Driving Assessment Program
To ensure that you’re
driving safely, choose
the best rehab team
for your care.
Find your strength.
As part of the Driving Assessment Program, Spaulding
Outpatient Centers offer evaluations for people
experiencing functional changes due to trauma,
surgery, a neurologic incident or the aging process. It
is an essential part of the recovery process to address
any deficits that may influence your safety and
independence behind the wheel as a licensed driver.
Medical conditions that may affect driving skills include:
Stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, Dementia, Alzheimer’s
Disease, Acquired or Traumatic Brain Injury, Macular
Degeneration, Glaucoma, Neuropathy, Cardiac Disease,
Arthritis and Cerebral Palsy.
These conditions may affect your vision, memory,
attention, and ability to problem-solve and react quickly.
The state of Massachusetts has self-reporting laws requiring
patients to disclose any medical conditions that may
affect their driving abilities. It is your responsibility to
report such a condition to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Failure to do so can result in the loss of your license.
If you are unsure if your condition affects your driving
abilities, or if you need a doctor’s order to medically clear
you to drive, you will benefit from a Driving Assessment.
A Driving Assessment is conducted by specially
trained Occupational Therapists (OTs) at one of our
centers specializing in this evaluation. We will assess
your vision, attention, ability to read traffic signs,
ability to identify and safely respond to hazards, gas/
brake/steering reaction time, problem solving and
other physical and cognitive abilities. This evaluation
may also examine the need for adaptive equipment
to make driving easier for you.
In-Vehicle Assessment
An on-road evaluation may be performed to determine
your ability to drive safely in a closely supervised environment. This would involve an in-traffic
evaluation,
helping to correlate the findings from the clinical
tests with your on-road performance. The assessment,
performed by an OT and Certified Driving Instructor,
takes place in a vehicle modified with an instructor’s
brake. Results of both the clinical and on-road
evaluations will be sent to your referring physician
along with specific recommendations, such as medical
follow-up, outpatient therapy, driving lessons or
adaptations
to your car to allow for safe driving.
The evaluation is given on a self-pay basis and takes
between two and three hours to complete.
Driving Assessments are available at these Spaulding
Outpatient Centers:
North
•
Salem
Central
Boston
•
•
Boston
Wellesley
South
Braintree
Orleans
• Sandwich
•
•
If you’d like more information about our Driving
Assessment program, visit www.spauldingnetwork.org
or call 1.888.SRN.4330 today.
The Spaulding Rehabilitation Network is anchored by Spaulding Rehabilitation
Hospital Boston, which is nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report, and
is the official teaching hospital of the Harvard Medical School Department of
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R).
The Spaulding network’s facilities are also members of Partners HealthCare,
founded by Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
SRH 5566