Scrapping driving tests for aged 'naive'

Doctors are alarmed at what they say is an "ideologically driven" decision to scrap compulsory driving tests for over-80-year-olds.

Prime Minister Helen Clark used a pre-election platform at Grey Power's annual conference in Rotorua this week to announce that the driving tests required every two years from the age of 80 would be abolished, but doctors would still need to certify that over-80s were fit to drive.

The chairman of the Medical Association's General Practitioners Council, Dr Peter Foley, yesterday slammed the decision as "naive".

"To put the onus on general practice to be the only determinant of whether people can drive a motor vehicle in the New Zealand scene is a naive reliance on the medical examination as it is," he said.

"My concern is that there is some ideological idea that we can do away with reviewing one's ability to drive a car once you have reached 75."

At present, general practitioners (GPs) have to fill in a four-page form for their patients at age 75 and then every two years from age 80, assessing their ability to converse from 3m away, their vision, and whether they have ever suffered from conditions that may affect their driving, such as diabetes, strokes or cognitive impairment (mental decline).

Dr Foley said he always added a few extra tests not required by the form, such as checking patients' coordination and neck movement.

The form requires doctors to state whether patients are medically fit to drive. But Dr Foley said the whole test was normally completed within the standard 12-to-15-minute consultation period, and he did not believe it was enough by itself.

"With all respect, as you get older, your response rate declines, your ability to operate under stress varies, and you are handling a complicated and lethal piece of machinery."

"An on-road test, I think, should be vital - perhaps not every two years, but it needs to be there."

However, the Automobile Association's director of public affairs, George Fairbairn, who was a member of the consultative group which recommended scrapping the mandatory driving test, said the group wanted doctors to be able to require on-road tests when needed.

Doctors would also be required to conduct a more extensive medical examination than they do now.

"It could not be the present standard quarter-hour," he said.

He said the consultative group's report, submitted on March 31, was only an interim report, with details such as the nature of the medical test and possible subsidies for the cost still to be worked out before a final report was due in June.

"The Prime Minister has jumped the gun a little bit," he said.

"We were asked not to circulate the information widely, so we haven't sent it to our membership with a bit of a survey. We accepted that that was not to occur because it was still at a proposal stage.

"In fact it will be at least 12 to 18 months [before a change can take effect], even if they move quickly to get the rules changed."

The office of Transport Minister Pete Hodgson refused to release the interim report yesterday and advised the Herald to apply to the Ministry of Transport for it under the Official Information Act.

The Royal College of General Practitioners, which was represented on the consultative group, initially told the Herald that it did not have anyone on the group.

"We don't have someone on the committee, we just provided the input. It's a virtual committee," said a college spokesman, Bob Fox.

But retired Wellington GP Tom Farrar, a former president of the college, later confirmed that he represented the college on the committee and supported the proposal to scrap mandatory road tests.

"We supported dropping the driving test in principle because we were informed that this is quite commonly done in quite a few other countries and in some states of Australia, and we are aware that it could be looked on as discriminating against the 80-pluses and most of them are reasonable drivers," he said.

Dr Farrar, still driving at 74, said the committee was investigating tests developed overseas for doctors to use to assess driving ability.

Safe to drive

Medical certificate
GPs must assess:

* Conversation at 3 metres.
* Vision.
* Diabetes.
* Joint or limb problems.
* Strokes.
* Mental illness.
* Cognitive impairment.
* High blood pressure.
* Seizures, fits, convulsions or epilepsy.

Driving test
20-min test assesses:

* Steering control: leaving the kerb, driving straight, turning, parking.
* Speed control.
* Searching for potential hazards.
* Checking traffic before turning or lane change.
* Signalling, including at roundabouts.
* Driving in medium to heavy traffic in 50-80km/h zones.