How Do I Know If I'm Able to Drive?

Contact a Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialist, if you would like to be evaluated. Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialists (CDRS’s) are knowledgeable about issues that affect aging drivers or those with disabilities. A CDRS’s main goal is to help clients safely operate a motor vehicle and prescribe adaptive equipment, if necessary, to get you safely back on the road.

Once you contact a CDRS, they can set up an evaluation for you. Evaluations can last between three to eight hours, and generally consist of a clinical and behind-the-wheel assessment. During the clinical assessment, your physical functions, vision, perception, attention, motor functions, and reaction time will all be tested. The behind-the-wheel assessment includes actual driving performance tests. A CDRS will use your results to determine if you can drive alone or if you need additional training or adaptive equipment.

The DMV has certain criteria for determining if someone is a disabled driver. They also administer a set of tests to make sure that you are capable of safely operating a vehicle. Most states will consider drivers disabled if they:

• Don’t have full use of one or both arms.
• Can’t walk a set number of feet without stopping to rest. Some states set this number as low as 50; others, as high as 200.
• Can’t walk without using a cane, crutch, brace, prosthetic device, wheelchair, or the assistance of another person.
• Have a Class III or Class IV cardiac condition, as set by the American Heart Association.
• Must have portable oxygen to walk.
• Have a visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting lenses.
• Have a visual acuity of 20/200 but with a limited field of vision in which the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle of 20 degrees or less.

Learn more about disability qualifications for drivers in your state by visiting dmv.org/disabled-drivers.php. If you need to find a CDRS, check out The Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists’ website or if you have further questions, please contact The Mobility Resource at www.themobilityresource.com