The horrific health and financial damage caused senior drivers when they are unjustifiably subjected to special driving tests is captured in this newspaper article out of BC. These tests have been scientifically proven to be not only unreliable, but designed to fail.
The Simard MD dementia test (also known by other names such as Dem Tech) was concocted by Bonny Dobbs, wife of one of the owners of the driver testing company, DriveABLE, which profits from every senior forced into an unjustified driving test by her dementia testing. By her own words her test is at best 50% accurate, yet she has managed to make it a mandatory experience for all the elderly drivers when their driver’s licenses require renewal.
With such a high failure rate, many elderly drivers predictably fail her dementia/memory test and are sent to her husband’s company, DriveABLE for further testing, with the fee of $250.00 or more borne by the senior. Those senior driver’s who fail the DriveABLE test then lose the right to drive again unless they continue to pay for testing until they pass!
Thus it is pretty clear that the ‘testing’ has less to do with dementia and memory and more to do with being strong enough to financially and emotionally withstand a marathon of testing until, just as suddenly, one is deemed ‘normal’ again. In other words the Dobbs couple decides for everyone who is normal, who is demented and how many times one must take the test to convince them.
It almost seems as though the Dobbs own our driver’s licenses and we are at their mercy.
Naturally this is a classic conflict of interest situation, especially since Bonnie Dobbs also acts as an Advisor, to the Governments of B.C., Alberta, and Ontario.
The collateral damage that the DriveABLE and ‘memory test’ scheme is causing senior drivers and their families defies full reporting as it affects absolutely every area of their lives just at a time when they should be enjoying life.
According to senior driver reports, the provincial governments of Alberta, BC and Ontario are now co-opting Family Doctors and having them, often secretly, ‘test’ their patients with a ‘memory test’ concocted by Bonnie Dobbs and deemed completely useless by experts in ageing and the Canadian Medical Association, who have gone on the record to confirm that there is no known test that is reliable for diagnosing dementia. How does one tyrant’s opinion get so much traction in our governments then?
There can be NO mistake that this new ‘memory testing leading to new DriveABLE testing’ is a tax grab and business scheme of unimaginable proportions. Those senior drivers who cannot afford to keep paying hundreds of dollars to be retested by the DriveAble company end up walking home from the testing site…their lives changed forever. Those who can keep paying, often to amounts as high as $700 each (the fee in Ontario for DriveABLE tests), do so until finally they are ‘passed’ as normal.
There is NO scientifically accepted test for dementia, cognitive disability or any other ‘memory assessment’. Yet, on the say-so of Bonnie Dobbs suddenly everyone over 65 years is presumed to be demented ! She claims that those who reach 70 years old are the most dangerous drivers on the road. Yet, all statistics and studies show the exact opposite. Senior drivers become better drivers as they age and are presently the safest driver group on the roads.
It seems the only way you will ensure you are safe from this tyranny is to never tell the doctor anything that could affect your ability to drive: keep your problems as a secret. We have heard stories from people who discovered they were secretly tested after telling their doctors they felt stressed and tired (by death in the family or illnesses of loved ones, etc).
Since the Health Care Consent Act is supposed to guarantee that everything done to you is first disclosed and that your INFORMED consent is obtained before proceeding, it would seem that family doctors are seriously in violation of their own laws and ethics.
PERHAPS WE SHOULD ALL ENSURE, GOING INTO THE DOCTORS OFFICE, THAT WE ADVISE OUR DOCTORS, NURSES AND OTHER HEALTH PRACTITIONERS THAT WE DO NOT CONSENT TO ANY MEMORY TESTING!
http://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/opinion/letters/200337321.html
Sign the Petition at: http://www.randyhilliermpp.com/petition_seniors_testing