Now here’s proof that the Ontario Ministry of Transportation ‘special’ senior driver testing is a scam…it is now trying to design yet another age-based driver test, but this one intended to justify the targeting of even more senior drivers.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation is now asking those senior drivers 55 years old and over, with a valid driving licence, to take part in a mini-study of older drivers. This mini-study, conducted by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation even offers a $100 participation fee and CLAIMS that the outcome of the testing will not be used against the participant!.  This new mini-study was not listed on their website as of the time of writing of blog post and it was restricted to Ottawa residents only.

What does the Ministry hope to achieve from this, considering there have already been a number of major studies done on older drivers in Canada, the U.S.A. and Australia?  These major studies of some 1,000 senior drivers each, over 5- and 6-year periods, concluded that the older drivers are the safest on the roads, and special testing of them, cannot be justified. See the many studies here. 

Do you remember, a little over a year ago, before the Ministry of Transportation brought in it’s latest driving test for seniors, I said that the Ministry was preparing to bring in dementia testing of senior drivers, and that the Ministry in reply to inquiries from MPP’s stated “We are not considering a dementia test at this time“?

And what did they do? The Minister of Transportation introduced two segments of a dementia test, consisting of drawing a clock, and picking the letter “H” from amongst some numbers.  They claim that from this humiliating dementia test they can tell whether you are able to drive a car safely or need medical follow up.  What baloney!

What they did was to introduce the first of two stages of a dementia test.  “Draw a clock”, is taken directly from the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Dementia test.  Look it up on your computer, and you will see what is yet to come.

Apparently it is not bad enough that the Ministry has discriminated against older drivers, but due to the lack of real push-back from senior drivers, they now feel it’s politically safe to proceed with their original plan–to reduce the age for dementia testing to 55 years of age!

Is it not suspect that they should set the cutpoint for discriminatory testing at 55 years of age and over, but exempt those that cause most of the accidents and fatalities — those between the ages of 18 and 54 years of age?  This under 54-year old group are also those who suffer the most mental illnesses (85.1%), including dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada and the Kim Institute on Mental Illness.

It would be foolhardy for any senior with a valid Ontario Driving Licence, to participate in this façade of a mini-study to design a new driving test.  All volunteers would be used to legitimize age-based discrimination and contribute to this massive scam, now being perpetrated in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

Dementia testing is a medical procedure and not a driving test, and growing old is not a disease or medical condition.

Please circulate this far and wide in Ontario, so that those now 55-years of age and above, will be aware that they are next to be victimized by their Provincial Government, as indicated in their Official correspondence.

Ed. Rockburne, RCMP, Sgt. Retired.

Please contribute generously to the Legal Fund set up to challenge this discrimination in Court by clicking here.

Please sign Ontario MPP Randy Hillier’s Petition.