Assessing Fitness to Drive Implementation Work
Austroads is committed to ensuring that the Assessing Fitness to Drive (AFTD) guidelines are consistently and effectively applied across Australia. The Assessing Fitness to Drive Implementation Strategy 2022 is designed to support safe driving for individuals with medical conditions by providing clear, evidence-based guidance for health professionals and licensing authorities.
The AFTD Implementation Framework underpins this strategy, offering a clear methodology for embedding the guidelines into practice across jurisdictions. It focuses on six key domains that address known barriers to implementation, ensuring a nationally consistent, sustainable approach.
Why is this important?
Medical fitness to drive is a critical road safety issue, particularly as Australia’s population ages. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' National Health Survey 2022, one in two Australians (49.9%) had at least one chronic condition, with mental and behavioural conditions (26.1%), back problems (15.7%), and arthritis (14.5%) being the most common.
These statistics highlight the growing need for comprehensive and accessible guidelines to assist health professionals and licensing authorities in making informed decisions regarding individuals' fitness to drive.
Current Implementation Priorities
Austroads is delivering targeted initiatives across seven key areas to strengthen the long-term application of AFTD guidelines:
- National GP Education – Developing and delivering an education program for general practitioners in partnership with a key professional body to enhance understanding of medical fitness to drive assessments.
- Commercial vehicle driver assessments resources – Involves creating guidance to help assess the medical fitness of commercial vehicle drivers.
- National Guidelines for OT Driver Assessors – Developing consistent national guidelines based on the VicRoads OT Driver Assessor Guidelines (2018) and exploring implementation with key stakeholders.
- AFTD Branding Strategy and National Social Media Strategy - To establish long-term brand awareness for the AFTD standards through stakeholder collaboration, a sustainable branding strategy, and a 12-month social media campaign.
- Primary Health Network (PHN) HealthPathways – Conducting a scoping exercise to integrate AFTD into HealthPathways, improving access to fitness-to-drive resources for health professionals.
- Informing the Next AFTD Review – Preparing a proposal for the next guideline update, incorporating insights from current implementation efforts and identifying areas for improvement.
- Governance and Future Planning – Evaluating the cost-benefit of existing initiatives to inform AFTD Strategy 2025-28 and ensure the project’s sustainability.
Expected Benefits
The ongoing implementation of AFTD will:
- Improve GP education and resources for commercial driver fitness assessments.
- Strengthen engagement with the transport industry on driver health and road safety.
- Deliver consistent national guidelines for occupational therapist driver assessors.
- Provide a clear framework for future AFTD updates and governance.
Project contact
Project Manager: An Rendell
P: +61 2 8265 3340
Email: arendell@austroads.gov.au
Your feedback about AFTD
We value your feedback at any time as input into our continuous improvement process. Please use the online feedback form to alert us to issues you would like addressed in the ongoing development and implementation of the Assessing Fitness to Drive Standards.