As of: March 12, 2024, 6:15 p.m
By: Andreas Schmid
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White silhouettes commemorate the victims of the accident in Berlin.
Green politician Gelbhaar (left) then called for driver's license health checks for pensioners, but Senior Citizens' Union leader Ludwig (right) doesn't think so.
© Christoph Soeder/dpa/Christoph Soeder/dpa/Lukas Hanke/Seniors' Union (montage)
After an 83-year-old kills two people with his car, the Greens are calling for health checks for pensioners.
The Union firmly rejects the proposal.
At the weekend, an 83-year-old driver wants to avoid a traffic jam in Berlin-Mitte.
He turns onto a bicycle lane at excessive speed and drives into a woman with a stroller.
The 41-year-old woman and her four-year-old child die.
The incident made national headlines - and reignited the debate about driving license rules for older people.
In response to fatal accident in Berlin: Greens want health test for pensioners
The Green Party's transport policy spokesman, Stefan Gelbhaar, brought up mandatory health tests for seniors.
“After novice drivers, old people are the most likely to cause accidents per kilometer driven - despite their many years of driving experience,” said Gelbhaar to the
editorial network Germany (RND)
.
Many drivers have driven for decades without an accident.
“But with age, eyesight, hearing and ability to react slowly deteriorate.
Regular tests therefore make sense.”
Union against health check for pensioners when getting a driving license: “green control populism”
Criticism comes from the Liberal Seniors, an association of the FDP.
“We reject the Greens’ proposals,” says Detlef Parr, chairman of the Liberal Seniors, to
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
“Such age-discriminatory legal interventions in the right of self-determination, especially of older people, do not fit the times,” says the FDP politician.
“Voluntary tests, on the other hand, strengthen personal responsibility.”
The Seniors' Union is becoming even clearer: "The demand for regular checks for older driving license holders is nothing other than a typical example of green control populism," says Fred-Holger Ludwig, head of the Seniors' Union in our editorial team.
“The Greens are using a tragic accident in Berlin to find a reason to intervene in people’s lives and control them.”
The Union's family policy spokeswoman, Silvia Breher, also rejects the Greens' proposal.
“We cannot place all seniors above a certain age under general suspicion,” said the CDU politician when asked.
“Ability to drive varies greatly in old age and depends on various factors.
Regular driving tests are also associated with costs that could overwhelm many older people in the current tense financial situation.” In addition, pensioners are dependent on cars, especially in rural areas.
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The Greens failed in the EU Parliament's demand for health checks
The debate about new driving license rules for seniors is not new.
It was only in February that the EU Parliament discussed mandatory health tests for older drivers, which already exist in 14 EU countries.
Ultimately, the initiative did not achieve a majority because German MEPs, among others, spoke out against it.
The idea here also came from the Greens.
In addition to health checks, the responsible rapporteur, French Green MP Karima Delli, also planned stricter rules for heavy cars such as SUVs and night driving bans for novice drivers.
This was intended to increase road safety, but many MPs criticized the plans.
The transport policy spokesman for the FDP in the European Parliament, Jan Christoph Oetjen, gave our editorial summary.
“The Greens’ control fantasies for our driving licenses have not found a majority.”
Senior Citizens' Union leader Ludwig says: “It disappoints me that the Greens are taking advantage of a sad accident in Berlin to stigmatize older drivers - by the way, these are the same Greens who are currently in the European Parliament with the proposal for driving license guidelines or the mandatory one Health check-up has completely failed.”
(as)