Best Practice

The DriveABLE assessment has been identified as best practice for the assessment of medically at risk drivers & is being used widely throughout Canada & the USA.  DriveABLE has been highlighted in the American Medical Association’s Physician’s Guidelines as a science-based driving evaluation & has been used in both national & international research.

DriveABLE has also been selected by the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation as the “Best Practice Driving Evaluation”.  Recently, the Canadian province of British Columbia has revised their fitness to drive guidelines & recommend DriveABLE as the assessment of choice for licensing decisions when cognitive impairment is suspected.

Studies demonstrate that drivers with medical conditions have a significantly increased crash risk, especially when cognition is affected.  The risk for cognitively impaired individuals has been shown to be similar to that of alcohol impaired drivers.  The incidence of cognitive impairment in the senior population is known to be one in four (8% due to dementia & 17% due to another illness).   Many of these individuals continue to drive, for example, recent Australian research found that 42% of men with dementia are current drivers.  This amounts to tens of thousands of impaired, potentially dangerous drivers on Australian roads.

However, diagnosis alone is inadequate for making licensing decisions & alternatively, each individual’s functional capacity needs to be evaluated.  Unfortunately, it is difficult to objectively determine the functional impact of a person’s cognitive impairment in a clinical setting.  Medical professionals have not been given adequate tools to allow objective, valid decision making & report that they do not wish to make these decisions, which have such potential to impact negatively on the general well being & mobility of their patients. Therefore, more specialised, independent evaluation processes are required.

The Australian Medical Associations' position statement on “The Role of the Medical Practitioner in Determining Fitness to Drive Motor Vehicles” recognises that:

“Medical assessment for fitness to drive needs to be available independently of the patient’s normal practitioner to avoid the conflict situation of the caring practitioner also having to adjudicate on fitness to drive” (AMA, 2008)

Until recently there has been limited access to scientifically validated assessments for fitness to drive in Australia. With the introduction of the DriveABLE technology, there is now  an option for independent, evidence based evaluation for determining fitness to drive in people with chronic medical conditions, in particular those affecting cognitive function.