Driver assessment service for people with mental illness

Abstract

Mental illness often leads to functional deficits that likely affect one’s driving performance and may even pose threat to other road users. However, having a mental illness does not automatically preclude one from driving which is essential to mobility and productivity. Indeed, evaluating their fitness-to-drive would be of necessary. Despite that, there is still a lack of a local driving evaluation service that specifically addresses the impact of mental illness on driving capacity. This paper discusses the needs to evaluate the fitness-to-drive of people with mental illness. It advocates the development of such specific driver assessment service with a local example as illustration. Lastly, some of the challenges related to the drivers’ responsibility to declare personal health status and large variety of assessment approaches are also discussed.

Predictors of Seatbelt Use Among Saudi Adults: Results From the National Biobank Project

“…Mental illnesses do not necessarily mean an inability to drive. However, functional impairment may be influenced by mental illnesses and can change an individual's driving behavior, which might endanger other road users (26). According to the literature, the presence of mental illness symptoms such as anxiety and depression might decrease road safety (27).…”