Abstract
One of the aims of most driver screening practices, in addition to a variety of possible diagnostic and rehabilitation activities, usually is to exclude from the driver population those persons who are not “safe enough” to drive. In order to realise this aim i.e., to decide whether or not somebody is “safe enough” to drive a car, we must estimate his or her individual risk as driver and compare this risk level with a threshold value. When estimating a driver’s individual risk we must make certain assumptions, such as the following: (1) there is such a thing as individual driver risk; (2) it can be expressed as one parameter; (3) it can be measured or estimated; and (4) thresholds dividing the driver population into those safe and those unsafe can be identified. All these assumptions have some problems from both a theoretical and a methodological perspective. In the present paper, the theoretical and methodological basis of driver screening is critically discussed.