This is a question that arises with every news story involving an elderly person behind the wheel: should we end the driver’s license for life?
No medical exam required in France
This Saturday, April 22, a 76-year-old “disabled” man lost control of his vehicle causing a serious accident in the town of Berck (Pas-de-Calais). Accompanied by his wife and in a car with an automatic gearbox, he confused the brake and accelerator pedals. The results: 12 people injured, including one with a vital prognosis admitted and hospitalized at the Lille University Hospital.
If in France the driver’s license does not require a medical examination based on age, this is not the case for some of our European neighbors, who check vision and reflexes in particular.
In Portugal, a control requested from the age of 40
In the Netherlands, from the age of 75, the motorist must undergo a medical examination every 5 years, from the age of 70 in Denmark and Finland, to the age of 65 in Spain, Greece and the Czech Republic.
Italy, for its part, requires this medical examination from the age of 50. It is in Portugal where we find the strictest regulations on the Portuguese side, with a control of driving ability at various stages of life: from the age of 40, then at 50, 65 and 75, age from the age of which is the examination must be carried out every two years.
Finally, other countries require a regular examination regardless of age: in Belgium, the renewal of the license every ten years must be accompanied by a certificate of fitness to drive from the doctor. This is also the case in Romania, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania.
Lifetime license also in Germany and Poland
However, France is not alone in this club of European countries that issues a license for life, without the need for medical check-ups. This is also the case in Germany or Poland.
In the UK, it is up to the driver to declare themselves in good health every three years. A way of encouraging motorists to take stock of their state of health, without however conditioning the fact of being able or not to give rise to a mandatory examination.
Should the rules be changed in France?
Many people in France are campaigning for regular driving fitness checks. This is particularly the case of Pauline Deroulède, a leg amputee after being run over in Paris in 2018 by a driver over 90 years old.
Therefore, the debate is relaunched after the accident that occurred last weekend in Berck, also taking into account the need for mobility of the elderly.
“Any overly coercive measure would be socially devastating, because in rural areas in particular, where there is no public transport, depriving older people of their permits could isolate them from others and their activities, be it shopping, associative life, culture. life, underlines Alexandra Legendre, spokesperson for the League association for the defense of drivers.
“To point the finger at this part of the population (10% of French people are aged 75 or over according to INSEE) and run the risk of isolating them is to forget that, with a little luck, we will also reach this age one day and worry,” he adds.
Aware of this problem, however, he suggests initially controlling vision from a certain age, insisting on a decision that must be shared between the doctor, the family and the affected person:
“Very pragmatically, I think that a vision check would be a first step and for all the other steps that lead, perhaps, to the decision to stop driving, I think that the family doctor and the family itself, even have a great role. of awareness for Why not with a voluntary medical check-up, but what would be given to the affected driver so that he himself attracts the consequences?
Source: BFM TV
