Age and driving safely

Your health and driving

All drivers, no matter what age, should routinely consider ‘am I still fit to drive?’

Many of us drive every day without thinking about the risks that come with being behind the wheel. All of us need to make sure we're fit to drive, or we risk harming ourselves and others.

All drivers have a legal obligation to consider fitness to drive and to report relevant conditions or disabilities to Medical Review.

This fact sheet outlines the medical review process and how your health, any disabilities you have and medications you take may have an impact on your driving.

Identifying changes in your health

Many health problems occur gradually, and can be difficult to notice. It's important to have regular check-ups with your doctor to help keep track of your health and identify any issues which might have an impact on your driving.

Eyesight changes occur as we age; regular eye tests are important to ensure eye problems are detected early to prevent avoidable vision loss. Eye tests can be arranged through a registered optometrist, by referral to an ophthalmologist, or by speaking to your doctor.

If you have or develop any serious or chronic medical conditions, injuries or disabilities (or the effects of treatment for any of those conditions), you must:

talk to a doctor about how it might affect your driving
contact Medical Review to report your condition
send Medical Review a medical report from a doctor who knows your medical history.

Warning signs

Below is a list of signs to watch out for - they may indicate that it's time to talk to a doctor and possibly reduce or stop driving.

difficulty seeing street signs, road markings and other road users
damaging the vehicle more often, from colliding with posts, fences, etc.
difficulty parking or incidents of ‘touch’ parking
difficulty staying within lane markings - such as driving in the gravel on the side of the road, driving down the centre of the road, or failing to drive within a single lane
feeling anxious or having difficulty coping with changed conditions like road works
slow decision-making or reaction times; e.g. not reacting to traffic lights
sensitivity to sun glare or the glare from car or street lights when driving at night
mobility issues - such as hand, leg or back problems that affect your ability to control the foot pedals, steering wheel and dash board controls

lack of judgement of distances such as driving too close to other cars
confusion – such as driving in the wrong direction on the road
memory problems – such as forgetting where you’re going or where you’ve left the car
finding it difficult to concentrate
mixing up the accelerator and brake pedals
friends and family members preferring not to travel in your car
failing to observe traffic lights, stop signs, give way signs and roundabout signs
not using your indicators
slowing or stopping without reason in a lane of traffic
being tooted by other drivers.

If you've experienced any of these warning signs while driving, the next steps you should take are:

make an appointment to see your doctor and/or your eye health professional to talk to them about your driving
complete the self-assessment in the ageing and safe driving fact sheet.

Your diagnosis and your driver licence

It's important to ask your doctor for advice about the effect that any illness, disability or medical condition may have on your ability to drive safely. This includes the effects of any medicines you may be taking, and the effects of medical treatment.

Your doctor should apply the national assessing fitness to drive guidelines.

All Victorian licence holders have a legal responsibility to report any serious, permanent or long term illness, disability, medical condition or injury (or the effects of treatment for any of those conditions) to Medical Review.

Being diagnosed with a health condition doesn’t necessarily mean that you must stop driving straight away.

You may have conditions put on your licence to enable you to drive in conditions suited to your capabilities such as:

limits on distance travelled
being restricted to local roads
only driving in daylight or off-peak hours
a requirement to undergo routine medical or eyesight reviews.

Medical diagnosis, conditions or disabilities that may require reporting to Medical Review

People with any of the following conditions or impairments should talk to their doctor about their fitness to drive.

Diabetes
Dementia
Stroke
Epilepsy or seizures
Multiple sclerosis
Parkinson’s disease
Reduced vision or eye disease (cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, orthokeratology therapy, and diabetes)
Heart disease or heart conditions (including pacemakers)
Arthritic conditions causing pain and reduced mobility
Sleep apnoea
Hearing loss
Psychiatric conditions (including depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder)
Head or brain injury (especially with loss of consciousness)
Reduced or loss of function in limbs.

In some instances, diagnosis alone requires the driver to report their condition to Medical Review.

Driver assessment

If you're given a medical diagnosis, or have a condition or disability that can affect your driving, we may ask you to do a driver assessment with an occupational therapy (OT) driver assessor.

You're responsible for the cost associated with this assessment and we'll write to you if you're required to have one of these assessments.

This request may have been recommended by your doctor, Victoria Police, or by someone else who has reasonable concern over your ability to drive safely.

If your assessment shows you can drive safely, you'll keep your driver licence/learner permit.

However, depending on the assessment results, you may have specific conditions placed on your licence; for example, you may be limited to driving in daylight hours, or only around your neighbourhood.

We'll only suspend or cancel your driver licence/learner permit if you:

are assessed as medically unfit to drive
fail a driving assessment
do not provide a medical report upon request
refuse or fail to undergo a test.

Medications and driving

By age 75, more than three quarters of us are taking two or more medicines regularly and some of these can affect our fitness to drive.

This can happen with medicines prescribed by a doctor and those bought without a prescription, such as cold and flu or hay fever medication.

To drive safely:

you should never mix alcohol, medication and driving
read your medicine labels carefully and obey the directions and warnings; they are there for your protection
ask your doctor or pharmacist if medicines will affect driving, and if they do, ask if there are options for medicines that don’t
if you are likely to be affected by medicines, take public transport, a taxi, or ask a friend or relative to drive
take your medicine exactly as directed.

A pharmacist can advise how any new medicine can interact with others you are taking. Impairing effects vary depending on the medicine type, your age and the dose.

Always ask if it’s safe to drive when taking your medicines. Early symptoms of being affected by medicines include:

drowsiness
undue aggression
dizziness
nausea
light-headedness
blurred or double vision
shakiness.

About the medical review process

Once you have notified Medical Review of your medical condition or disability, we may undertake a fitness to drive assessment. In this process, the medical report from your doctor or other health professional will be reviewed.

If you don’t have a medical report, we may request that you ask your doctor to complete one. Any costs associated with the medical report and health appointments aren't covered by Medical Review.

An online medical report form is available from the health professionals completing medical reviews page.

We assesses each medical report on a case-by-case basis.

Overview of the medical review process

Referral sources	>	Medical Review	>	Licensing decisions
Self-referral Doctor Health professionals General public Family Police		Case-by-case assessment and decision making		Licence without conditions Licence varied with conditions (e.g. area restriction, vehicle modification, corrective lenses condition, no night driving) Licence suspended or cancelled Options for retest/further driving lessons Periodic medical reviews (as guided by National Assessing Fitness to Drive Standards)

Keep your address up to date

After notifying us of your medical condition or disability, it’s important to keep your address up to date as it's likely we'll send you letters about your review.

If you move, you must update your address within 14 days. You can do this online at the VicRoads website, over the phone by calling 13 11 71, or at a VicRoads customer service centre.

Resources

Austroads Assessing Fitness to Drive Guidelines
The national driver medical standards.

The Vision Initiative
This site will provide you with general information regarding your eye health and having an eye check.

RACV
Search for ‘driving and your health’

Traffic Accident Commission (TAC)
Search for ‘drug driving’ and select ‘Why drug driving is dangerous’

NPS Medicine Wise
This site provides consumers and health professionals with information about the safe use of medicines. Search for the medicine type or health topic you want to know more about.

Download PDF of this page: your health and driving fact sheet (PDF)