The Alberta government is carrying out a pilot project in relation

to the licensing of seniors.

The protocol carried out in cooperating medical clinics is as follows:

 When the unsuspecting senior arrives at the medical clinic expecting

 to have a physical exam, he is led to a room by a registered nurse 

who administers a mental test (Simard MD), timed with a stop watch.

He / she may be given a physical exam.  Then all the seniors personal 

health information and results of the Simard MD (without his permission 

or even knowledge)  is forwarded to Driveable. 

Seniors have reported to us that as soon as they arrived home from the 

doctors office, they received aggressive phone calls from DriveAble 

instructing them to come in for testing. They report  that they are  

threatened that if they do not attend at DriveAble, they will not get their

 license renewed.  They obediently go because they want that license.  

Most seniors who have never been computer literate do not do well on 

 the DriveAble computer test.

The results of all this testing is then forwarded to Alberta Government 

Driver Fitness and Monitoring staff at the Alberta Motor Vehicles licensing

 branch.

We have been informed that seniors who successfully passed the road 

test but flubbed the computer DriveAble test are denied their driving license 

by Alberta government Driver Fitness and Monitoring staff

We have also learned of those who scored low on the Simard MD because 

English is their second language. These persons speak well and were 

successful business people but have difficulty with the testing.

Finally, in Alberta, the legal requirement to have one’s license renewed is that

1)         a physician examine the senior who wishes to have his license renewed

2)     the physician sign the Medical Examination For Motor Vehicle Operators 

document which certifies that on the noted date, he examined the senior in 

accordance with  Safety Code Medical Standards.

3)    If the physician does not recommend a driver’s examination, then the 

applicant senior has met the full requirement to have his Alberta Driving 

License renewed never mind Simard MD and DriveAble.

We submit that the Alberta government Driver Fitness and Monitoring staff are 

acting untruthfully, deceptively and blatantly high handedly when they  deny 

licenses to Alberta Senior citizens because of any scores due to Simard MD or

 DriveAble results. 

We also find it troubling that professional registered nurses,

whose most notable role is to be a patient advocate, are cooperating in this 

deceptive, unfair process..

In a letter posted on our website, MLA Fred Horne (Edmonton-Rutherford) 

states that DriveAble is a private for profit company and is not affiliated with the 

Alberta government so why are doctor’s offices sending private personal health information 

to these folks and why at $200. or $ 250 a shot,  is this company allowed to make  

a fortune on the backs of seniors?