Is the lifetime license almost over?
With the driving license reform, which will be put to a vote in the European Parliament this Wednesday, a medical examination could be imposed on all European citizens, every fifteen years from obtaining the title.
People declared medically unfit could thus lose the right to drive.
The EU's stated objective?
“Zero road deaths in Europe in 2050.”
The medical examination, free of charge, would include an aptitude test concerning sight, hearing and reflexes.
“The idea is not to annoy people, but to save lives, families, from accidents that should not have happened
,” underlines the MEP (Europe Ecology) and rapporteur of the text, Karima Delli .
This is a prevention tool.
There is also no question of stigmatizing our elders: this measure would concern everyone.
In Europe, it already exists in several countries, such as Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and Denmark.
Save lives
The
“good news”
, she emphasizes, is that
“this battle is also being waged by the French”
: according to an Ifop study revealed on Sunday by
Le Parisien
, 59% of them would be in favor of a compulsory medical examination. for all motorists, while 70% would like it compulsory for seniors only.
Karima Delli evades the question of the cost of this measure, which she is often asked:
“But how much does it cost to lose a loved one?
To be seriously injured?
I’m talking about investments and gains in our lives.”
Also read “Everyone becomes a potential delinquent”: Rémy Josseaume, the road law activist
“We are not news items!”
, chants Floraine Jullian, who has just joined the
“battle”
.
Three months ago, she lost her mother, knocked down at a pedestrian crossing:
“Blinded by the sun, this 86-year-old motorist mistook my mother for a garbage container
,” she says.
Three months later, he still has his license…”
Mown down in 2018 by the car of a nonagenarian who
“pressed the accelerator instead of the brake”
, Pauline Déroulède lost her left leg.
A member of the French wheelchair tennis team, she is the initiator of the Save lives, it's allowed collective
. “This measure must go hand in hand with the implementation of alternative mobility solutions
,” defends the young athlete. .
Solutions such as on-demand transport, adapted shuttles and
(for everyday shopping, Editor's note)
itinerant commerce.
»
Father of Cléo, who also lost a leg in an accident caused by an elderly person, Dr Samuel Ginterdaele also pleads for such a
“tool”
.
“The doctor does not have the power to revoke a license
,” explains this general practitioner.
If I identify a patient who is no longer fit - and I know some - I alert them, but, in the vast majority of cases, I will never see them again: this patient will flee the doctor who is pressing there where it hurts
.
“Common sense measure”
But, for the road users association Forty million motorists, this is a
“questioning of a fundamental principle”.
“Do we retake our baccalaureate every fifteen years?
, protests Pierre Chasseray, its general delegate.
The driving license is a diploma, an acquired right which can and must only be called into question in the event of repeated non-compliance with the rules imposed by the highway code.
In this case, we lose the points which confer validity on the driving license, or the courts decide to cancel the license due to a particularly serious offense.
But it would be intolerable to put an expiry date on the driving license.”
Also read “A normal gesture to save lives”: the call from several personalities for a driving aptitude test
The association, which has just launched a petition, recalls that systems already exist for situations requiring medical advice:
“The family of a driver who considers the continuation of dangerous driving can report it to the competent authority, the special driving licenses (heavy goods vehicles, public transport) already require a periodic medical examination for renewal, the medical commissions for driving licenses impose medical and psychotechnical tests in order to check the abilities of motorists who commit certain particularly dangerous offenses (driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics) or who present certain pathologies which require monitoring over time or a restriction of the right to drive.
Karima Delli shrugs her shoulders:
“Do you remember the heated debates on the compulsory wearing of seat belts
(in 1979, Editor’s note)?, she asks.
However, how many deaths were avoided thanks to this common sense measure?
Today, no one disputes it anymore.
In ten years, we will look at Forty Million Motorists and its rearguard campaign against medical visits with the same disbelief.”
If this new rule, which the Transport Committee has already adopted, is voted on on Wednesday, it will have to be implemented by France within two years.