2010 BC Guide in Determining Fitness to Drive

Functions necessary for drivingThe functions necessary for driving are cognitive, sensory (vision) andmotor (including sensorimotor) 2 .Each of these functions is described below. Although the functionsnecessary for driving are described individually, driving is a complexperceptual-motor skill which usually takes place in a complexenvironment and which requires the functions to operate together.Cognitive functionsThe cognitive functions that are the most relevant to the driving task are:Attention (divided, selective, sustained)Divided attentionthe ability to attend to two or more stimuli at the same time.Example: attending to the roadway ahead while being able to identifystimuli in the peripherySelective attentionthe ability to selectively attend to one or more important stimuli whileignoring competing distractionsExample: the ability to isolate the traffic light from among otherenvironmental stimuliSustained attentionalso referred to as vigilance. It is defined as the capacity to maintain anattentional activity over a period of timeExample: the ability to attend to the roadway ahead over an extendedperiod of time.Short-term or passive memoryrefers to the temporary storage of information or the brief retention ofinformation that is currently being processed in a person's mind2 The organizational framework for the functions necessary for driving used in this manual are taken from Dr.Bonnie Dobbs’ chapter on Function and Driving from her 2010 Medical Conditions and Driving research document.18