5.5 Driver Health, Medical Fitness, Fatigue & Hygiene

5.5 Driver Health, Medical Fitness, Fatigue & Hygiene

Core Principle: The PDVL course devotes 110 classroom minutes - more than any other single content item - to the ability to comply with the hygiene, fitness and health standards of the mandatory medical check-up for vocational licence holders. That weighting is deliberate. A chauffeured private hire car is a small enclosed space in which one person's health directly affects several other people's safety.

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1. Medical Screening at Application

Before a candidate may attend the PDVL course, LTA requires certification by a registered doctor that the applicant is medically fit, supported by two documents:

1. a VL medical examination report; and
2. a chest X-ray examination report.

Both are course pre-requisites, alongside LTA's approval to attend the course and the English language requirement. A candidate who turns up without them will not be enrolled.

The HMER Change - February 2026

With effect from 2 February 2026, all medical forms are submitted by the doctors digitally to LTA or the Traffic Police through the Harmonised Medical Examination Report (HMER). Drivers are no longer required to submit a physical hardcopy of the medical form to LTA. During the transition, physical forms were still accepted until 31 July 2026.

The practical effect is that the driver's job is to attend the appointment and confirm the doctor has submitted, not to carry paper between the clinic and LTA. If a renewal is held up, the first thing to check is whether the clinic actually transmitted the HMER.

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2. The Age Ladder - Medical Fitness Over a Career

Medical fitness is not a one-off gate at application. It recurs, and it tightens with age.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|            Medical and Assessment Requirements Across a Career               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  At application    | Medical examination report + chest X-ray report        |
|  Age 50 and above  | Medical check-up and certification of fitness to drive |
|                    | a public service vehicle, before each renewal          |
|  Age 67 and above  | Validity of the renewed licence may be SHORTER than    |
|                    | the standard 3 years                                    |
|  Ages 70, 73, 74   | On-road assessment test IN ADDITION to the medical     |
|  Age 75            | Age limit for driving a public service vehicle          |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Note what the ladder is not: there is no published two-yearly medical band for drivers aged 50 to 64, and no published cognitive test. The requirement from 50 is a medical check-up before renewal; the additional requirement at 70, 73 and 74 is an on-road assessment, which is a practical driving assessment.

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3. Fatigue - The Risk Nobody Else Manages For You

A self-employed vocational driver has no employer setting a shift length. Income pressure pushes in one direction and safety in the other, so fatigue has to be managed deliberately.

Recognising the Warning Signs

The compensations in the left column are warnings, not remedies. Cold air and loud music do not restore alertness; they mask its loss.

Practical Countermeasures

• Plan the shift, then hold to it. Decide the end time before you start, rather than at 2 a.m. when judgement is already degraded.
• Break properly. Log off, leave the vehicle, walk, and eat something that is not only caffeine and sugar.
• Treat the small hours with respect. The body's circadian low sits in the early morning, which is also when the roads are emptiest and speeds highest.
• Do not start a shift already tired. A poor night's sleep before a long shift is the same risk as a long shift itself.
• Know when to stop mid-shift. A cancelled evening costs a few hours' earnings. A fatigue collision can cost the licence, the vehicle and far more.

Fatigue also has a licensing dimension: a driver whose fatigue causes hurt to a passenger through carelessness engages Rule 21(1)(m) of the PSVC Rules - a $200 composition sum and 5 demerit points - quite apart from any traffic charge.

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4. Hygiene and the Shared Cabin

Hygiene is part of the course's health block for a reason: the driver and the commuter share a very small volume of air for the length of the trip.

Personal. Clean, presentable clothing that meets the PSV attire standard; attention to personal freshness across a long shift; hands washed after refuelling, handling luggage or clearing the cabin.

The cabin. Seats and floor mats cleared between trips; no lingering food smells; air conditioning working and filters serviced; a supply of tissues, wet wipes and sick bags for the trips that need them.

When a passenger is unwell. Ventilate, pull over safely if someone feels nauseous, and hand over the sick bag early rather than late. If the interior is soiled, photograph it before cleaning, keep the professional cleaning receipt, and claim through the platform's published channel - never by demanding cash at the roadside, which is a fare offence.

Illness in the driver. A driver who is running a fever, is contagious, or is taking medication that causes drowsiness is not fit to serve. Sedating antihistamines, some cough preparations and some prescription medicines carry explicit driving warnings; read the label, and ask the pharmacist if in doubt.

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5. Fit to Serve - A Pre-Shift Self-Check

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                     "Am I fit to serve?" - Before Each Shift            |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  [ ] Slept adequately; no micro-sleep warning signs from yesterday      |
|  [ ] No fever, no contagious illness                                    |
|  [ ] No medication that impairs alertness or reaction time              |
|  [ ] Zero alcohol - vocational driving allows no margin                 |
|  [ ] Vision aids on board if my licence is conditioned on them          |
|  [ ] Dressed to PSV standard; identification document displayed         |
|  [ ] Cabin clean; boot clear; tissues, wipes and a sick bag on board    |
|  [ ] Realistic end time set for this shift                              |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If a line in that list cannot be ticked honestly, the professional answer is to fix it before logging on.