17th May 2005
The Older Driver License Testing
Grey Power feels that some of the Special Interest Groups (SIG) for driving assessor Occupational Therapists seem to
have an agenda to cull out older drivers.
The demonstration of the Driver Assessment Simulator on TV3 news was performed by their trained personnel. However, Grey
Power feel that ,if the simulator was so easy to use, the ideal situation would have been to have an untrained older
driver to demonstrate it. Grey Power feel that the DAS computer system is unfair on older drivers - the issue being
that, in order to pass on this assessment tool, you must be computer literate. We also believe that only limited parts
of the DAS tool were demonstrated and that there is far more to it than depicted in the TV3 interview.
Further, Grey Power have been lead to believe that bullying tactics have been used in some instances where older
drivers, when failed by the OT's, have been asked to immediately hand over their licenses. If they refuse, the OT's have
threatened them with Bailiff collection. According to the Associate Minister of Transport, Mr Dynhoevan, this practice
is illegal.
Grey Power also call for testing uniformity by the OT's throughout the country.
ENDS