THE US Public Health Service has recently prepared a monograph (Driver Licensing Guidelines for Medical Advisory Boards) giving recommendations concerning the licensing of medically impaired motor vehicle operators. The information is designed as a guideline for state medical advisory boards to use in their role as consultants to the motor vehicle administrators. The alteration of consciousness section is presented here so that neurologists and others interested in this area are aware of the criteria and classification being used and thus able to better counsel their patients.
The criteria outlined in this guide have been developed along functional and symptomatic lines, rather than along pathologic and anatomic classifications because it is the functional and symptomatic limitations of illness that directly affect driving capability.1-3
Groups of medically impaired drivers are defined according to the severity of their functional impairment and are also classified by the type of vehicle license