Driving Assessment
Program
Hollis Bell, M.D.
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When was the last time you had a parent or
family member that you thought should not be driving? What did you do?
What about your parent who had a stroke a few months ago and wants to
return to driving? How do you determine whether he/she is safe?
Driving with impairments carries not only risk to the driver and others
on the road but legal liability for damages.
St. John’s Outpatient Therapy Department now offers a formalized driving
assessment and drivers training when indicated. The program has served
70 persons since October, 2008. An occupational therapist with
specialized training and a specially adapted vehicle provide the
objective assessments that our patients need to continue to drive
safely.
The evaluation includes - clinic vision, cognitive, strength and
coordination assessments. It then progresses to an on-the-road
assessment in a St John’s vehicle with various adaptations available and
the all important safety brake for the examiner. The assessment tools
are based on research and have been standardized. Various state agencies
acknowledge this type of assessment to be the most thorough and refer
individuals to our program. This program contributed to St. John’s
receiving 1st place recently in the 2009
Springfield Safe Community and Injury Prevention Awards.
The goal of this program is driver safety NOT “taking their license
away”. Many times, with specialized therapy or adapted devices, persons
with physical impairments can continue to drive – or return to driving
after neurologic injury including paralysis. When the assessment does
indicate unsafe driving skills, the referring physician is notified and
necessary reporting at the state level is completed.
Persons can be referred to the program by a physician. For more
questions, call 417-820-2149.
The cost for the evaluation time is $300 and training is billed at $100
per hour. The full evaluation is not covered by most insurance
companies. A current grant from the Greene County Senior Citizens Fund
will cover county residents and other grant applications are in process.
For a complete driver evaluation description, please
click here.
To see media releases and video of driving
assessments:
Healthy People article
http://www.stjohns.com/healthypeople/
Adaptive driving program will put more people behind the wheel:
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/44045267.html
For more detailed information about this program, office based
assessments, and MO state reporting forms for unsafe driver evaluations
please access the following:
AMA Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers
www.dor.mo.gov form # 1528 for physicians, form # 4319 for others
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