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Driver's Test Question - how to answer responsibly?

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Mt father owned a driving school and the first about 45 years of my life was daily drving lessons every time my father was in the car with me :slight_smile: You definitely do not have to say YES unless you have an implant. Just say NO and forget it.

In reply to @Hearing_Potential

Interesting. I’m severe/profound but function fine in a car. However, I also own a motorcycle. I obviously don’t wear my when I wear a helmet, and in fact I wear 32db earplugs to protect what’s left of my hearing from wind noise. That leaves me virtually deaf on my motorcycle. And no full view mirrors on a bike!

Illinois - I was at the DMV office for a written and vision test and the agent saw my hearing aids. They put a restriction on my license - Type F - which requires outside mirrors on both sides of the vehicle.

I believe ALL cars except perhaps some models that you still find in Cuba have outside mirrors.
It seems to me that the question “do you need ” is copy-paste from the same question for glasses. If you answer “yes” there you simply get a note on your driving licence stating that you must wear them. If I remember well in some places here in Europe, you also had to have spare glasses.
Some dumb administrator then copy-pasted the same for HAs. As others have stated, you can drive safely with very limited hearing. Be careful though- if you get an accident and were not wearing your HAs a laywer may use this (especially in the US, ofc)…

In reply to @Lour

@Lour thanks! I’m in Oregon, so this guy’s information is particularly helpful for me. I put a reminder to myself in my Google calendar for my next birthday to check into adding the Hard of Hearing designation to my driver’s license.

I’ve been wearing hearing aids for 30 years and I say no to that question. My experience is if I could hear the sirens without hearing aids I’m OK.

When I went for my medical,(over 75), my doctor said I cannot have a truck licence with hearing aids and so had to hand it in.

Interesting about truck driving. This restriction does not exist in New Zealand for trucks but does for drivers of passenger vehicles, e.g. buses, taxis.

In reply to @abalosa

@abalosa said:

The question is similar to whether you are required to wear eye glasses while driving.The DMV tests your eyesight then puts a note on your license if you do not pass the eye test.

In Michigan, a person with hearing loss needs nothing special for an operator’s license. Chauffeur’s and CDL licenses require hearing test. A snap-on wide angle rear view suffices for hearing loss levels when obtaining a CDL or Chauffeur’s license. (But commercial vehicles have to have two outside mirrors anyway.)

My latest test for vision I listened to the person in front of me and repeated what she said. The tester laughed and asked if I knew that she changed the screen. Oops! Yet- No new test and no Corrective Lenses Required box checked.

For my latest hearing test (with my hearing aids in my pocket on purpose), the driver license place person said a sentence and asked me to repeat it. I could read her lips. What a joke test.

I think the question is ridiculous…do they also ask if you play music at the loudest setting or does your baby scream while you cruise down the interstate…

Edited

@Tadaa, I was thinking the same thing. Some cars are very quiet with thicker windows and sound deadening material placed throughout. (Unfortunately for me these cars are almost always the very expensive ones.) If music is playing very loudly through multiple speakers, the occupants cannot hear emergency vehicles unless they are very close.

The last few days I’ve been doing heavy research on a system to hear sirens and be alerted while driving, and have only come up with Stellatis vehicles like Jeep, and only recent models, that have the capability to hear sirens and put up an alert. I looked at smartphones, cameras, cellphones, etc. On my Android phone the LiveTranscribe hears sirens, and can flash and beep, but you have to have the phone where you can see it. So there is that.

There was an interesting sensor with an alert light which didn’t go anywhere. Must have run out of funding. I read through various news articles with items like this, but as I researched them, couldn’t find those items now.

This in the UK

Cars and Motorcycles (Group 1)

  • No reporting needed: You do not need to tell the DVLA if you are deaf or hard of hearing.

In reply to @RobHooft

@RobHooft said:

do you need HAs” is copy-paste from the same question for glasses. If you answer “yes” there you simply get a note on your driving licence stating that you must wear them.

This is a total surprise to me. I’ve had reading glasses since I was 17, pre getting my license. I wore ’s for 10 yrs and for 7 yrs now. Neither glasses of hearing devices is marked on my drivers license. Different countries do have different rules.

Yes, they do, confusingly. And here in Europe you can easily cross 4-5 countries in a daytrip, each with its own traffic rules and -signs. Total chaos, and, sometimes, dangerous. And if you need glasses you are also legally obliged to have a spare pair in your car, at least in France, Spain and Switzerland…

It is a total, sorry, mess.

Have some fun with this site:

Goodyear’s guide to driving in summer in Europe2

Whether you are a local or a tourist taking on a scenic summer driving holiday, it can be challenging to navigate the different road regulations across Europe. Although the summer season generally brings more favourable driving conditions, driving in...

or this screenshot:

IMG_6384

A full list of differences in traffic regulations, traffic signs, speed limits and penalties probably runs for many, many pages…

Most shockingly, when you move countries in Europe (as I did twice), they just hand you over a new, national driver’s licence- no questions asked and, what is actually quite scary, no information given.

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