Olive is a thoughtful 82-yr-old senior citizen who is active in community and church outreach and committed to family and friends: She also happens to be my mother.
Olive has an unblemished 50+ year motor vehicle history, and has been driving to the grocery store, church, hair and doctor's appointments, and to visit her brother in a senior's residence without incident. Olive voluntarily abstained from driving on highways, after dark, and while recovering from a broken foot.
A few months ago, Olive successfully completed her Age 80 and Above (80+) Ministry of Transportation (MOT) License Renewal Program Assessment. This was the second time she'd renewed her license since becoming an octogenarian; and though Olive had been having some minor short-term memory issues, she easily passed the standard MOT 80+ testing.
Fast forward to a routine doctor's appointment, during which a cognitive assessment was administered as a follow-up to a gerontologist’s test 18 months before. In the previous testing Olive passed, by Canadian Medical Association (CMA) standards; however, the follow up testing showed a decline which indicated she should not be driving.
The MOT's 80+ License Renewal Program testing consists of: a vision test; a driver's record review; a 45 minute group education session; two brief in class screening assignments – clock drawing and letter cancellation; and if necessary, a road test. The clock drawing exercise "measures a driver’s capacity to recognize and organize information (visuospatial ability)" and the letter cancellation exercise "measures a driver’s capacity to coordinate thinking with doing (psychomotor speed)."
The CMA cognitive ability examinations – Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) – Olive took at the doctor's office also included visuospatial ability and psychomotor speed, both of which she passed; however she wasn't as successful with additional questions related to orientation, registration, recall, and language fluency.
Based on the MOT 80+ testing, Olive's license to drive was renewed; yet, the CMA’s cognitive guidelines indicate she should not be driving: I find this contradiction troubling. Given that road safety should be of paramount importance, it would appear that the MOT's 80+ testing isn’t a thorough enough examination.
I believe that all drivers, not just seniors, should be required to re-test regularly to renew their driver’s license, perhaps every 5 to 10 years, in car and out. I might even go so far as to suggest that all new and renewing drivers, regardless of age, should have to complete the more comprehensive cognitive ability examination; after all, who knows what may have happened in a person's life – concussion, virus, etc. – that could affect their cognitive ability to drive?
Olive took the news well, suggesting she knew sooner or later it would have to happen; and she accepts that loss of a driver’s license need not be viewed as the end of getting out and about. She has sold her car, cancelled her car insurance and CAA membership, and will no longer be paying for licensing and sticker fees, car repairs or gasoline. An account has been set up with a local taxi company, and Olive’s car expense savings will easily pay for taxi fares when necessary.
The final irony came when the MOT mailed an official notice of suspension to Olive, based on the information they received from Olive's CMA doctor’s office rather than on the results of their own cognitive assessment.
Surely, Olive is not the only 80+ driver to have been affected by the inconsistent MOT and CMA assessment outcomes – a situation that indicates the MOT needs to re-evaluate its licensing and re-licensing assessment protocols.
If public safety is to be thoroughly protected, it’s necessary to ascertain that ALL licensed drivers have the cognitive ability to safely drive a motorized vehicle. The Ministry of Transportation must, therefore, take responsibility to ensure that fitness of ALL drivers is more comprehensively measured without bias.
Note: The information contained in this post was reviewed by my mother. It is posted here with her knowledge and approval.
