How medical reviews work

The Medical Review team often receive reports from police, doctors, community members and from drivers themselves advising of a medical condition or expressing concerns about individuals’ fitness to drive.

If a report is received, we'll request information from you to make sure it is safe for you to drive. This is called a medical review.

Self-reporting a medical condition this also triggers the medical review process.

Our fitness to drive process is based on national assessing fitness to drive guidelines.

Anyone can be asked to complete a medical review

If we receive information about a medical condition or disability that could affect your ability to drive safely, we might ask you to participate in the medical review process. This will help us assess your fitness to drive.

We have a legal obligation to investigate any concerns about driving safety under the Road Safety Act 1986. A medical review checks that you are fit to drive and are able to drive safely.

Anyone driving in Victoria can be asked to complete a medical review. This includes people with:

• good driving records
• interstate driver’s licences
• learner permits
• overseas driver’s licences.

If you hold an interstate or overseas drivers licence, and you are not fit to drive, we will remove your authority to drive in Victoria. 

Got questions? Read our medical review process info sheet.

The medical review process

1. Report your medical condition

Drivers are obligated under law to self-report any medical condition(s) which impacts their ability to drive safely.

We encourage people with medical conditions to speak with their doctor to understand their health conditions and the potential impact on their driving. 

We may need more information from you in order to complete your medical review. 

You can’t appeal our decision to conduct a medical review or driving test.

You need to provide the requested information by the due date outlined in your letter from us or your driver’s licence may be suspended or cancelled. If you need more time to provide the requested reports or tests, please contact us (details below) to request an extension of time.

2. Your health professional completes a medical report

Make an appointment with your doctor or specialist to complete the report(s).

We suggest you make an appointment as soon as you can (as there may be a waiting period), and advise the staff of the reason for your visit, as the consultation may take longer than usual. 

Your doctor will assess your medical fitness to drive using the national assessing fitness to drive guidelines.

An online form is available to help GPs and health professionals complete your fitness to drive assessment.

The online medical report is a quick, easy and secure way to report on fitness to drive. Using the online report instead of a paper form means we receive your report straight away - speeding up the process so you’ll know the outcome sooner.

If your health professional chooses to complete a paper report instead of the online medical report, please send your paper report(s) by email ([email protected]), fax (03 9854 2307) or post.

Make sure you keep the original for your own records. If you would prefer to post your report, please allow up to two weeks for delivery.

3. Medical Review team assess the report

We'll assess your report(s) against the medical standards for drivers set out in the national assessing fitness to drive guidelines.

These standards apply nationally throughout Australia and we're bound to follow them when making decisions about a person’s fitness to drive. 

Bear in mind that the standards are often stricter for commercial vehicle drivers. This is because accidents involving commercial or heavy vehicles can be more catastrophic than those involving private light vehicles. 

If we need more information to assess your fitness to drive, we might ask you to:

• provide an additional report from a medical specialist (e.g. cardiologist, neurologist, ophthalmologist…)
• complete a driving test
• complete an occupational therapy driving assessment.

4. Driving test or occupational therapy driving assessment

To complete a medical review, we may ask you to take a driving test and/or occupational therapy driving assessment.

If you pass your test or assessment, you’ll keep your licence. If you test for a conditional licence and pass, we’ll organise a new licence with these conditions.

If you fail your test, your licence may be restricted or suspended until you undertake another test and pass.
 

4. Outcome of your review

Your medical review outcome is based on all the information provided, including notifications, the medical reports you provided, and the medical review driving test outcome or occupational therapy driving assessment outcome. 

Once we have all the information required to make a fitness to drive decision, we will review it using the national assessing fitness to drive guidelines and send you a letter telling you the outcome of your medical review.

There are three possible outcomes for your driver’s licence:

5. Appealing the decision

If you're unhappy with our decision, you can appeal to either the Customer Decision Review team or the Magistrates' Court.