could do next time. My legs are aching, tired and twitching all the time. I don’t know if my foot slipping was just an accident or a warning that I really need to get checked. I had my last DVLA test in 2015 and expires 2018 but some days I’m so much worse than others I don’t want to risk that one hour in the doctors two years ago being enough to say I’m ok for the next 3! Has anyone moved to hand controls and when and how did you do? Thanks Luan
Hi Luan
I learnt to drive with hand controls, and found it very easy. Before starting, I had an assessment at a mobility centre, where I got to try out a few different type of control to see which I preferred. The staff at the centre were great, very encouraging. If you search google for ‘forum of mobility centres’, you’ll find them. They’ve got centres around the country. I definitely recommend them.
Dan
Thank you, I’ll look up today. Did you have to buy a new car or can they adapt. I think it will help as I just feel like I’ve lost confidence. Luan
Hi Luan, best thing I ever did. I have been driving with hand controls for 12 years now and I’m not sure if I would change. It’s so easy and natural now. The controls are so responsive plus I don’t have the worry about my wonky legs. I never had the opportunity to try them out first but within a day or two it felt like I had always been using them. Nothing to lose and lots to gain.
Gary
I changed over to hand controls about 10 years ago. I went for an assessment at a mobility centre first. They check your response times and s load of other things. They said that I was basically safe driving an automatic car with foot controls, but only just. I decided to change over anyway (on the grounds that things were only going to get worse). I found a driving instructor with an adapted car and had a few sort of lessons. You’re not required to have lessons legally, I just felt safer. On the third one she said I was fine and hadn’t really needed the last one. But it was also quite nice to be told I was driving quite well (an ego boost is a nice thing to have). Once I’d got used to it, it was really very easy.
I actually stopped driving 5 years ago when my mobility got a lot worse, and haven’t even bothered to get my new Motability car adapted (I did the last one and didn’t drive it once!)
I would definitely recommend it, anything that keeps you mobile and independent.
Sue
Hi Sue
Exactly I’m worried about losing independence. What is notability? Is it a car we have to use with hand controls. I don’t know too much about everything. I think I just thought I’d never reach this point so avoided it but I’m glad we have these options of keeping our independence. Thank you Luan
Hi Hopeful! Did you buy a car with hand controls and use immediately or did you wait to get your car changed? Good to hear it’s worked out so well x
Hi Luan
In answer to your question, I got a car through Motability, but the controls can be bought privately& fitted to any car. The ones I used were the most basic push-pull ones, with a steering ball, from Jeff Gosling. I’m not sure how much they cost to buy though.
Dan
Hi Luan
You have had some replies from folk who already have hand controls, but if you have Cruise Control you can get a taste for yourself.
You want a known cross-country run, where you can go fast enough to enable the CC. Turn it on and set the speed for about 37 mph. Take your foot off the throttle. When you see a corner coming up, hit the button that disconnects the CC and the car will slow down (you want to do this about twice the normal breaking distance). As you come out of the corner, hit the button to turn CC on again. Repeat as necessary.
I have practised this for years against the day when I suddenly lose fine control of my right foot as an emergency measure, but it does give you a feel for not using your feet at all.
Geoff
Motability is the scheme through which you can get a car on a lease, but you have to be in receipt of PIP for mobility at the enhanced rate (or DLA for mobility at the high rate).
You can get any automatic car adapted to use hand controls. There are some expensive variants but the basic model of push/pull accelerator/brake system plus a steering ball (as you are steering with one hand and using the accelerator/brake with the other) costs somewhere around £800. When I first started driving with hand controls, it cost me about £750 for the car adaptations, the mobility centre assessment cost about £140 and each driving lesson about £30. So in all somewhere around £1000 to change over.
But a first step would be to find a mobility driving assessment centre locally to you. Try doing an internet search. They can give you advice on where to go from there as well as test your current driving safety. They’ll perhaps also have a test track and a car that will give you an idea of what it’s like to drive an adapted car.
Sue
Hello
i have had hand controls for 1 year on my motability car.
the hand controls were done free of charge by motability
i had a few driving lessons (£20 a go for confidence) and a driving assessment free of charge to ensure I was safe.
motability changed my car to one with a higher seat.
you then have to change your licence for hand controls.
my other half drives with the pedals so uses it as an automatic
Paul
Thanks to all of you for your comments, really helpful, so much I never realised and I’ll be looking into all of it this week. Thank you Luan
Here’s the Motability website - http://www.motability.co.uk/
You need to get the higher rate for the mobility component of DLA/PIP. The way it works is that you pay the mobility part of your DLA/PIP, and in exchange get a brand new car. There’s a huge range of cars available. You may need to pay a down payment, depending on the car you want. If you need hand controls, then these will be fitted for free. The car isn’t actually yours though - after 3 years, you hand the car back & get another brand new one. All running costs for the car are covered - servicing, insurance etc. All that needs paying for is the petrol, so there’s a lot of peace of ind that goes with the scheme. But like I sau, if you don’t qualify for Motability (or don’t want to use it), you can just buy controls yourself fot a few hundred quid.
Dan
Thanks Dan, much appreciated will be looking into that, Luan