VANCOUVER — RoadSafetyBC will soon ditch computerized assessments that help determine whether drivers with health conditions can safely continue to drive.
Instead, RoadSafetyBC will opt for an enhanced on-road assessment, allowing drivers to use their own cars, upping the re-examination length from 75 minutes to 90, and allowing for a break and feedback partway through.
The changes, announced Thursday, follow years of pressure from advocacy and seniors groups that say the computerized assessments add a level of technology that can cause senior test takers to fumble and affect what might otherwise be competent cognitive abilities.
“The enhanced road assessment puts the focus more sharply on whether someone’s still safe to drive their vehicle, and it’s conducted in a way that’s more accessible and will improve safety,” said Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth.
“The new process is the result of consulting experts and looking at many options, including what other jurisdictions are doing, so drivers can be confident that others around them are qualified to be at the wheel.”
Currently, drivers with medical conditions that may affect their ability to drive safely or a collision report with possible medical concerns are referred for a road assessment test. The test is part of a medical fitness determination conducted by RoadSafetyBC and includes both an on-road assessment and an in-office, computer-based screening.
“The vast majority of B.C. seniors successfully pass the driver’s medical exam,” said Isobel Mackenzie, B.C.’s seniors advocate.
“For those very few who are referred for further testing, the changes being implemented by RoadSafety B.C. represent a major improvement from the past system and will make the processes much less stressful for those seniors required to undertake a road test.”
In 2016,RoadSafetyBC evaluated more than 170,000 drivers for on-road competency; of those, about 3,000 completed a re-examination and 1,000 completed a DriveABLE cognitive assessment.
Concerns about the way driver competency re-examination is conducted has raised for years, with many noting that the ability to drive affords seniors independence and allows them to continue living productive, fulfilling lives.
In 2012, then-solicitor-general Shirley Bond had said the government needed to do a better job of explaining its computerized driving test for seniors suspected of cognitive impairment.
“Government has the responsibility of balancing individuals’ desire to drive with the responsibility to ensure the public safety of all British Columbians,” Bond said in an open letter.
