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Older driver safety

Older drivers need to stay alert to their changing health factors, such as eye sight and medical conditions, so that they can continue to drive safely. There are no age-related requirements to holding a licence in Victoria. However, there may come a time when it will be necessary to reduce or cease driving.

Driving skills, legal obligations and licensing
A checklist has been included to encourage you to think about your driving, and to find ways in which it might be improved. If you or your passenger answer "yes" to six or more questions, you should read the Handbook carefully. It is also important that you understand your legal obligations in relation to driving, Victoria's licensing system and what is involved in having a driver assessment.

Medical conditions
Driving safely requires clear vision, physical coordination, mental alertness and quick reactions.

Your doctor needs to know that you drive. They should check you regularly, particularly if there are signs that you are not functioning as well as you used to. If you have a medical condition, then proper management may allow you to continue driving safely for many years. Your doctor can advise you if you have a condition that can affect driving and if that condition needs to be reported to VicRoads.

If you have a partner, be sure that they do enough of the driving to remain confident. One day your partner might have to do all of the driving.

Medicines
Research shows that some medicines can affect your driving ability.

Alcohol in combination with a medicine can make the effect even worse. This can happen with medicines prescribed by your doctor and those bought without a prescription.

To drive safely:

Read your medicine labels carefully and obey the directions and warnings – they are there for your protection.
Ask your doctor or pharmacist if medicines may affect your driving, and if they do, ask for one that doesn’t.
Take public transport, a taxi, or ask a friend or relative to drive if you are likely to be affected by medicines.
Take your medicine exactly as directed.

Safe driving practices
Be alert for the unexpected and ready to take evasive action. By paying attention and looking out for potential problems, you can avoid crashes that result from your mistakes or those of others.

To drive safely:

buy a safe car and keep it maintained
avoid potentially dangerous road and traffic conditions
plan to drive when there is less traffic on the road and avoid driving in the wet or in poor light
don’t allow passengers to distract you from the driving task
be familiar with all road rules, signs and road markings.

Good health and driving
Keeping healthy can help you to remain a skilled and safe driver. Good health is often common sense:

seven or eight hours quality sleep a night
a reasonable body weight
healthy diet
no smoking
alcohol in moderation
regular physical activity, like walking
an active social life
an independent lifestyle.

Planning for change and staying mobile
In the interests of your own well-being and for the safety of others, at some time you may need to limit your driving or stop altogether. To maintain mobility and independence, retiring from driving requires careful planning. When making decisions about where to live and how to get around, we need to plan carefully for how we would get around if we no longer drove.

The decision to retire from driving can involve a change in lifestyle, so:

Regulate your driving to compensate for changes in ability – for example, avoiding difficult conditions such as night driving or heavy traffic.

Plan for transport alternatives – family, friends, public transport. Familiarise yourself with public transport while you can still drive.

Walking is an excellent way to keep physically fit and active.

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Older driver safety