Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett says the DriveABLE program will likely see positive changes this fall.
DriveABLE ensures those seniors identified by a physician as having cognitive issues have retained sufficient cognitive abilities to drive safely.
“Hopefully in September, we will have good news that it will be more accessible for seniors in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. That’s all I can say at this time.”
As parliamentary secretary for rural communities and a senior herself, Barnett says she has talked to older folks required to take the driving test and has been working on some underlying issues for “a long, long time.”
She notes the test, in itself, isn’t the trouble.
The problem for seniors in the South Cariboo and other rural areas is they need the ability to take the test closer to their own community, Barnett explains.
“Seniors don’t have a problem being safe or taking driving tests, none of us do. The issue in a nutshell … is accessibility.”
At age 80, every driver must undergo a driver medical examination with their doctor, which evaluates a person’s medical fitness to drive safely, by assessing vision, physical abilities and medical conditions that may affect driving.
Only those identified by a physician as having cognitive issues are referred by the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles office to DriveABLE.
With the assistance of a health-care professional, the in-office computer test is designed to assess potential for driving errors associated with cognitive decline (but not general driving skills or road rules).
Barnett explains this isn’t the first time the program has been modified since it was implemented in 2005.
“Before, if you failed [DriveABLE], then you were done; you couldn’t take your driver’s test. But after we worked with the ministry and, basically, as a representative for rural communities, ‘made a lot of noise’, it was changed so that if you failed that one, you could still take the driver’s test.”
The issue now is the driver’s test must be taken in urban centres that have a driving examiner with a dual-steering-wheel vehicle, and she adds there is “no accessibility” close to home for many rural communities.
Some elderly constituents in 100 Mile House have been getting letters instructing them to go to Prince George or Kamloops for their test, so Barnett says she’s been working “very diligently” to get it closer to home.
Meanwhile, she encourages any seniors who receive such a letter before the changes occur to call her office first before they book the test.
“I’m looking for positive things to happen.”
Of the nearly half a million drivers over the age of 65 in B.C., about 1,500 need to take a DriveABLE assessment.
