Learning Hubs

An occupational therapy driving assessment is a comprehensive off-road (clinical) and on-road (practical assessment for people with a medical condition or disability, to determine if that condition is impacting on their ability to drive safely and in accordance with State Licencing Authority (QLD Transport – Transport and Main Roads department in Queensland) driving test standards.

• Your doctor may refer you for an OT driving assessment if you have a medical condition or disability, or if you are over the age of 75, and they would like you to have a functional assessment of your driving.
• After the assessment, the occupational therapy driver assessor will send a report with the recommendations (pass / driving rehab program required / fail) to the GP or specialist, to help them make a decision about providing clearance for driving.

• If you have a medical condition that may impact on your ability to drive safely, QLD legislation (and Australian legislation) requires that you have medical clearance to drive. This is called Jet’s Law.
• Your doctor may require you to have an assessment if they are not sure about the functional impact of your condition on your ability to drive, and they may place a restriction on your driver’s licence – that it is still valid, but subject to the conditions of a QLD Transport Medical Certificate.

You will require a GP referral, valid driver’s licence, QLD Transport Medical Certificate for the assessment; you may also require an Optometrist report (for clients over 75 years of age, clients with vision disorders or neurological injuries).

Refer to the “What We Do” for information about the types of assessments.
Refer to “Forms”

• Driving Well OT provides assessments through NDIS (we are NDIS registered providers), WorkCover, NIISQ, iCare, TAC and other CTP funding.
• Clients with a Home Care Package may be able to use their funding towards the driving assessment – check with your provider.
• Here is a link to our fee schedule.

An occupational therapy driving assessment includes two parts: a clinical (or off-road) assessment and a practical (or on-road assessment):

• The clinical assessment is conducted by the OT driver assessor.
• The practical assessment is conducted by the OT driver assessor, with a specialised driving instructor in the driving instructor’s car with dual controls.

Assessments CANNOT be completed in the client’s own car because dual controls are not fitted into the car, and sometimes clients will make mistakes where the driving instructor has to intervene on the brake or accelerator.

After the driving assessment, the OT driver assessor and driving instructor will determine the outcome of the assessment, and then a report is sent to your referring doctor and to the Medical Conditions Reporting Unit at QLD Transport.

There are three possible outcomes from any driving assessment:

“Pass”: medical condition is not impacting on driving and therefore safe to continue driving

“Driving program”: client has not yet passed

• requires lessons / refresher sessions with the specialised Driving Instructor to attempt to address concerns seen in the initial on-road assessment or learn to drive with vehicle modifications.
• An on-road re-assessment is required after the lessons.
• Lessons and re-assessment are at additional cost.

“Fail”: medical condition is impacting on driving and no longer safe, and recommendation that the licence will be cancelled and the person is recommended to retire from driving.

If you have passed the assessment:

• you need to see your doctor so they can review the report
• if they agree with the OT’s recommendations, they will upgrade your QLD Transport Medical Certificate
• You need to take the updated QLD Transport Medical Certificate to QLD Transport for processing.
• THEN you can drive!

• Your OT driver assessor will advise you about the number of lessons recommended and if you need an OT on-road re-assessment.
• You may need an updated QLD Transport Medical Certificate from your GP
• If you have funding, your OT driver assessor will need to apply for funding to be approved.
• If you are self-funded, you need to book your lessons (additional cost) with your driving instructor.

A “fail” result usually only occurs when:

• there are cognitive deficits in the clinical assessment, and
• when there are safety concerns during the on-road assessment, and
• client doesn’t remember safety incidents or feedback from the driving instructor during the on-road assessment
• client is not showing potential to improve driving skills

You are encouraged to discuss the outcome of the assessment with your GP.

The assessment results are final.

You are welcome to seek a second opinion.

Use our “Refer” button on the top menu to open a referral form, put in all your or the client’s details, and upload the forms that you need for the assessment.

Zeta, our Practice Manager, will contact you to book the appointment.

• An occupational therapy driving assessment will be required; during the intake process, we will aim to work out what modifications are likely to suit your driving needs and book an instructor with those modifications.
• If we aren’t sure what modifications will be needed, sometimes we will do the clinical assessment first, and work out the modifications and plan for practical assessment after that.
• Your driving OT will guide through the process of lessons, getting your car modified, and licensing requirements.

Read more here.

• Clients with psychosocial conditions (such as being on the Autism Spectrum, ADHD etc) – Driving Well OT completes “potential to drive” assessments to work out readiness for driving. Read more here.
• Clients with physical conditions (such as Spina Bifida): a pre-learner clinical assessment can be conducted; client must have learner’s permit to be able to do on-road assessment, to work out what modifications may be required for you.

• An occupational therapy driving assessment will determine if your medical condition is impacting on your ability to drive safely and in accordance with QLD Transport driving test standards.
• Your OT driver assessor will advise the outcome of the assessment (pass – driving program required – fail) and advise you on the next steps.

Read more here.

We are small team of occupational therapy driver assessors in Brisbane and we strive to help clients through this difficult process.

We ONLY do driving and vehicle modifications at Driving Well and we do a lot of training and supervision to make sure that we are providing a clinically excellent service.

Our team and business values are:

• Safety
• Personal Touch
• Opportunity
• Partnership
• Leadership

Read more about Jenny and the team here.