Medical Conditions and Driving

Driving is a complex task that involves the coordination of a number of physical and mental skills.  Any impairment to your physical and mental capabilities due to a medical condition may affect your ability to drive and increase your risk of crash.

All drivers, regardless of age need to be medically fit to drive.

Some medical conditions can affect your ability to drive.  A medical condition may be anything from a temporary disability such as broken bone, to a progressive disability such as arthritis or Parkinson's disease.

If you develop a medical condition or your existing medical condition changes you should talk to your doctor about whether it may affect your driving ability.

It is your legal responsibility to tell the Registrar of Motor Vehicles about any changes in your medical fitness to drive, not your doctor's.

To tell the Registrar of Motor Vehicles about your medical condition, you can ring the Transport Enquiry Service on 1300 851 225 or email driver.licensing@dier.tas.gov.au.

Assessing Fitness to Drive

The Assessing Fitness To Drive (AFTD) standards outline the medical standards for private and commercial driver licensing throughout Australia. A Fact Sheet entitled "Your questions answered"  is also available to answer some of the more common questions that you may have about medical fitness and driving.  

Both these publications are available for viewing and downloading on the AustRoads Website, (external website)