New medical standards for drivers.

BACKGROUND

The national standards for assessing private and commercial vehicle drivers have recently been revised and combined into a single publication 'Assessing Fitness to Drive', published by Austroads. The new publication provides greater clarity of medical criteria for general practitioners and specialists and also details useful management guidelines.

OBJECTIVE

This article introduces GPs to the new standards, outlines the key changes and implications for practice and highlights several medical, legal and ethical issues.

DISCUSSION: Assessment of fitness to drive is a common issue in patient management and one that carries significant health, safety and lifestyle consequences both for the drivers themselves and other road users.