7.1 Drivers and Vehicles

Senior Driving and Safe Driving for Seniors

For many seniors, having a driver’s licence is a key to independent living. But the aging process can bring changes that affect the older driver's ability to drive safely, such as reduced vision, or movement-limiting disabilities such as arthritis and rheumatism, which may slow down response rate. It is important to recognize age-related changes and learn how to compensate for them.

The Ministry of Transportation licences drivers and vehicles, and offers a mandatory driver education program for seniors 80 and over.

Many people voluntarily modify their driving behaviour to accommodate changes associated with aging, for example, by limiting highway travel or avoiding driving at night, or choosing other means of transportation when the need arises.

There are many courses available to help senior drivers recognize and develop strategies to address age-related challenges.

For more information on senior driving, visit the Canada Safety Council Website at www.safetycouncil.org/info/seniors/driving.htm

Drive Wise

Drive Wise is a driver refresher seminar for seniors presented by CARP, Canada’s Association for the Fifty-Plus and Road Watch Canada. Drive Wise is an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) delivered driver education seminar that offers attendees a shopping basket of tips, suggestions and strategies, which help prevent the most likely causes of accidents and mishaps faced by older Canadians on the road. Drive Wise also provides important advice on what to do if you are involved in a collision or have a disabled vehicle.

The seminar is presented by an on-duty OPP officer and lasts about 45 minutes. A valuable question period follows. There is no cost to either attend or host a Drive Wise presentation.

For more information, contact:
Drive Wise
Phone: 416-398-8257
E-mail: drivewise@50plus.com
Website: www.drivewise.ca

Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Offices

A Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Office is an independently operated office that provides all routine driver and vehicle licensing products and services on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation, such as driver licence renewals and vehicle sticker renewals.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Call Centre
Toll-free: 1-800-387-3445
Phone: 416-235-2999
Website: www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/issoff.htm

Driver Examination Centres

Drive Test Centres provide all driver examination services such as vision, written and road tests for all licence classes.

To book your road test, call 1-888-570-6110 or, in the Greater Toronto Area, 416-325-8580.

Senior Driving Group Education Program

Through the 80 and Over Licence Renewal Program, seniors aged 80 years and older must complete the following every two years in order to renew their driver’s licence: a vision test, a rules of the road knowledge test, a driving record review and take part in a Group Education Session. Some drivers may also be asked to take a road test.

The program was introduced in 1996 to help Ontario seniors remain mobile and independent for as long as possible, while ensuring that unsafe drivers are identified and appropriate actions taken.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Call Centre
Toll-free: 1-800-387-3445
Phone: 416-235-2999

Accessible Parking Permit

This permit is issued to an individual and entitles them to park their vehicle in a designated disabled parking space. The permit must be displayed.

To qualify for an Accessible Parking Permit, the individual must be medically certified by their health practitioner as having one or more of the following conditions:

• Cannot walk without assistance of another person or a brace, cane, crutch, a lower limb prosthetic device or similar assistive device or who requires the assistance of a wheelchair
• Suffers from lung disease to such an extent that forced expiratory volume in one second is less than 1 litre
• Portable oxygen is a medical necessity
• Cardiovascular disease impairment classified as Class III or Class IV to standards accepted by the American Heart Association or Class III or IV according to the Canadian Cardiovascular Standard
• Severely limited in the ability to walk due to an arthritic, neurological, musculoskeletal or orthopaedic condition
• Visual acuity is 20/200 or poorer in the better eye with or without corrective lenses or whose greatest diameter of the field of vision in both eyes is 20 degrees or less
• Condition(s) or functional impairment that severely limits his or her mobility

A physician, chiropractor, nurse practitioner (extended class), physiotherapist or occupational therapist must certify the applicant's condition on the permit application.

A permanent permit is valid for five years while a temporary one is valid for up to two years. Temporary permits are issued when the disability is expected to last more than two months but is not considered a permanent disability.

Applications for permits are available at all Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Offices, or may be requested by mail from:

Ministry of Transportation
Licensing Administration Office
2680 Keele St., Building A
Downsview ON M3M 3E6

To order this application by phone or for more information, contact the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Call Centre:
Toll-free: 1-800-387-3445
Phone: 416-235-2999
Website: www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/app.htm

Used Vehicle Information Package

Over one million used vehicles change ownership in Ontario each year. To help consumers make better informed decisions, the Ontario Government has introduced the Used Vehicle Information Package (UVIP). If you are selling a used vehicle (car, van, light truck, motor home or motorcycle) privately in Ontario, you must purchase a UVIP (cost $20) and show it to potential buyers.

To purchase a Used Vehicle Information Package contact:
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Call Centre
Personal Property Security Branch, UVIP Section

Toll-free: 1-800-267-8847
Phone: 416-325-8847
TTY: 416-326-8866
Website: www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/used.htm

Drive Clean

Ontario’s Drive Clean program is concerned with helping you make smart choices about how you maintain and drive your vehicle(s).  Maintaining your vehicles’ emission systems helps protect everybody’s health and environment by reducing smog-causing pollutants.  Driving Clean can also save you up to 10 percent in annual fuel consumption and prolong the life of your vehicle.

Most passenger cars, vans, light trucks and sport utility vehicles in the Drive Clean program area must pass a Drive Clean test to renew the stickers on their licence plates.

As of January 1, 2006, Drive Clean regulations require testing every two years for light-duty vehicles beginning when they are five years old (in the fifth calendar year after their model year) rather than when they are three years old (in the third calendar year after their model year).

The exemption for 20-year-old light-duty vehicles is ending as we begin to focus more on the vehicles most likely to pollute. All cars, 1988 model year and newer, will require emissions testing until they are taken out of service. These vehicles would have had their last test for registration renewal in 2007, when they were 19 years old. They will now need to continue to be tested in 2009 and ever two years after that.

Passing an emissions test is also required to transfer ownership and licence a vehicle for the road under new ownership, if the transfer requires a safety certificate. The test requirement begins when a vehicle is one year old (in the first calendar year after the model year) and continues up to and including the 19th calendar year after the model year.

All light-duty commercial farm vehicles, hybrids, kit cars and motorcycles are exempt from test requirements.

You will be notified by mail when your vehicle(s) must have an emission test.

For more information about the Drive Clean program, or to find the accredited facility nearest you that performs emission tests and repairs, contact the Ministry of the Environment, Drive Clean Program:
Toll-free: 1-888-758-2999
Phone: 905-421-7083
Website: www.driveclean.com

7.2 Public Transportation Services

Community Transportation Services

Many communities have both conventional and specialized transit services for their residents. Conventional services provided by municipalities use regularly scheduled vehicles that operate on fixed routes, according to published route maps and timetables.

Specialized transit services for seniors and persons with disabilities typically use smaller vehicles equipped with a lift or ramp for persons using mobility devices, such as wheelchairs and scooters. For example, Wheel-Trans in Toronto, Para Transpo in Ottawa and Windsor Handi-Transit. Some communities use fully accessible community buses to provide services to their residents, on both fixed and flexible routes.

For information regarding the types of public transportation services available in your area, please contact your municipal transit service or municipal office listed in the Blue Pages of your telephone book under the keyword “Transit”.

Your local Community Care Access Centre or Community Information Centre may also be able to provide information on specialized transit services in your area for seniors and disabled persons.

GO Transit

GO Transit runs trains and buses linking Toronto with communities in the surrounding regions of Halton, Peel, York and Durham, and the neighbouring City of Hamilton, as well as parts of Simcoe, Dufferin and Wellington Counties. GO fares vary with the distance travelled. Seniors 65 and over travel for half the regular adult fare. Single one-way rides, two-ride tickets, and day passes are available for seniors.

More than half of GO’s 50 train stations are now wheelchair-accessible. All GO Trains have an accessible car with a ramp for people with limited mobility. Many GO Buses "kneel" to make it easier for everyone to board, and three GO Bus routes are currently wheelchair-accessible.

Toll-free: 1-888-GET ON GO (438-6646)
Phone: 416-869-3200
TTY Toll-free: 1-800-387-3652
Website: www.gotransit.com