• Each year in Australia more than 1,500 Australians are killed on our roads and around 22,000 are seriously injured. The total economic cost exceeds $15 billion annually and the accompanying social costs greatly impact on our communities.
  
• Whilst many factors contribute to safety on the road, driver health is an important consideration and drivers must meet certain medical standards to ensure that their health status does not increase the risk of a crash in which they or other road users may be killed or injured.
  
• Revised medical standards have been released for drivers of private and commercial vehicles. The standards are contained in the document Assessing Fitness to Drive 2003 (reprinted in 2006), which replaces the previous private vehicle driver standards Assessing Fitness to Drive 2001 and the commercial vehicle driver standards Medical Examinations for Commercial Vehicle Drivers 1997.

Click here for the current edition of Assessing Fitness to Drive.

In 2005 the National Transport Commission (NTC) in association with key stakeholders, such as Austroads and the AMA, conducted an interim review of the driver medical standards Assessing Fitness to Drive 2003. The next review is scheduled for completion in late 2008.

The Driving and Your Health campaign is a National Transport Commission (NTC) and Austroads initiative designed to support awareness and action in relation to the health of commercial vehicle drivers.  It alerts transport operators and drivers to the importance of health for road safety.