Mandatory health tests for driving license holders in the EU have been discussed for a long time. The EU Parliament has now decided: States can decide for themselves whether to introduce such checks.
The EU Parliament wants to leave it to the EU states whether they want to introduce mandatory regular health examinations for drivers. MEPs in Strasbourg voted for national governments to decide in future whether to require driving license holders to undergo medical hearing and vision tests. Such medical checks already exist in some EU countries. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) once again rejected such a regulation in Germany.
“I consider government requirements to fill out mandatory self-disclosures and issue medical reports on fitness to drive to be an enormous amount of bureaucracy,” Wissing told the Tagesspiegel. This is not expedient.
The EU Council of Member States had already spoken out in December in favor of allowing the countries themselves to decide whether to require testing. The EU Parliament now also agreed with this.
Debate about the risk of older drivers
The revision of the rules is based on a proposal from the EU Commission that was presented in March last year. Accordingly, drivers should reapply for their driving license every 15 years and must submit medical tests or a self-certification about their health. The proposals sparked a debate about whether older people pose a risk on the road.
Additional health tests for people aged 70 and over are no longer included in Parliament’s draft. However, the reform passed today contains new provisions for driving tests. In the future, driving in snow and slippery conditions, the safe use of a cell phone while driving and driver assistance systems will be part of the test.
A probationary period of two years should also apply across the EU for novice drivers. Young people should also be able to get a truck driving license from the age of 18; so far the minimum age in Germany is 21. Younger truck drivers currently have to complete two and a half years of training.
More than 20,000 traffic deaths every year
The aim of the reform is to make road traffic safer and to halve the number of traffic deaths by 2030. According to EU figures, more than 20,000 people die on the roads in the European Union every year.
The law is now going into consultations between the European Parliament and member states, which, however, can only begin after the European elections in June. The members of the newly elected parliament then sit at the negotiating table.
Jakob Mayr, ARD Brussels, tagesschau, February 28, 2024 4:47 p.m