Assessing Fitness to Drive

This publication outlines two sets of medical standards for driver licensing or authorisation: private vehicle driver standards and commercial vehicle driver standards. The assignment of medical standards for vehicle drivers is based on an evaluation of the driver, passenger and public safety risk, where:

Risk = Likelihood of the event × Severity of consequences.

Commercial vehicle crashes may present a severe threat to passengers, other road users (including pedestrians and cyclists) and residents adjacent to the road. Such crashes present potential threats in terms of spillage of chemicals, fire and other significant property damage. On the other hand, crashes involving private vehicle drivers are likely to have less severe consequences.

Commercial vehicle drivers generally spend considerable time on the road, increasing the likelihood of a crash. They may also be monitoring various in-vehicle communication and work-related systems – a further factor that increases the likelihood of a crash. Crash data identifies that commercial vehicle drivers are more than twice as likely to be involved in a fatal crash compared with other drivers.

To ensure that the risk to the public is similar for private and commercial vehicle drivers, the medical fitness requirements for the commercial vehicle driver standards must be more stringent. This is required to reduce the risk of a crash, as much as possible, due to long-term injuries or illnesses. The standards in this publication reflect these differences.

Identifying which standards apply

The choice of which standards to apply when examining a patient for fitness to drive is guided by both the type of vehicle (e.g. heavy vehicle) and the purpose for which the driver is authorised to drive (e.g. carrying passengers or dangerous goods). Generally, the commercial vehicle driver medical standards apply to drivers of heavy vehicles, public passenger vehicles or vehicles carrying dangerous goods. A dangerous goods driver licence is required to transport dangerous goods in an individual receptacle with a capacity greater than 500 litres or net mass greater than 500 kilograms.

The private standards should be applied to:

• drivers applying for or holding a licence class C (car), R (motorcycle) or LR (light rigid) unless the driver is also applying for an authority to or is already authorised to use the vehicle for carrying public passengers for hire or reward or for carrying dangerous goods or, in some jurisdictions, for a driving instructor
• voluntary drivers who use their private vehicle but for a voluntary service (e.g. wheels on meals, staff at schools who drive students around, voluntary taxi services for older people, L2P drivers), unless the voluntary driving aligns with the commercial standards.

The commercial standards should be applied to:

• drivers of ‘heavy vehicles’ – those holding or applying for a licence of class MR (medium rigid), HR (heavy rigid), HC (heavy combination) or MC (multiple combination)
• drivers carrying public passengers for hire or reward (bus drivers, drivers of taxis or other ridesharing services, chauffeurs, drivers of hire cars and small buses)
• drivers carrying dangerous goods
• drivers subject to requirements for Basic or Advanced Fatigue Management under the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Standard
• other driver categories that may also be subject to the commercial vehicle standards as a result of certification requirements of the authorising body or as required by specific industry standards – for example, driving instructors and members of TruckSafe.