Medical fitness to drive

As a health professional, it is a legislative requirement that you report to the Motor Vehicle Registry (MVR) if you believe that a person you have examined is:

• physically or mentally incapable of driving
• medically unfit to drive a vehicle.

If you report without patient consent, you are protected by law against civil and criminal liability.

For more information, read the Motor Vehicle Act 1949.

Who qualifies as a health professional

A person registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law is considered to be a health professional. Only they can conduct a fitness to drive assessment.

Health professionals include but are not limited to:

• doctors (medical practitioner)
• specialists
• optometrists
• physiotherapists
• occupational therapists.

When a fitness to drive medical assessment is needed

A person may need a fitness to drive medical assessment to get or renew their driver licence if they:

• are returning from a period of medical impairment and now meet the relevant fitness to drive standards
• have a medical condition or other known impairment that requires periodic assessment to ensure ongoing compliance with medical treatment relevant to their condition(s).

A person may also need a fitness to drive assessment when they are applying for or renewing an occupational authority (H or D endorsement).

How to report

When doing an assessment and a report, you must follow the below steps.

Step 1. Conduct a fitness to drive medical assessment

As a health professional, you must conduct all assessments according to the assessing fitness to drive guidelines.

Read the guidelines and find out about your role on the Austroads website.

During or after the medical assessment, you should complete one of the following:

• fill in MVR's medical assessment of fitness to drive form
  • medical assessment of fitness to drive (L2) form DOCX (273.8 KB)
  • medical assessment of fitness to drive (L2) form PDF (215.3 KB)
• fill in the medical condition notification form from the Austroads website
• create a summary report on the health professional's letterhead paper with the driver's information:
  • full name
  • date of birth
  • licence number - if known
  • the medical condition(s) assessed
  • the class of licence (or endorsement type) and standards (private or commercial) in which they are assessed as being fit to drive.

How to complete MVR's medical assessment fitness to drive (L2) form

The L2 form has five sections for health professionals to complete:

• section 1 - the name and the details of the person they are examining
• section 2 - the type of assessment - if they are conducting a:
  • general health assessment to a person getting/keeping an occupational authority - an H or a D endorsement (full medical) or
  • driver licence assessment of fitness to drive
• section 3 - whether the person they have examined has met the private or commercial standards as outlined in the assessing fitness to drive guidelines and any suggested driver licence medical review period
• section 4 - any other relevant information relating to the person's medical condition - including any recommended driver licence restrictions that should apply
• section 5 - the health practitioner's details. The health professional must sign the declaration for the MVR to accept the form.

Step 2. Submit the report

Send the completed form or summary report to MVR by:

• email: mvr.medical@nt.gov.au
• post: GPO Box 530, Darwin NT 0801.