1 - Introduction - CCMTA Medical Standards
1.1 Purpose of this part
The medical conditions chapters in this part of the document:
- Identify what medical conditions may have an impact on an individual’s fitness to drive
- Highlight the risk of impairment and crash associated with certain medical conditions
- Identify compensation strategies, devices and/or training that may be used to compensate for the effects of a medical condition on driving, and
- Include driver fitness standards to assist authorities in determining whether an individual with a medical condition should be licensed and, if so, the appropriate reassessment interval.
1.2 Source of the medical condition chapters
The medical standards in this part were taken from the CCMTA Medical Standards for Drivers March 2017.
Although no jurisdiction in Canada is legally required to adopt the CCMTA standards, the majority are adopted by the driver fitness authorities. This achieves a uniformity of standards across Canada which supports both road safety and inter-provincial harmonization.
To support a consistent approach to driver fitness across the country, British Columbia has adopted the CCMTA Medical Standards for Drivers.
All medical standards, and subsequent changes, contained in Part 3 of this document are approved by all jurisdictions through a ballot process which requires a two thirds majority for approval
1.3 Medical Condition chapter template
Below is the template used for the medical condition standards chapters. It is annotated to explain what type of information is found in each section of the template.
Name of Medical Condition
About medical condition
Information about the medical condition to assist driver fitness authorities in understanding and applying the guidelines for assessment.
Prevalence
Information about the prevalence of the medical condition, which is relevant to the frequency that it may appear as an issue for licensing.
Medical condition and adverse driving outcomes
Conclusions on the general findings of research on the link between the medical condition and adverse driving outcomes.
Effect on functional ability to drive
Information on the specific effects of the medical condition on the functional abilities needed for driving. This section includes the following table:
Condition | Type of driving impairment and assessment approach | Primary functional ability affected | Assessment tools |
The medical condition and any distinct presentations or variations of the condition | Whether the functional impairment is persistent or episodic, and whether a medical assessment and/or functional assessment is required | The primary functional abilities affected by the medical condition: cognitive, motor, or sensory | The assessment tool to be used, e.g. cognitive on-road assessment |
Compensation
Information about whether or not a driver can compensate through the use of strategies or devices for the functional impairment caused by a medical condition. Treatment for a condition, e.g. medication, is not a type of compensation.
Guidelines for assessment
This section names the medical condition and any distinct presentations or variations that require an individual standard. A standard may be for all licence classes (non- commercial classes 5-7 and commercial classes 1-4), for non-commercial drivers only, or for commercial drivers only.
Additional background information about the medical condition may be included here to help provide context for the standard and other information in the table, below.
National Standard | The requirements that must be met in order to be licensed |
BC Guidelines |
|
Conditions for maintaining licence | Description of any conditions RoadSafetyBC may require for maintaining a licence in BC |
Restrictions | Description of any appropriate restrictions RoadSafetyBC may impose on an individual’s licence. |
Reassessment |
|
Information from health care providers |
|
Rationale | A brief description of the rationale for the guide |