Parkinson’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that affects movement and coordination. It occurs when nerve cells in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra become damaged or die. These cells produce dopamine, a chemical that helps control smooth and purposeful muscle movements.
You are probably familiar with the common motor symptoms of including tremors, muscle stiffness or rigidity, slowness of movement (bradykinesia) and impaired balance and coordination. But did you know that Parkinson’s can include “non-motor” symptoms too? These may include:
- Slowed thinking (bradyphrenia): A general slowing of thought processes.
- Executive dysfunction: Challenges with planning, organizing, multitasking, and problem-solving.
- Attention difficulties: Trouble focusing, especially in distracting environments.
- Memory issues: Particularly with recalling recent events or learning new information.
- Visuospatial challenges: Difficulty judging distances or navigating spaces.
- Sleep disturbances
Each person’s with Parkinson’s disease is different. The “non-motor” changes vary can be subtle initially but may progress over time. Some individuals experience mild cognitive impairment (MCI) without significant impact on daily activities, while others may develop Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD), characterized by more pronounced cognitive decline
What does this mean for driving?
Driving is a complex interaction between attention and perception, planning and judgement and motor coordination. Non-motor symptoms that affect executive functioning and visual-spatial processing may slow reaction speeds, slow planning and decision making, make multitasking more difficult and affect sustained attention. Motor symptoms may hinder make it more difficult to produce powerful and fast motor movements on the steering wheel and brake and accelerator pedals. This may hinder a person’s ability to rapidly scan a traffic situation, identify critical information, plan and make a decision and then execute that using the vehicle.
I’m concerned about my driving. What should I do?
Your first port of call is always to speak with your doctor – whether that be your GP, Neurologist or Geriatrician. The presentation and progression of Parkinson’s disease can vary between individuals and your doctor can complete a clinical review of symptoms, a medication review to screen for side effects and response, and recommend adjunct therapies such as Physiotherapy, cognitive therapies and lifestyle modifications that may help manage motor and non-motor symptoms. They can also refer you for a comprehensive occupational therapy driving assessment that will provide a practical assessment any impact the diagnosis may be having on your driving skill areas and make recommendations around driving to maximise your ability continue driving safely. Recommendations may include regular onroad review, restrictions around driving radius, times of day and vehicle type.
If you or someone you know requires an occupational therapy driving assessment, please feel free to contact Driving Well Occupational Therapy to arrange an assessment.
Imagine this: you’re behind the wheel, cruising down the highway, but your brain is battling a fog of fatigue. Your reactions are slower, your concentration slips, and your eyelids feel like they weigh a ton. This isn’t just a bad night’s sleep — it could be a symptom of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), a common yet underdiagnosed condition that has serious implications for driving safety.
What Is Obstructive Sleep Apnoea?
Obstructive sleep apnoea is a sleep disorder where a person’s airway becomes partially or completely blocked during sleep, causing breathing to stop and start repeatedly. Each pause can last from a few seconds to over a minute and may happen dozens or even hundreds of times a night.
The Anatomy Behind OSA
OSA occurs when the muscles supporting the soft palate, tongue, and throat walls relax during sleep. This can cause the airway to narrow or close, especially in people with:
- A naturally narrow airway
- Enlarged tonsils or uvula
- Obesity
- Weak airway muscle tone
Each time breathing stops, the brain briefly wakes the sleeper to reopen the airway — but these awakenings are so short, the person may not even be aware it’s happening. Over time, this disrupts restorative sleep and leads to chronic fatigue and poor concentration during the day.
Oxygen Loss to the Brain: The Silent Threat
One of the most serious effects of OSA is intermittent hypoxia — periods during sleep when the brain gets less oxygen than it needs.
Why Does This Happen?
When the airway is blocked, breathing temporarily stops or becomes shallow. This leads to a drop in blood oxygen levels (sometimes significantly), depriving the brain of a steady supply of oxygen. These oxygen dips can occur dozens or hundreds of times per night, often without the person waking fully.
What Are the Consequences?
- Cognitive impairment: Chronic oxygen deprivation can affect memory, attention, and decision-making — all crucial for safe driving.
- Slowed reaction times: Just like being under the influence of alcohol, low oxygen levels dull the brain’s ability to process and respond to stimuli.
- Mood and alertness changes: Reduced oxygen can cause irritability, poor concentration, and even symptoms of depression or anxiety, further affecting driving ability.
How does this Affect Driving?
Driving safely relies on alertness, quick reflexes, and good decision-making — all of which are compromised in someone with untreated OSA.
- Microsleeps can occur while driving, causing momentary lapses in attention.
- Reaction times slow, increasing the risk of collisions.
- Impaired concentration and reduced situational awareness make it harder to respond to unexpected hazards.
- Studies show drivers with OSA are over three times more likely to be involved in a crash.
Medical Fitness to Drive: What the Guidelines Say
According to Austroads medical standards for licensing, a person is not considered fit to hold an unconditional licence if any of the following apply:
- They have confirmed sleep apnoea syndrome (diagnosed via sleep study) with moderate to severe excessive daytime sleepiness
- They experience frequent drowsiness or sleepiness while driving
- They have had one or more crashes caused by inattention or sleepiness
- Their treating doctor believes they pose a significant driving risk due to their sleep disorder
Conditional Licensing
A conditional licence may be granted if:
- The person is compliant with treatment, such as CPAP therapy
- There is a satisfactory response to treatment, with reduced sleepiness and improved function
- Periodic reviews confirm continued safety to drive (including OT driving assessments)
If you or someone you know requires an occupational therapy driving assessment, please feel free to contact Driving Well Occupational Therapy to arrange an assessment.
How Sleepy Are You? Try the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS)
The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) is a simple, self-reported questionnaire used to assess daytime sleepiness — a key symptom of obstructive sleep apnoea. It asks you to rate your likelihood of falling asleep in common situations on a scale from 0 (would never doze) to 3 (high chance of dozing).
Situation | Score (0–3) |
1. Sitting and reading | |
2. Watching TV | |
3. Sitting inactive in a public place (e.g., a theatre or meeting) | |
4. As a passenger in a car for an hour without a break | |
5. Lying down to rest in the afternoon when circumstances permit | |
6. Sitting and talking to someone | |
7. Sitting quietly after a lunch without alcohol | |
8. In a car, while stopped for a few minutes in traffic |
ESS Score | Interpretation |
0–7 | Normal sleepiness |
8–9 | Mild sleepiness |
10–15 | Moderate sleepiness (may require medical attention) |
16–24 | Severe sleepiness (strongly consider evaluation for a sleep disorder) |
A high score doesn’t diagnose sleep apnoea, but it does signal a need for further investigation — especially if you’re experiencing other symptoms such as loud snoring, gasping during sleep, or frequent morning headaches.
Obstructive sleep apnoea can deprive the brain of oxygen, disrupt concentration, and cause extreme drowsiness — all of which pose a serious risk to road safety. But with proper diagnosis, treatment, and support from professionals like OTs, people with OSA can continue to drive safely and responsibly.
If you’re experiencing signs of fatigue, poor concentration, or excessive daytime sleepiness — especially if you score high on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale — please reach out to your doctor. Early diagnosis and treatment can dramatically improve your quality of life and reduce the risk of a serious crash.
If you or someone you know requires an occupational therapy driving assessment, please feel free to contact Driving Well Occupational Therapy to arrange an assessment.
I have had the opportunity and pleasure to be able to provide clinical supervision about driving and vehicle modifications to my team, and also multiple driving OTs across the country.
It is really wonderful to hear their stories about how they were able to reflect, implement suggestions, and get great results with their clients.
Common questions and discussion points:
- Supporting new OTDAs with all the ins-and-outs of QLD medical licensing processes and driving and vehicle mods network
- Exploring return to driving with vehicle mods for a lady with FND
- Supporting general OTs and new driving OTs with vehicle mods prescription, process and application
- When to remove an “X” condition or restriction from a med cert
- Implementing the potential to drive assessment
- Providing pre-driving skills therapy and levelling up skills and challenges
- Clinical reasoning – outcome of potential to drive assessment based on summary of results
- First driving and vehicle mods application – documentation needed
- Scoring and interpretation of the Beery VMI
Often the OTDA already knows what to do and just needs to reflect this and talk it through.
Top 3 feedbacks:
- Taylor was working with a learner driver who not engaging well with driving therapy, and getting distracted. I shared some tricks that had worked with one of my young fellows: create buy-in – I’m here to try to help you achieve your goal; link to his goal – we need to be able to attend when we are driving; be specific in telling him how long I need you to work for; let him know what done looks like, bribery with a frozen coke when out on the road doing passenger activities might also go a long way. Taylor implemented these strategies with her client, and saw huge improvements in his participation and performance, and more importantly this had carryover into his driving lessons.
- Jacinta had a complex vehicle mod situation, where the client had a fatigue element to her condition (but had excellent cognitive function and self regulation skills), and was also the primary carer for her ageing father. I provided feedback on the approach to assessment, and the approach with the vehicle mods application – really spelling out value for money and the cost savings that the vehicle mods would generate, in comparison to maxi taxis, and explaining that her condition was stable and these mods met the “whole of task completion” and were sustainable for her condition. The application was approved first go with no questions. Winner!
- Zoe: had sisters with the same medical condition, both using a combination of electric and manual wheelchairs, and wanting to purchase vehicle together, to use it individually and shared – mainly to visit their family and go to music festivals and do their standup comedy acts. How do you get two wheelchairs into a vehicle to travel safely?? There were so many considerations with fit of wheelchairs, preferences to use (or not use!) headrests, and making sure that clearance zones were all kept intact. After lots of info gathering, several tries, and checks with the vehicle modifiers, the solution was a lowered floor conversion to a Hyundai Staria (with two wheelchair positions) through Freedom Motors, which was approved and has all been completed. Such a complex situation, with a really great outcome.
I love supporting OTs with their development in this space. Together we achieve some pretty amazing things.
If you are a driving OT or a general OT working with clients in this space, and need a hand – please reach out and we can book a session together.
I am so grateful I have the pleasure of working with so many wonderful young people who are so motivated to learn to drive, excited about driving, and engaged in our “Get Driving” therapy sessions.
Every Wednesday at the moment I run clinic-based therapy sessions working with young people who are on the path of learning to drive. The “Get Driving” therapy sessions generally are designed to support learner drivers and returning drivers with developing underlying motor, visual and processing skills necessary for driving. Often we work through these sessions to develop skills, to prepare someone for specialised driving lessons with a driving instructor.
The sessions are one-on-one sessions that go for an hour and half, with a combination of activities that are completed in the clinic and out on the road with the client as a passenger in the car.
A session will typically look like this:
- Motor coordination activity e.g. catch and throw, to get the brain fired up and coordinate eye and body movements
- Speed of processing and visual search activity e.g. road sign flash cards, to work on reaction times, visual scanning and processing
- Driving task e.g. identifying the meaning of road signs
- Drive Focus practice
- Then we get in the car, and level up passenger activities – each part of the driving task is broken down where we build these skills individually and then integrate them. We love getting to hazard management and problem solving – and navigating to places like McDonalds.
Please see this link here to get a handout which explains a bit more about what the Get Driving sessions involve.
This week was such a great reminder to me how privileged I am to be a part of this learning to drive process with young people. Each young person who walked into the clinic came in with a smile on their face, excited to tell me about the work they’d been doing at home to practice and develop their readiness for driving skills. They were all eager to engage in the session, actively asking questions and reflecting on their learnings. I’ve seen such growth in these young people, and it’s so exciting to me to be actively seeing and being a part of this journey with them.
Clients who do well with this program are:
- Committed, motivated, and practice at home
- Come to sessions prepared and try really hard
- Work together with the OT and are appreciative of all the support and advice
Just last month I heard back from a client who had previously gone through this “Get Driving” support program with me, and then specialised driving lessons, and has now successfully gained her provisional license. Go Tara! What an achievement! We are so proud of you and wish you all the best with your driving career. Please drive safely and remember everything you’ve learned through this program!
If you would like more information about the potential to drive assessment approach, Get Driving supports or other services we provide you can check out our website!
Daniel and his family are very excited about receiving their Hyundai Staria, lowered floor conversion from Freedom Motors.
Daniel was referred to Driving Well Occupational Therapy to obtain a wheelchair accessible vehicle in May 2023. Daniel had outgrown his specialised car seat where he needed to be physically lifted in and out of his wheelchair and also lifted in and out of his car seat. He needed a wheelchair accessible vehicle to transport him as a passenger in his wheelchair, due to his postural support needs. The vehicle modification was required now, and needed to be suitable in the future as well as he continues grow and develop.
Daniel lives with his parents and three brothers. Previously, they were unable to travel together as a family, as there was insufficient space in their car to transport the whole family of 6 and Daniel’s mobility aid. This restricted Daniel and his family’s ability to access the community together, and limited Daniel’s opportunities for social connection and community participation to home, school and therapy/medical appointments.
Daniel and his family successfully trialled and submitted a NDIS application for vehicle modifications (lowered floor conversion for wheelchair occupant) to their Hyundai Staria, which was subsequently approved by NDIS. This is a mutually beneficial investment long term, as this modified vehicle will be used frequently to facilitate Daniel’s access to his community and is a more cost effective and client-centred support than an additional transportation budget to access Maxi-Taxis where short/ frequent trips are required.
The ability for Daniel to be transported in his own wheelchair accessible vehicle supports his ongoing growth and development by enabling him to:
- Attend therapy and medical appointments to optimise his overall health and specific therapeutic needs
- Having access to both his wheelchair and walker in the community supporting his physical development, muscle strength and gross motor skills, while also managing his fatigue.
- Develop his communication skills through interacting with others in the community
- Supports his play, learning and social skills through meeting and interacting with other children and members of the community.
Simon, Daniel’s father recently hurt his back and is on light duties at present while he recovers. He is exceptionally grateful to have their modified vehicle now to reduce the manual handling demands required to enable Daniel to access the community.
The family recently had their first trip together to the Gold Coast for the day and look forward to travelling to a variety of destinations, including exploring wheelchair accessible parks and venues together as a family.
If you or someone you know wants to know more about wheelchair accessible vehicles or wheelchair occupant travel, contact us at Driving Well Occupational Therapy to find out more.
The process of retiring from driving can be a very challenging time. While we often focus on getting back on the road after a medical condition, what happens when it’s time to retire from driving?
Retirement from driving is an inevitable part of aging for many people. However, this transition often brings emotional and practical challenges that can be difficult to navigate. As an occupational therapy driving assessor, I see firsthand the complexity of this life change, which not only affects an individual’s mobility but also their sense of independence and quality of life.
For many, driving isn’t just a way to get from one place to another—it’s a symbol of freedom, autonomy, and connection to the community. When it’s no longer safe to drive due to age-related conditions, health concerns, or cognitive changes, the impact can be profound. The loss of the ability to drive often leads to feelings of frustration, loss of control, and even isolation, particularly for those who live in areas with limited access to public transport.
When it becomes clear that a person’s ability to drive has been compromised, part of the challenge is helping them come to terms with this reality. This is often the most difficult part of the process for individuals and their families. The next hurdle is finding alternative transportation options.
It’s important to highlight that the shift away from driving doesn’t have to mean a loss of independence—it just requires a new approach. There is a project called CarFreeMe run from the University of Queensland and it is designed to support people find practical solutions to transport needs as well as manage the psychological adjustment. We have also developed some resources to help work through finding and setting up alternate transport options.
Encouragingly, many seniors find that they can remain active and involved in their communities, even without a car. By focusing on the positives of alternative transportation options, and with the right support, retried divers can be empowered to continue to live fulfilling, connected, and independent lives.
If you would like a workshop on how to prepare for a senior driving assessment and how to plan for retiring from driving check out our workshop here.
In Queensland, anyone with a permanent or long-term medical condition that could impact on driving, must notify Queensland Transport and Main Roads with a Medical Certificate for Motor Vehicle Driver. Nationally, the Assessing fitness to drive for commercial and private vehicle drivers (2022) outlines the requirements of specific medical conditions and the requirements for licensing for both private and commercial vehicle licence holders.
AustRoads Assessing Fitness to Drive Guidelines Definition of Driving:
Driving a motor vehicle is a complex task involved perception, appropriate judgement, adequate response time and appropriate physical capability. A range of medical conditions, disabilities and treatments may influence these driving prerequisites. Such impairment may adversely affect driving ability, possibly resulting in a crash causing injury or death.
There are many conditions that may impact on driving such as blackouts/seizures, diabetes, eye/vision problems, heart disease, neurological —dementia, stroke, or epilepsy, psychiatric disorders, sleep disorders and alcohol or drug dependency.
Anyone who has a medical condition that could impact on driving must have their treating doctor complete a Queensland Transport Medical Certificate for Motor Vehicle Driver (F3712) to continue driving. This also includes individuals over the age of 75, who must have an annual medical certificate form their treating doctor. Some conditions may require a medical specialist to complete this form. Once your doctor has completed the medical certificate form, you must submit this to Queensland Transport either in person, or scan and email the completed form to mcr@tmr.qld.gov.au. Under the conditions section on your licence, there will be an M.
The tear of section (image above) of the form must be kept with your licence, as this outlines the requirements or conditions of your conditional licence. for some people, this is simply you must be medically reviewed by your doctor, but here may other conditions as well, depending on the nature of your condition.
Sometimes your treating doctor may be unsure whether your condition impacts on your driving and may ask for an occupational therapy driving assessment. In these situations, your doctor may ask you not to drive until you have had an assessment. In this situation, we still require you have a completed Queensland Transport Medical Certificate. We may request your doctor complete a from with the condition “the purposes of Occupational Therapy driving assessment / driving lessons in a dual controlled vehicle”. This enables the driver to be able to undertake the assessment and/or any lessons until a final determination regarding their medical fitness to drive can be made.
If you or someone you know requires an occupational therapy driving assessment, please feel free to contact Driving Well Occupational Therapy to arrange an assessment.
Useful Links:
https://www.drivingwell.com.au/
https://austroads.gov.au/publications/assessing-fitness-to-drive/ap-g56
https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/licensing/update/medical/fitness
It is professional consensus in the OT Driving Assessor community that the training, skill and experience of driving instructors is not equal, despite what they may advertise. Although standard driving instructors may advertise that they have worked with individuals with Autism in the past, this does not mean that they have undergone relevant training or possess the knowledge, skills and expertise to work with the Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and intellectual impairment (II) population.
Problems encountered with driving instructors who do not hold additional qualifications:
It has been our experience that standard driving instructors may have a basic understanding of Autism, ADHD and intellectual impairment/executive functioning difficulties, however their day-to-day skill is working with neuro-typical students and they have less understanding of the cognitive, sensory, visual and information processing challenges faced by individuals with these diagnoses.
- They are less able to identify skill deficits specific to neurodivergent learners and plan a remediation program to target and develop these skill areas.
- Learning to drive is a highly verbal and non-verbal process and it’s essential that the driving instructor can adapt their teaching and communication style to meet the communication needs of the individual with Autism/ADHD/II. Neurotypical teens will learn to drive by verbal repetition, but this does not work for learners with Autism/ADHD – where they have challenges with verbal/auditory processing and literally often have no idea what the driving instructor is saying – “in one ear and straight out the other”.
- A consequence of a neurotypical driving instructor teaching style of constant verbalisation and commentary (in an overloaded way) – is that we don’t know if the learner driver is actually able to recognise critical items and plan themselves. This has significant safety implications – the client may pass the test, especially if they have been practicing the TMR routes with the instructor, however they may lack the ability to recognise hazards and plan and problem solve effectively. I have seen this first hand in a client:
- Mr M: 3 weeks prior to his test, an on-road review with a regular driving instructor indicated that the instructor was still providing constant verbal commentary – so I didn’t know what the client was seeing/planning for himself, and then when I asked the instructor to be quiet, the learner driver had these problems:
- did NOT plan a lane change safely
- was frazzled with a red light ahead, did not see a merging lane or complete that lane change safely, and needed prompting to notice signs at a slip lane turn. The safety implications are huge and we cannot afford to be putting our teens in this situation.
- It has been our experience that individuals who participate in standard lessons with instructors who are not skilled in tailoring communication and lessons to their needs can lead to reduce understanding of what is being asked of them, reduced generalisation of skills, reduced self-esteem and increased anxiety. This may also lead to young people who may be capable of learning to drive, to be too scared to continue.
- It is of our opinion, that instructors who are not on this list above and not known to or engaging with the driving OT community, most likely lack the skills required to work with these populations effectively.
Some other examples include:
- Mr D.A:
- He had more than 20 lessons in a regional town before moving to an island in the Brisbane bayside area and having 10 lessons with a driving instructor on the island,
- He then had at an on-road assessment with OTDA and specialised driving instructor and was assessed to not have the fundamentals of observation and planning or tactical skills for driving in traffic, with additional lessons recommended to be able to optimise his chances of being successful with achieving his goal.
- Mr A.R:
- after more than 20 hours self-funded lessons with a driving instructor (advertising as experienced with working with clients with autism), had an OT “potential to drive” assessment identifying ongoing issues with observation and planning.
- He was recommended to have a specialised driving training program (20 lessons) through his NDIS plan;
- he elected to continue lessons with the previous instructor and at an on-road re-assessment with OTDA and specialised driving instructor, still was not identifying critical items, having errors with speed control and overall planning and judgement, including driving instructor intervening on the brake when the learner driver did not react to a gardener standing/raking in the middle of the road.
- This young man continued lessons with an instructor from the list below, who worked with him to address his gaps in driving performance, and then he was successful in obtaining his Provisional licence.
- A parent report: driving instructor “yelled” at their learner driver and caused harm to confidence and skills with progressing.
- Our own experiencing working with a driving instructor new to the OT driving assessment space (and self-reporting that he is experienced with working with teens with autism):
- Required significant additional direction and feedback and training sessions to modify his usual approach (targeted at neurotypical drivers / learners with high functioning autism who do not required NDIS support).
- Our own experiencing working with a driving instructor new to the OT driving assessment space (and self-reporting that he is experienced with working with teens with autism):
Our experience in the industry
Driving Well Occupational Therapy has been a leader in this space for five years:
- Director Jenny has been on the committee / convenor of the OT Australia QLD Driving Interest Group for five years
- Driving Well facilitated Dr Miriam Monahan to deliver the “potential to drive” approach to assessments through nine zoom workshops in 2020 and 2021, to approximately 200 OT driver assessors and specialised driving instructors across the country
- Driving Well won the 2021 Australian Road Safety Award for the project “Bringing the Drive Focus app to Australia” – which included the work with the “potential to drive” workshops.
- Jenny won the inaugural OT Australia “Oration” award in 2024, for clinical innovation and contribution to clients and the profession, and was keynote speaker at the OT Exchange conference, in June 2024.
Consensus criteria to be a Specialised Driving Instructor
For a driving instructor to be considered as a qualified ‘Specialised Driving Instructor’ by the OT Driving Assessor community throughout Australia, they must meet the following criteria:
- regular and ongoing experience working with an OT driver assessor and the wider rehabilitation team (GPs, specialists, allied health) with individuals with cognitive, visual and physical disabilities. This is a skill that takes years and years to develop.
- Active engagement with the state wide OT Australia Driving Interest Groups, to keep up-to-date with current practices, industry changes and challenges, and ongoing education.
- Very strongly encouraged: successful completion of the Driver Assessment and Rehabilitation course for Driving Instructors, run by the Institute of Driver Health.
- This course provides advanced training in assessment, treatment planning and teaching strategies for driving instructors who wish to specialise in rehabilitation of drivers with cognitive, physical, psychological or visual conditions including disabilities such as ASD, ADHD and intellectual disability.
- Strongly encouraged: successful completion of the “Potential to Drive” 2 part workshop run by Dr Miriam Monahan.
- The course covers the information processing challenges and learning needs of individuals with ASD and/or executive function disorders and how to approach assessment and treatment planning to maximise skill acquisition and optimise driving outcomes.
- For new instructors coming into the disability industry: Strongly encouraged: successful completion of the Certificate in Specialist Driving Instruction – training package with Micheal Maynard, Specialised driving instructor.
List of specialised driving instructors meeting these criteria in the Brisbane area:
So what?
Bottom line, is that regular driving instructors are likely to be ineffective in teaching in the way that neurodivergent brains will cope and understand, and are likely to waste time and money.
The better approach, is to work with a specialised driving instructor from the start; this is likely to be:
- more effective and SAFE
- be faster, and
- be the most efficient use of funding resources.
Holiday driving can be both exciting and challenging. Whether you’re heading out for a family reunion, a beach getaway, or a scenic road trip, longer distances, heavier traffic, and unpredictable weather can add to the stress. Fatigue is one of the most common risks for drivers during holiday travel. To help you stay safe and alert on the road, here are some practical tips:
1. Get Enough Sleep Before the Trip
One of the simplest yet most effective ways to prevent fatigue is to ensure you’re well-rested before hitting the road. Aim for 7-8 hours of quality sleep the night before your journey. Starting your trip refreshed can make a significant difference in your alertness and overall driving performance.
2. Plan Frequent Breaks
Long drives can quickly become exhausting if you don’t take breaks. Before you start your journey, map out rest stops along your route. Aim to take a 15-minute break every two hours. During these stops:
Step out of the car.
Stretch your legs.
Walk around and breathe in fresh air to reinvigorate your body and mind.
3. Share Driving Duties
If you’re traveling with another licensed driver, take turns behind the wheel. Switching drivers every few hours gives each person time to rest and significantly reduces fatigue. Teamwork makes the journey smoother and safer for everyone.
4. Eat Light, Healthy Meals and Snacks
What you eat can impact your energy levels. Heavy meals often lead to sluggishness, making it harder to stay alert. Instead:
Choose light, balanced snacks like fruits, nuts, or protein bars.
Pack a variety of healthy snacks to avoid the temptation of fast food stops. Maintaining steady energy levels will help you feel more awake and focused.
5. Stay Hydrated
Dehydration can sneak up on you during long drives and contribute to tiredness. Keep a bottle of water within reach and sip regularly. While caffeine can provide a short-term boost, overindulging can lead to energy crashes and dehydration—so use it sparingly.
6. Stay Engaged and Stimulated
Monotony can make drowsiness more likely, especially on highways. Combat boredom and stay mentally stimulated by:
Listening to interesting podcasts or audiobooks.
Playing upbeat music or curated playlists. Mixing up your audio choices can help keep your mind active and focused.
7. Recognize Warning Signs of Fatigue
Fatigue can sneak up on you, so it’s crucial to recognize the early warning signs. These include:
Frequent yawning.
Drifting out of your lane.
Heavy eyelids.
Difficulty remembering the last few miles you’ve driven.
If you notice any of these signs, pull over at the nearest safe spot and rest. A short nap or even a quick walk can make a big difference in resetting your alertness.
Safe Travels and Happy Holidays!
Holiday road trips are a wonderful way to make memories, but they’re only enjoyable if you arrive safely. By following these tips, you can stay alert and ensure your journey is as pleasant as your destination. Drive safely, and have a fantastic holiday!
I saw a client recently who had been involved in a car accident, let’s call him Chris. He has autism and anxiety. Chris had worked his way to his green Ps through sheer determination. His mum doesn’t drive, so he’d arranged over 100 standard driving lessons himself to learn to drive and gain his 100 hours. He had no input from any health professionals, and didn’t know that he should. He said he managed to pass his practical driving test on the first go and didn’t think he had any challenges with his driving, although noted often people beeped at him for driving too slowly.
Chris said at the time of the accident, he was a delivery driver and felt really stressed by needing to make the delivery within a set timeframe and his workplace tracking his location. He said he was driving at night, stressed about making the delivery, trying to navigate to the location using maps; and whilst driving up a hill, he ran into the back of another car. Chris said he’d been anxious, overwhelmed and distracted.
Chris’s story had me thinking… Could this have been prevented if he had been referred to a driver trained OT earlier in his driving journey? Of course, we all get stressed, anxious and overwhelmed sometimes. Mistakes do happen. But if Chris had been involved in a Potential to Drive assessment before learning to drive, he could have been taught strategies to reduce this risk. He could have been taught strategies to recognise when he’s starting to feel overwhelmed, and how to manage it when he is. He could have been taught critical items to look out for and how to prioritise these. He could have been taught planning, problem solving, and judgement skills in a safe space, so that maybe navigating to a new place wouldn’t have been as stressful.
In the potential to drive approach, we explore a person’s individual needs and create a specialized driver training plan which can include therapy, specialized lessons, and home practice to help Learner drivers get on the road safely.
If you or someone you know comes to mind when reading this, please reach out to Driving Well team and we can chat through the process.
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Driving Well Occupational Therapy is a busy practice that provides OT driving assessment and vehicle modification services for people with medical conditions and injuries in Brisbane, Ipswich and northern Gold Coast. We service clients who are self-funding, NDIS and other compensable (WorkCover, NIISQ, TAC, iCare).
On behalf of the team at Driving Well Occupational Therapy and in the spirit of reconciliation, I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Turrbul and Yuggera country, where our team live and serve the majority of our clients, as well as to all Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to the land, sea and community. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations people today.
On behalf of the team at Driving Well Occupational Therapy and in the spirit of reconciliation, I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Turrbul and Yuggera country, where our team live and serve the majority of our clients, as well as to all Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to the land, sea and community. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations people today.
