My vow to get unfit drivers off our streets (From Echo)

My vow to get unfit drivers off our streets

8:00am Monday 13th February 2012 in News By Emma Palmer

A VICAR has vowed to press ahead with her campaign for a change to UK driving laws, almost six years after her niece was hit and killed by a practically blind driver.

Natalie Wade, 28, was out shopping for her wedding dress when John Thorpe, 78, drove through a red light and ploughed into her in his Toyota Land Cruiser while she was on a pedestrian crossing.

Natalie, of Hedingham Place, Rochford, died in hospital five days later, on Valentine’s Day 2006.

Natalie’s aunt, the Rev Brenda Gutberlet, a Methodist church minister, is now campaigning for the DVLA’s “honesty declaration” to be abolished. This rule allows drivers over the age of 70 to self-certify their fitness to drive. It also puts the onus on motorists with eyesight problems and epilepsy to own up to the DVLA about their cond- ition.

Brenda said: “Every day is a life sentence for us. It never goes away.

“As the anniversary of Natalie’s death approaches, it makes us even more determined to never give up until the law has been changed.

“It must be altered to take into account not everyone will tell the truth about their state of health. “We need regulations brought in for doctors and opticians to have the power – and the responsibly – to report drivers who they feel should not get behind the wheel.”

Brenda, who represents the Hockley, Rayleigh and Rochford Methodist parish, and lives on Canvey, has written to Castle Point MP Rebecca Harris several times, asking her to raise Natalie’s plight in parliament. Brenda added: “None of us will ever forget the day we were told the news about Natalie.

“We have to make sure this is never allowed to happen to anyone else.”

Mr Thorpe, of Lower Road, Hullbridge, died of natural causes before he could be brought to trial.

He failed to tell the DVLA about a long-standing medical condition and it later transpired he was effectively blind in one eye and had a string of debilitating medical conditions.