The EU wants to standardize the regulations on who is allowed to drive and who is not. The question is whether drivers who would have lost their driving license in one country because of a violation of the rules can continue to use it in another country. And there is the even more thorny question of whether older people across the EU will have to take regular driving tests, as is already the case in countries such as Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. This topic has now also landed in the transport committee of the Bundestag, where the fronts are clear: the Union parties and the FDP are more against it, the Greens for it. If the latter prevail, the lifetime driver’s license, as it currently exists in Germany, could have died.
For elderly people with physical disabilities, the car is often the only way to go shopping, visit the doctor, or visit family and friends. Nevertheless, the question of whether seniors pose a danger on the road from a certain age or whether they should even be obliged to take regular driving aptitude tests is a controversial issue.
Statistically, older road users are more likely to be there when there is a crash
A look at the statistics helps to find an answer. According to the Federal Statistical Office, younger drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents involving personal injury. But in relation to the actual driving share of older road users, they are statistically more likely to be there when there is a crash. The older drivers are almost always the cause of the accident.
In 2021, 66,812 people over the age of 65 were involved in accidents involving personal injury, which was 14.5 percent of all those involved in accidents, according to the Federal Statistical Office. In 2021, on the other hand, 22.1 percent of the population in Germany was at least 65 years old. However, the lower proportion of accidents is due to the fact that older people no longer drive to work regularly and are therefore less likely to drive on the road than younger people. In old age, the use of individual means of transport such as cars or bicycles also decreases.
If older people were involved in an accident, they were mainly to blame in more than two thirds of the cases (68.2 percent). Among the at least 75-year-olds, three out of four drivers involved in the accident were even assigned the main blame. Senior drivers were accused more often than those under 65 of not respecting the right of way of others. Errors when turning, turning, reversing also occur. Older people, on the other hand, were much less likely to be accused of not keeping their distance, driving too fast or driving their car while drunk.
In Spain, drivers over the age of 45 must take a health test
The ability to perceive and respond to situations sometimes slows down with age. This often makes it difficult for older road users to estimate the speed of other road users. Elsewhere, driving tests for seniors are already a reality. In Spain, drivers must have a health test from the age of 45. In Germany, driving aptitude tests are only carried out in particularly justified individual cases. “The drama increases from the age of 75,” warns Siegfried Brockmann, head of accident research at the insurers, but admits that these are purely statistical values: “There are also 80-year-olds who can drive really well, and 65-year-olds who who are already having difficulties,” said the accident researcher of the “Tagesschau”.
Many people shy away from going to the doctor because they are afraid of losing their driver’s license. But doctors are bound by confidentiality. They are not allowed to report their diagnoses to the authorities. You can only inform the police if there is imminent danger. In the case of certain illnesses, however, they can issue a legally binding driving ban. Especially in the context of dementia, epilepsy or after a recent heart attack, nobody is allowed to get behind the wheel.
The EU wants to tighten the voluntary regulations
The EU now wants to tighten the voluntary regulations. Among other things, regular checks are planned for people over the age of 70. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group does not think much of the EU Commission’s plans. However, she uses an auxiliary argument in which she argues that the EU is not responsible for such a decision. There is no reason to regulate age checks for the driver’s license in Brussels, said Florian Müller (CDU), member of the Bundestag for the southern Sauerland, the daily mirror. This would discriminate against older drivers. “The Bundestag must show the EU Commission the yellow card here,” he demands. He doesn’t believe that refresher tests and health checks for people over the age of 70 increase road safety. Real traffic safety works with measures such as driver assistance systems or intelligent infrastructure.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing had already opposed the EU project. “I don’t think much of the idea that seniors from a certain age have to undergo a fitness test regularly without any further reason,” said the FDP politician. He relies on personal responsibility. “I reject mandatory health tests, such as the EU has in mind.” The Greens are quite different: Testing fitness to drive from the age of 70 strengthens road safety for everyone, says the Green member of the Bundestag, Swantje Michaelsen. “It must now be discussed how exactly a check of fitness to drive can look like,” she demands. From their point of view, the discussion should not only focus on the old road users. Against the background of the current accident figures, she thinks it makes sense “to talk about regular health tests and training for driving skills regardless of age”.
The following regulation applies in Italy, which could become a model throughout the EU: People under 50 must renew their driver’s license every ten years. Drivers between 50 and 70 every five years, between 70 and 80 every three years. And anyone over 80 must come every two years and provide an additional medical certificate. The regulation has been in effect since 1933, so it is not clear whether anything has improved as a result.
