Driving license: these European countries where a medical examination is already compulsory

Will you soon have to take a medical exam to keep your driving license? Members of the European Parliament are debating this question on Tuesday February 27 and will deliver their decision the following day. If this reform is passed, a medical examination could be imposed on all European citizens, every fifteen years from obtaining the title. The medical examination, free of charge, would include an aptitude test concerning sight, hearing and reflexes.

Karima Delli, The Greens/European Free Alliance, had tabled this bill with the aim of “saving lives, families, from accidents that should not have happened”. “This is a prevention tool. There is also no question of stigmatizing our elders: this measure would concern everyone,” she explained. Through this measure, the European Union intends to halve the number of road accident victims by 2030 and then move towards the objective of zero victims in 2050.

Several European countries have already implemented the compulsory medical examination to obtain a driving license or renew it.

In France, as in Germany and Poland, the lifetime license still exists. That is to say, motorists are not subject to a medical examination after a certain age. The medical examination is nevertheless compulsory every five years for certain specific professions in France, such as bus, heavy goods vehicle and taxi drivers. For these professions, after the age of 60, this medical appointment must take place every two years, then every year from the age of 76.

Many European countries have decided to make regular medical visits compulsory from certain ages. Karima Delli was also inspired by this system in her proposed law. In Portugal, where the regulations are the strictest, motorists must carry out a health examination from the age of 40, then every ten years. After the age of 75, a medical check-up must be carried out every two years.

In Italy, the exam is taken from the age of 50. While in the Czech Republic, Spain and Greece, it is taxed from the age of 65. A medical examination is also compulsory from the age of 70 in Denmark, Finland and Ireland. The Dutch must do it from the age of 75, then every five years. And in Slovenia, motorists must do so from the age of 80.

If these countries operate by age groups, others require a medical examination during the administrative renewal of the driving license. This is the case for Belgium, Hungary, Lithuania and Latvia.

Austria and Croatia are the two countries that require a medical certificate even before the driving license is issued. In Austria, the document must not be older than 18 months. And in Croatia, the visit must be renewed every ten years.

Only Slovakia requires a medical examination upon obtaining a driving license. It must be carried out every five years, then after the age of 65, it must be carried out every two years.

If this measure is voted on in the European Parliament this Wednesday, February 28, what would the French think? According to an Ifop study, revealed on Sunday by Le Parisien, 59% of French people would be in favor of a compulsory medical examination for all motorists. While 70% would like it to be compulsory for seniors only.