On the road again
Licence is returned to veteran
WARREN Keats will do something he hasn’t done for a while this weekend.
“I will drive down to the Seagulls Club to place on a bet on Saturday,” the 89year-old war veteran said yesterday after winning his first court case.
The New South Wales Roads and Maritime Service took Mr Keats’ licence off him last November after 67 years of faultless driving.
Mr Keats lost his licence after he failed a driving test he has to sit every year because he is over 85.
Mr Keats challenged the ruling, saying the lack of independence would “kill him”.
The Tweed Local Court yesterday heard Mr Keats was told on November 23 he could drive to his West Tweed home, but not afterwards, after failing the test.
On the way home he hit a parked car.
Mr Keats explained he was in a state of shock after hearing he had lost his licence and that was what caused the crash.
To prove it was just shock, Mr Keats provided medical certificates explaining it was a one-off, his eye sight was “satisfactory” to drive and he was “neurologically perfectly able”.
He told the court he would like a restricted licence which would allow him to drive during daylight hours and within a 10km radius from his home.
Magistrate Dunlevy said he was “satisfied that the public interest was not compromised by Mr Keats having a restricted licence”.
He made an order for Roads and Maritime Service to reissue Mr Keats with the restricted licence.
“I’m very happy about it,” Mr Keats said.
“I was very hopeful because of my record of almost 70 years of driving without infringements and on top of that I am still mentally adept although I am approaching 90 this year.
“But the restricted licence will suit me because I don’t need to drive anywhere except in my local area.”
Between 2000 and 2017, 69,090 NSW driver's licences for people older than 75 were cancelled for medical reasons.