More than 200 Coast seniors packed into the Sechelt Seniors' Activity Centre last Friday to talk about their concerns with how the province tests driver fitness of those 80 and over.
Issues were raised at the March 9 meeting around the entire process - from the first cognitive testing done by doctors in their offices to the DriveAble testing mandated by the province to the tone of the letter sent out by the office of the superintendent of motor vehicles (OSMV) when a licence is suspended.
One by one, seniors laid out their frustrations with the DriveAble assessment, which has two parts, an in-office touch screen computer test and, if the results of that test warrant, a road test.
"After teaching computer on the Coast for 20 years, I would definitely fail," one woman said of the DriveAble test after trying it out on-line at www.driveable.com.
Many had concerns with the computer test, saying they were unfamiliar with how touch screen computers worked.
Some were also concerned about the demeaning nature of some of the testing.
"As a former 32-year member of the armed forces, I've driven all over this country and all over Europe. I find if I fail this touch screen thing then I have to go and take a driver's test in a car with dual controls as though I were a 16-year-old straight out of high school. I find that extremely demeaning," one man said.
Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons hosted the meeting in an effort to get more information to seniors about the testing and to hear their concerns. He also made it clear he is suspicious of the testing and wants more information himself.
"First of all, is the science behind these tests accurate? Have they been validated in an independent peer review and if so, show me the evidence," Simons said. "The Minister [Justice and Attorney General Shirley Bond] continually tells me that it's been well documented, substantiated by science and by doctors, but she is unable to show me that evidence, so I'm suspicious."
He went on to call into question the chief researcher for the government's B.C. 2010 Guide in Determining Fitness to Drive, saying she is also the co-creator of the SIMARD MD test administered by doctors to test driver cognitive ability and the spouse of the DriveAble founder.
But superintendent of motor vehicles Steve Martin denied there was any wrongdoing.
"I actually think it's inappropriate to suggest there's a conflict of interest between two well-respected scientific researchers just because they have a personal relationship and both work and make contributions to a certain field," he said.
He also pointed to a website (www.mard.ualberta.ca/home/faq) as scientific basis for the SIMARD MD test, although no further documentation was provided to show the scientific basis of DriveAble.
Martin credits the DriveAble assessment with actually lessening the number of licences removed from seniors yearly.
"DriveAble is a really important tool for us, because prior to 2005 when we started to use the DriveAble assessment, we would prohibit people based on a general diagnosis of cognitive decline," Martin said. "So we used to prohibit a lot of people, and now with the DriveAble test, it allows people the opportunity to demonstrate that while they have some cognitive decline, their cognitive decline isn't at that point where we would take away their driving privileges."
Bond also defended the DriveAble testing.
"We believe it is the best assessment available to determine a person's cognitive ability to drive. The DriveAble assessment is scientifically based and is used not only in British Columbia, but in jurisdictions across North America," she said.
While the government and the OSMV seemed convinced of the merits of DriveAble and the entire process of measuring seniors' fitness to drive in B.C., no one in the 200-plus audience March 9 seemed to agree.
"Why don't we start a petition?" one woman asked, while another man took it a step further and suggested the idea of seniors boarding a bus to demonstrate outside the legislature.
"I think that the government is listening right now," Simons said, urging people to write about their concerns to government and the OSMV.
