The pre-driving assessment examines the component skills necessary for driving. There has been concern about the usefulness of this type of psychometric testing as a means to determine driving competence. This is not to say that these tests should be abandoned. Psychometric testing serves an important function when performed by a trained clinician and when part ofa comprehensive evaluation. This assessment should be the first portion of the evaluation process.
Psychometric tests can quantify deficits in cognition and perception.
Two other important, though not clinical, considerations for these psychometric tests, merit attention. The DPT uses a series of videotaped scenes of potentially dangerous driving situations. Clients are asked to view a scene and then respond to a multiple-choice question, selecting from four choices on the best way to respond to that situation. Reactions must be quick because the viewer has only seconds before the next scene. TO reiterate, the greatest drawback to these tests is the lack of standardization.