A Tasmanian woman has attempted to take the Department of State Growth to the state’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner after her 97-year-old cousin was stripped of his driver’s licence.
The elderly man had his licence cancelled in March last year after failing five separate on-road driving assessments over a seven-month period from August 2023.
Despite the cancellation, he continued to drive until August 2024, when police in Smithton seized the licence due to his “inability to stop driving”, Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) documents show.
In her complaint to the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, the woman claimed her cousin had been unfairly treated when his licence was cancelled.
She argued he was still an “excellent driver” and suggested the cancellation may have been influenced by his age rather than his driving ability.
However, the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner found no grounds to support the claim, a position later upheld by TASCAT.
“The evidence clearly indicated that the reason for him not being able to retain or obtain a driving licence was because he was unable to meet the driving assessment criteria required for the obtaining of a drivers licence,” the tribunal ruling stated.
“[He] had at least five opportunities to meet the prescribed criteria for obtaining a drivers licence … but failed to satisfy those criteria on all occasions after on road testing.”
Tasmania scrapped compulsory annual driving assessments for drivers aged 85 and over in 2011, following concerns the policy was discriminatory.
A State Growth document from the time said older drivers were “not a major road safety problem in Tasmania”.
“This change will place the responsibility of driving in the hands of the driver,” the document read.
“The driver is the best person to determine whether or not they should drive and where they should drive.”
“Older drivers are very good at deciding when and where to drive and drive according to their limits.”
