Opinion poll
The majority are in favor of regular health checks
Many people in Germany find regular health checks for drivers useful. photo
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
Transport Minister Wissing is against it, in other countries they are mandatory: regular health checks for drivers. But in Germany many people can warm up to such tests.
Mandatory regular health examinations for drivers are coming into play Germany has significantly greater support among the population than in the federal government. This is the result of a survey conducted by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the automotive supplier Continental.
Almost two thirds of those surveyed (64 percent) stated that they considered medical examinations to be useful with regard to fitness to drive. 53 percent of adults were also in favor of linking the validity of the driving license to such tests for drivers aged 70 and over.
Almost half (49 percent) were in favor of short examination intervals of a maximum of two years. For the survey, YouGov interviewed a total of 2,055 representatively selected citizens aged 18 and over from all over Germany in March.
The greatest response was among 18 to 29 year olds, 75 percent of whom described regular health checks as useful. Of those over 70, around half were in favor of such tests as long as they are not a requirement for the extension of their driving license. However, 73 percent of those surveyed in the affected age group rejected a restriction on driving licenses from the age of 70 with a health check before each extension, while 71 percent of those aged 18 to 29 supported the idea.
Transport Minister Wissing against “compulsory investigations”
The EU Parliament decided in March to leave it to the EU states whether they wanted to introduce mandatory regular health examinations for drivers. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) has already rejected this for Germany. “Germany doesn’t want to have such compulsory examinations,” he said. Citizens must independently check whether they are fit to drive or not. The EU Commission had originally planned to introduce compulsory health checks for older drivers across Europe, as they already exist in several EU countries.
With regard to particularly dangerous situations in road traffic, 50 percent of those surveyed stated that they found unfavorable weather to be particularly unpleasant. 49 percent complained about other road users, 48 percent felt unsafe when visibility was poor. In the age group over 70, night driving was mentioned disproportionately often, at 42 percent.