To keep your driving license, you may need to pass medical tests in the future. The European Union is currently working on the revision of its driving license directive, as Brussels has set the goal of achieving zero mortality on European roads by 2050. Among the (very) numerous measures proposed, a should attract the attention of motorists: the introduction of a mandatory medical examination, when obtaining a driving license, but also during its renewal at regular intervals.
Since the European Commission’s initial proposal, the draft revision of the driving license directive has been navigating between European institutions. The original text supported the principle of renewing the driving license every 15 years and then every 5 years from the age of 70. This renewal would be conditional on a mandatory medical examination. However, the door was left open to different options: Brussels proposed that this examination could be carried out by a medical organization but also by the driver himself through a self-examination.
From 50 years old in Italy
But the measure was toughened by the Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN) of the European Parliament, which adopted the text this Thursday. The MEP members of the TRAN committee have closed the door to self-examination, leaving only the possibility of a medical examination carried out by a doctor or a certified body. Additionally, the medical examination must include at least one vision test. The choice of whether or not to introduce other mandatory tests, as well as the intensity of these medical tests, would then be delegated to each Member State, which would have free rein to organize them.
This idea of a doctor’s visit didn’t come out of nowhere. It is inspired, in particular, by what is already practiced in some European countries. In Italy, for example, an eye exam is required from the age of 50. In the Netherlands, from the age of 75, drivers must undergo a medical examination every 5 years. It is 70 years in Denmark and Finland, 65 years in Spain or the Czech Republic. The objective of the European Union is not to overload motorists with a cumbersome procedure, which must remain “simple and fast”, they say from Brussels.
Expected negotiations
The institutional path is not yet complete. The text that has just been adopted by the Transport Committee will be examined by the European Parliament during one of its next plenary sessions in Strasbourg at the beginning of next year. MEPs will still be able to review the text with amendments before approving it in first reading. The European Parliament will then have to find common ground between its text and that of the Council of the European Union, which represents member states and shares legislative power with MEPs.
The two texts will form the basis of negotiations between the two institutions, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, to which the European Commission will also be associated (what we call “trilogue” meetings in the established vocabulary).
There is still nothing certain about the adoption date of the future driving license directive, or even about the measures it will include in its final version. Especially since the next European elections, in May 2024, are on the calendar. “Everything is possible”, we say in Brussels.
Source: BFM TV
