Practising physicians are legally bound in Ontario to report medically unfit drivers, yet few of them do, finds a new study by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES).
Researchers at ICES took a look at those drivers who were admitted to Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre between 1996 and 2001 following a life-threatening auto or motorcycle accident. Sunnybrook is Canada's largest trauma centre.
Accident victims were assessed for three medical conditions that would warrant a physician's report to vehicle licensing authorities. These included alcohol abuse, cardiac conditions and neurological disorders.
Researchers then followed up using Ontario health databases to see if the admitted patients had been seen and reported by a doctor in their community.
The findings included:
Thirty-seven per cent of hospitalized drivers had a reportable condition.
Eighty-five per cent of patients with a reportable condition had seen a doctor in the year before the crash, but only three per cent of these patients were reported to licensing authorities.
Alcohol abuse was the top reportable condition, though only two per cent of cases were reported.
Medically unfit drivers spent a total of 8,000 hospital days, which totalled $3 million in hospital costs.
There were 53 deaths and 551 surgeries among medically unfit drivers.
According to ICES, medically unfit drivers kill more than 5,000 pedestrians annually worldwide. Yet in Ontario, less than 0.1 per cent of drivers in the province have their licences reviewed for medical conditions in any given year of the study.
Full story
Are you concerned about medically unfit drivers on our roads? What should be done?
More...
Researchers at ICES took a look at those drivers who were admitted to Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre between 1996 and 2001 following a life-threatening auto or motorcycle accident. Sunnybrook is Canada's largest trauma centre.
Accident victims were assessed for three medical conditions that would warrant a physician's report to vehicle licensing authorities. These included alcohol abuse, cardiac conditions and neurological disorders.
Researchers then followed up using Ontario health databases to see if the admitted patients had been seen and reported by a doctor in their community.
The findings included:
Thirty-seven per cent of hospitalized drivers had a reportable condition.
Eighty-five per cent of patients with a reportable condition had seen a doctor in the year before the crash, but only three per cent of these patients were reported to licensing authorities.
Alcohol abuse was the top reportable condition, though only two per cent of cases were reported.
Medically unfit drivers spent a total of 8,000 hospital days, which totalled $3 million in hospital costs.
There were 53 deaths and 551 surgeries among medically unfit drivers.
According to ICES, medically unfit drivers kill more than 5,000 pedestrians annually worldwide. Yet in Ontario, less than 0.1 per cent of drivers in the province have their licences reviewed for medical conditions in any given year of the study.
Full story
Are you concerned about medically unfit drivers on our roads? What should be done?
More...