Talking with your patients about driving

For most people, being able to drive is an important part of their daily life and independence.

Talking early about driving

If you have a patient with a medical condition that is likely to make their driving less safe, start talking about driving early in their treatment. This will help your patient, and their family, to plan for when they might not be able to drive anymore.

When you talk to your patients, keep in mind how they’ll likely want to keep driving for as long as they can. Explain that:

• you assess them using the national Assessing Fitness to Drive standards
• the National Transport Commission, professional medical associations and road safety experts develop the standards together
• the standards are based on current driving evidence.

Support for loss of independence

Driving can be needed for work, to see friends and to access essential services such as healthcare. Not having a driver licence can make things harder for some people. They may be hesitant to talk about any health problems that affect their driving or to report their health condition.

Let your patients know that we’ll support them to keep their driver licence if they are medically safe to drive. If your patient feels less independent with licence restrictions or without a licence, it may help to talk to them about support groups and other transport options.

Other industry resources

• Regulatory advice on managing medical conditions of drivers in the heavy vehicle industry.