Medical review of drivers and its contribution to crash prevention and driver safety

Older drivers constitute a heterogeneous group where the common feature of age is probably the least relevant in terms of assessing driving ability. When compared to other drivers on the basis of deaths or injuries per distance travelled, older drivers have an increased risk of crashing or dying compared to drivers in their middle years. This is partly due to the increased incidence of medical conditions as a driver ages, and partly due to the higher likelihood of dying from injuries with increased age and frailty. It might be imagined from the foregoing that one way of dealing with the potential problem would be to introduce medical screening as a licensing condition. There is no doubt that licensing authorities have a responsibility to ensure that drivers are fit to hold a licence but there are differences in the way this is done between the Australian states. Victoria is in an interesting position as it is the only state that does not have some form of compulsory medical review as a driver ages, but despite (or perhaps because of) this has the lowest rate of older driver deaths in the country.

• Authors:
  • Odell, M
  • Wells, D
• Conference:
  • Saferoads: Victorian Local Government Road Safety Conference, 2006, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Publication Date: 2006-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 3p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Highway safety; Impaired drivers; Medical examinations and tests
• Uncontrolled Terms: Road safety (human factors)
• Geographic Terms: Victoria
• ATRI Terms: Aged driver; Fitness to drive; Medical examination; Road safety
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01386360
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Aug 22 2012 9:12PM