Sometimes even those who have had a drivers licence for years must take a road test, and now those tests are taking a new turn.
The changes, which take effect March 5, will largely affect seniors.
“The road test is going to be a longer test, where not only are they going to be marking the same things that they’ll mark on a Class 5 road test, but they’re going to also add in some cognitive stuff as well,” Calum Macmillan, Young Drivers Kelowna’s owner, said.
Most seniors pass their driver’s medical exam, which is done by a doctor every two years after the age of 80. But for those who are referred for further testing, the new enhanced road assessment will help determine whether they’re fit to drive.
A driver in a collision or with a medical condition can also be required to take the test.
“It could be people of any age, when you have a medical situation come up,” Macmillan said. “The biggest one that we see is usually after a stroke.”
The new test will drop the computer-based portion of the exam and allow drivers to use their own vehicles — both popular decisions among seniors.
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“Your own vehicle is much better, more comfortable, and you’re more familiar with it,” senior driver Dorothy Chala said.
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However, Kate Wells, with DriveWise BC, expressed concern examiners will no longer have a dual brake that allows them to stop the vehicle in an emergency.
“Unfortunately, we use the dual brake quite often with high-risk drivers,” Wells said.
She’s also concerned the longer test will further strain the system.
“Right now wait times are already long, so we’re hoping ICBC manages that process and hires examiners where necessary,” she said.
The assessment will start slowly in a residential area and progress to higher-traffic situations to see how the driver fares, Wells said.
“It’s a challenging road test, but we need to have this because it’s a public safety issue,” she said. “There’s a lot of impaired drivers out there with cognitive impairments driving right now.”
The test will include a memory assessment.
“There’s also going to be an added component where the examiner is going to pick something that stands out, like maybe a mailbox or a house with a red door, and they’re going to park in front of that,” Macmillan said.
“They’ll explain, ‘OK, we’re going to give you some different sets of directions,’ usually about three, and they have to do a two-point or three-point turn, turn around, and then the senior driver has to follow the exact same route back to their original starting point.”
Macmillan noted the enhanced road assessment will be marked differently from a regular road test.
“With the Class 5 test, if you reach a certain amount of small errors, things like that, you fail the test. With this test, there’s no error cutoffs. You basically make the mistakes that you make, and then they send it off to Road Safety B.C.,” he said.
Road Safety B.C. will review the test and make a decision about whether the driver should keep their licence.
If drivers do something dangerous or illegal, they will be demoted to a learner’s licence at the end of the test, but they won’t lose their licence completely until Road Safety B.C. makes a decision, Macmillan said.
There’s no fee for drivers to take the enhanced road assessment.
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