Why are police driver medical exams required?
The police physical and medical examination is designed to inform the licensing authority and potential employer of any health issues that may affect your driving skills. In some cases, a diagnosis alone may be sufficient to prevent you from driving, even without a practical driving evaluation. For instance, narcolepsy can unpredictably disrupt alertness, making it dangerous for someone to be on the road, as they may risk falling asleep or losing consciousness.
Certain medical conditions, such as a mild stroke or seizure disorder, can temporarily limit driving ability. Typically, individuals must remain symptom-free for a specified amount of time before being allowed to drive again. Those submitting a police application must also have a clean bill of health and meet the minimum medical exam criteria.
Medical Requirements for Police Drivers
When performing the medical exam, the physician will perform tests and ask you questions about your:
- Vision
- Heart or vascular system
- Brain or nervous system
- Physical abilities
- Lungs or breathing
They also ask if you have any psychiatric conditions, drug or alcohol dependencies or other conditions that could affect driving. These exams often include a report on vital signs, like blood pressure and eyesight.
Physicians are responsible for evaluating each patient's fitness to drive during these exams. In evaluating police constable applicants, physicians must determine if the applicants are capable of possessing a professional driver’s licence and performing other policing duties, such as those involving the use of a weapon. Prospective candidates seeking further information or clarification about specific medical conditions should consult directly with their physician, not the employer police service.
Vision Requirements
Most police departments in Canada will have similar criteria for vision standards. For example, some of the vision criteria that police applicants and constables in Ontario must meet includes:
- Uncorrected Visual Acuity: At least 20/40 (6/12) with both eyes open.
- Corrected Visual Acuity: At least 20/20 (6/6) with both eyes open.
- Farsightedness: The amount of hyperopia must not be greater than +2.00 D, spherical equivalent in the least hyperopic eye.
- Lateral Phoria: In excess of 5 esotropia (one eye deviates inward, often called crossed eyes) or 5 exotropia (one or both eyes look outward, often called wall-eyed), requires additional information from an eye care professional, which documents that the person is unlikely to experience double vision when fatigued or functioning in reduced visual environments.
- Colour Vision: Pass Farnsworth D-15 without any colour corrective (e.g. X-Chrom, Chromagen) lenses.
- Peripheral Vision: Peripheral visual field limits with a 5 mm white target at 33 cm should not exceed the limits below. There should be no blind spots within these limits, except for the physiological blind spot. Speak with your physician if you'd like to learn more about the potential limitations.
Hearing Requirements
The minimum hearing requirements may vary slightly between departments and provinces but are typically very similar across the board. In Ontario, the minimum hearing requirements are:
- Pure-tone thresholds for each ear, measured with audiometric earphones, should not exceed a four-frequency average (500, 1000, 2000, 3000 Hz) of 25 dB HL. Individual frequencies must not exceed 35 dB HL, and at 4000 Hz, not exceed 45 dB HL.
- Speech recognition scores shall be 88 percent or better in each ear at 50 dB HL in quiet, using half lists (25 test words) of recorded monosyllabic words presented under standard audiometric earphones.
- Speech recognition scores with both ears open must be 68% or better at a +5 dB signal-to-noise ratio when a half-list (25 test words) of recorded monosyllabic words is presented at 50 dB HL.
Complete-in-canal (CIC) hearing aids may be used to meet the above standards. However, the unaided hearing loss must not exceed 40 dB in each ear at the following frequencies: 500, 1000, 2000 and 3000Hz, and shall not exceed 55 dB at 4000 Hz.
Police Driver Medical Exams at Immigration Physician Ottawa
Our team at Immigration Physician Ottawa offers the complete Driver Medical Exam required for police applicants and current police constables.
All current members of law enforcement and applicants undergoing a medical exam for employment purposes can expect the following:
- Full physical examination
- General health assessment (This includes height, weight, vision test, urine test for analysis, as well a blood pressure check)
- Review of medical history
Be sure to bring the following items with you to your examination:
- All medications in their bottles or blister pack
- Glasses worn while driving, if applicable
- Hearing aids, if applicable
- Your medical examination form
