It is a tragic reality that somewhere in Australia a bike rider will periodically be fatally injured by a driver with a medical condition.
Too frequently that medical condition is one that—if declared—would have prevented that driver from carrying a licence.
A life saved, or lost, depending on the honesty of a doctor-patient conversation.
Because people continue to believe that the right to drive is an entitlement from birth, society relies to a significant extent on health professionals to intervene and keep people who are not fit to drive from putting at risk those of us who ride bikes.
For years this has been an imperfect process, with way too many medically unfit drivers granted free rein.
But every few years Australia’s driver licensing authorities pull the lever and ratchet up the standards a few notches, and 2022 is one of those years.
The National Transport Commission has just released the latest review of Assessing Fitness to Drive that contains the nationally agreed medical standards for the purposes of driver licensing. They come into effect on 22 June.
This time around the focus has been on greater consistency in the management of the patient/driver by utilising advances in science and medicine to inform management of the risks these drivers pose.
The law requires drivers to report to their driver licensing authority any permanent or long-term illness that is likely to affect the ability to drive safely.
This must be done at the time the condition occurs, not just when renewing a licence.
A doctor should able to advise the driver on whether or not the condition should be reported.
A range of medical conditions, as well as treatments, can impair driving ability. Common examples include:
- Blackouts
- Sleep disorders
- Vision problems
- Diabetes
- Epilepsy and seizures
- Psychiatric disorders
- Heart disease
Older drivers and people with cognitive decline are also problematic, especially as the decline can be progressive and unpredictable
For all these conditions and others there are new criteria for assessment that should help the medical community and families make better informed judgments.
Even so there is still the issue of conditional licences where people that have a disease or condition that can affect driving can be issued with a licence under special conditions such as only driving in daylight hours.
In some states the licensing authorities and police enforcement are acutely aware of the risks involved when those unfit for driving are on the roads, and many drivers each year get referred for assessment and fail.
This is an important backstop when the system fails.
There are numerous recognised flaws in the overall licensing system, not all of which can be address via Fitness to Drive policies.
One, which is being addressed, is the health rules pertaining to the licensing of professional drivers in the heavy vehicle sector, where a much needed improved and stricter process will be rolled out in the future.
More information is available here.
This article was made possible by the support of Bicycle Network's members who enable us to make bike riding better in Australia.