To the Editor:
Concerning the much-criticized tests called DriveAble, developed in Edmonton, Alberta, by married professors Allen R. Dobbs and Bonnie Dobbs, Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall’s April 2012 column (“In Your Corner: DriveABLE leaves Creston seniors at disadvantage”) offers a short introduction to this system. Among others, she states: “DriveAble was first introduced in B.C. in 2005, and then expanded from three to 17 centres in 2010. … Safe roads are paramount, and testing to keep our roads safe needs to be accessible, transparent and fair.” There is no doubt we need safe roads, but her statement appears to imply that the seniors are the problem, and testing them was the key to road safety.
However, the statistics present a very different picture. The Alberta Ministry of Transportation’s 2010 traffic collision statistics showed that per 1,000 licensed drivers involved in casualty collisions, ages 18-19 had 3.1 per cent of all collisions for males and 5.3 per cent for females; ages 20-24, males 8.1 per cent and females 13.3 per cent; ages 25-34, males 14 per cent and females 23 per cent; ages 35-44, males 10.8 per cent and females 17.8 per cent; ages 45-54, males 10.4 per cent and females 17 per cent; ages 55-64, males 6.9 per cent and females 10.6 per cent; and, age 65 and over, males 4.4 per cent and females 6.8 per cent.
The above percentages, with but minor adjustments are likely also valid for B.C., and show fairly accurately that drivers over 65 are not responsible for most collisions. Why then does DriveAble target them? Because DriveAble is a moneymaking racket, already into multimillion-dollar category, and will gladly prey on anyone, but specializes on 65-80 age group and over, who can’t effectively defend themselves. DriveAble is accused of being “poorly conceived, unsupported by current science, a violation of charter rights and tainted by conflict of interest” by the BC Retired Teachers’ Association. The efforts to improve accessibility are pointless; they will only bring more harm. Rather than a scientific breakthrough in public safety, we have a program based on outdated research, privatized, delegated to clerks and computers and outsourced to independent contractors.
The process is initiated by your family doctor, who shares your health information with the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, which then asks you to have your cognitive abilities measured: “memory, attention span, reaction time, spatial judgment and/or decision-making. DriveAble is the tool used to measure cognitive abilities as they relate to driving.” The test done in a doctor’s office consists of 1) a group of unrelated nouns 2) written groups of numbers and 3) a shopping list. These tests have been invented by professor Bonnie Dobbs, they take about 10 minutes and are seemingly organized to assure failure, and that delivers you to the next step — the screen test — invented by professor Allen Dobbs. This sequence unnoticeably secures the original purpose of the tests; the maximum returns for DriveAble Company. The nearest centres for the screen tests are Nelson or Cranbrook, your choice. The test “computer” has a touch screen and three buttons wherewith you indicate your selections. The test takes 30-45 minutes. The road test that follows later is also either in Nelson or Cranbrook, and it takes 30 minutes — in their car. If you have to repeat the tests, it is your responsibility, and costs over $170.
The Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, assessed the DriveAble screen test as third rate. The “cognitive” test in the doctor’s office, which has been lauded as scientifically proven, has not been validated by even one independent researcher. Regardless what our politicians in Victoria want us to believe, DriveAble is a dangerous experiment, conceived by a disoriented, cruel mind, and causing countless instances of harm to seniors.
Anton Skerbinc
Boswell