It took crashing into my garage door to realise I had to hand in my driver’s licence

I’ve got the message – driving is not for me.

As a cyclist who got collected on a roundabout three months ago, I decided to invest in four wheels to take me here and there.

Former anchor and weatherman Edwin Maher, pictured in 2010, has called time on his days behind the wheel.Credit: Dave Tacon

In a previous life, I was a presenter and weatherman on ABC TV Melbourne in the 1980s and ’90s, known in particular for my collection of weather pointers that viewers sent in every week.

Back then, I enjoyed driving around Melbourne, especially to speak at Probus, Rotary and other clubs, their members wanting the inside story of my pointers collection, which ranged from swords, to sceptres to a giant carrot.

While they numbered into the hundreds, some had hidden meanings such as one made with vegetables by (naughty) students at Melbourne University.

As ABC TV Melbourne’s weatherman, Edwin Maher was known for using a broad range of pointers that were sent in by viewers. Here he wields an ice sculpture pointer.

I remember using another sent to the studio by a visiting group of Shanghai ice sculptors who had been shown my TV antics. So cold was the beautifully made pointer, I had to use leather gloves to soak the ice which started melting under the hot studio lights.

When the news ended, the acting manager popped his head into the studio and said the pointer “looked great” but not to go home until I had mopped the floor.

After my wife, Robyn, died from a brain tumour in 2000, my own career pointed to Beijing where I became the first foreign news anchor on Chinese state TV.

In 2003, Beijing was adding 1000 new cars on the roads every day and there was no way I would join them and their distinctive, often scary road rules.

Since returning home post-COVID, I toyed with the idea of driving again, but it has proved a challenge ending in defeat.

While I had never owned or driven a car in Beijing, I had maintained my Victorian state licence. But back permanently in Australia, I knew my driving skills needed re-evaluating.

Edwin Maher, pictured with a collection of his weather pointers in 2000.Credit: The Age

Last month I took two driving lessons to brush up on my skills behind the wheel, and the instructor made it clear she was more than pleased with my progress.

But a week out from my next lesson, the unthinkable happened. I had an accident, and in my own front yard. I am so thankful no one was in range at the time because it could have been much worse.

I had returned to Torquay from a drive along the Great Ocean Road and decided to leave the car parked at the top of my sloping (down) driveway. The wheels needed a little straightening, so I started the engine and was about to make the correction when the car began revving and moving forward.

My foot had slipped from the brake to the accelerator and within seconds, the garage door sliced and sandwiched on the car roof, flattening a table tennis table, and other stored items before everything came to a rest.

In a state of shock, I phoned my daughter, Elizabeth, who lives one house away, and she came running, dialling the emergency number.

Many people complain about long wait times, but paramedics and police arrived within minutes, and before long the garage door was lifted off the car, and I was helped out the driver’s door.

After checking my vitals and asking if I wanted to go to hospital for a more thorough examination (I didn’t), the police officer had wise words for my daughter: “You and the family might want to discuss with Dad whether it’s a good idea to continue driving.”

My initial thought was defensive, but I knew he was right – I wasn’t going to put up a fight. It was so lucky no one had been hurt, and I wasn’t going to risk it happening again, either on the driveway or the open road, and with life-threatening consequences.

I had been anxious about the idea of driving again, but I felt I was fit both mentally and physically to react to danger. No-one will dispute that we take our lives in our hands when we enter a car to drive or be driven.

It’s a decision that many seniors find hard to make. Approaching my 84th birthday, I know the time has come to leave the wheel to other (hopefully) safer and switched on drivers.

Edwin Maher is a journalist, author and podcaster on the Victorian Surf Coast.

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