3 March 2012

Driver's licence / Head injury

| Blen_Carmichael
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Well, five years has passed and it’s time for me to cough up $153 to renew my driver’s licence. The renewal includes a number of questions, including one as follows:

“Have you ever received a head injury or stroke?”

Does the definition of head injury include non-brain head injuries? Unfortunately it’s not defined in the renewal. Neither could I find a mention of it on the website. Any clues? The reason I ask is that if one answers in the affirmative, the applicant is required to get clearance from one’s doctor. Seems to me any bloke who’s ever been been on a school playground or a football field would have copped a decent whack to the head. Nice little money spinner for the GPs.

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HenryBG said :

Never ever volunteer information to the government. It can only be used against you.

I’m not sure if answering a question on a government form is the same as volunteering information.

In any case, people who lie about specific injuries or conditions that could affect their driving have been found guilty of gross negligence for accidents they have caused (eg. people who have lied about having epilepsy to get their license, and then had a fit while driving).

I’m going to assume a small head knock in Year 10 rugby wouldn’t count as an injury needing to be declared to the licensing authorities. However, any type of head injury that could impact on your ability to safely drive would definitely need to be declared, as failure to do so could lead to serious legal trouble further down the line.

The form should be clearer in what it means by ‘head injury’. I don’t think I know a single male who hasn’t had a least a mild concussion at some stage.

HenryBG said :

Never ever volunteer information to the government. It can only be used against you.

Which you are forced to do with the point to point cameras. Why do they need to keep the details for 30 days? Guilty until proven innocent.

Never ever volunteer information to the government. It can only be used against you.

I may or may not have received the odd stroke over the last 5 years – but I’m sure as hell not sharing that info with the ACT Government. Voyeurs!

I recently renewed mine and didn’t have to answer any questions.

I’ve cut myself shaving a few times. Does that count?

Seriously though, as an ex rugby league player I would lie on the form. I was once knocked out twice in one game, and still have a neck injury caused by being sandwiched between the hips of the bloke I was tackling and my halfback’s as he came in to finish him off. In my final saeson (2002) I got knocked out 6 times. The old adege ‘they can’t run without a head’ is too true in rugby league.

As a competative thai boxer it used to take me anything up to 2 weeks to think straight after a fight.

As I said, I’ll be fibbing. To not put a timeframe on when one received the injury seems a bit harsh.

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