The Austroads Council has endorsed this book of guidelines to assist health professionals assess a person's fitness to drive. The book represents the latest set of national uniform guidelines on the fitness to drive of private vehicle drivers and has been developed by Austroads through exhaustive consultation involving all key stakeholders. The guidelines' aim is to assist health professionals in assessing the fitness to drive of any patient who holds a license for a light motor vehicle including a car, motorcycle or light rigid truck. This publication and the guidelines within is a tangle expression of Austroads' commitment to safer roads. Replacing all previous fitness to drive guidelines, they have been approved by all Australian's driver licensing authorities and are endorsed by all national medical colleges and associations. Driving a motor car is a complex task involving factors such as perception, judgement and reasonable physical capability. A range of medical conditions as well as certain treatment may impair any of these factors, resulting in a crash. The Austroads guidelines will assist health professionals in assessing the ability of people to drive. A key ingredient in the reduction of Australia's road toll over the last twenty five years has been the ability of all levels of government and the community to work together across a broad spectrum of road safety initiatives. In 1970 there were eight road fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles, but the rate dropped to below two in 1997. These guidelines will play an important role in reducing that figure even further. (Author/publisher) For the second edition see P 20030330.
Samenvatting