Apex Driving School’s Driver Assessment Program * effective date: 1/15/01
Purpose
Our mission is to provide individuals with specific medically related concerns, when appropriate, the necessary skills to achieve safe driving. And when the situation warrants, assisting those individuals making the transition to a non-driving status.
History
Derrick Scott founded apex Driving School in 1986. Mr. Scott has served the Bay Area communities as a professional driving instructor since 1979. Over the past 14 years, Apex Driving School has worked in affiliation with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Buck Institute Research in Aging, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, and the California Department of Rehabilitation. In additional, we have served clients referred by The Berkeley Low Vision Clinic, The Independent Living Center, Rehab Without Walls, Mills Hospital, California Pacific, Davies Medical, and the Ben Berman Outpatients facility, and various OTR around the Bay Area.
The Assessment
Within one week of the driving assessment, drivers will receive a written report. The Assessment report will detail the result of the instructor/evaluator’s observations. A copy of this report will be sent to the referring agency. The process of assessing a driver requires a minimum of two (2) hours. Driving subjects are assessed the following:
- Vehicle speed and steering control
- Comprehension and adherence to the traffic rules
- Visual scanning, awareness, and responsiveness
- Evidence of, and/or compensation for deficits
- The ability to incorporate new information as a result of the assessment/training
Although the assessment is usually conducted in the Instructor’s training vehicle, it is possible to assess subjects operating their own car. In order to conduct a safe driving assessment in the subjects’ vehicle, the following criteria must be met.
- Subject must demonstrate neurological - motor control adequate to the equipment being used.
- When mild cognitive or perceptual deficits exist, subject must demonstrate the ability to follow basic directions and instructions.
Training
Apex Driving School has the equipment, experience and expertise to train most drivers with special needs. The nature and the scope of a particular disability will determine the length of an individual’s training course. In general, persons with cognitive related deficits should achieve reasonable progress within 10 hours. Drivers using adaptive devices, (i.e., hand-controls, left-foot accelerators, EGB systems, Biotic lenses, and Steering adaptations usually fall between 10 to 25 hours.