EU plans compulsory testing from age 70
Wissing rejects senior driver’s license test
November 12, 2023, 1:14 a.m
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Brussels is planning a mandatory driver’s license refresher every five years for people aged 70 and over. A medical check should also check the ability to drive. Transport Minister Wissing sees the obligations as an overreaching act. The seniors are in a position to take care of their health themselves.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing wants to stop the EU Commission’s plans to tighten the rules for driving license holders aged 70 and over. “I don’t want compulsory fitness tests for drivers over 70, and I’m confident that there won’t be a majority for this in the EU,” the FDP politician told the Funke newspapers. “I object to the fact that individuals are increasingly made into objects, have to undergo compulsory examinations and go about their everyday lives according to a catalog of rules.”
“It makes our society more inhumane when we intervene with this severity,” emphasized Wissing. “I trust seniors to deal with their health without government guidelines and bureaucratic control.” In addition, it is “a responsibility of those around you, children, relatives and neighbors, to talk to old people about driving.”
The accident statistics show “no significant numbers of serious accidents” in the age group over 70, the minister said in further justification. “Many older people live in rural areas. It is difficult for them to lead a self-determined life without a car.” As a rule, seniors would not drive hundreds of kilometers on the motorway. “Many people use the car to visit the supermarket or the doctor in the neighboring town. However, driving ability tests include tasks such as a trip from Berlin to Hamburg. That is the objective benchmark.” He therefore does not consider an examination such as the one the EU Commission has in mind to be proportionate.
The draft of a new European transport directive stipulates that drivers aged 70 and over must refresh their driving license every five years. Your state of health should also be inquired about through a mandatory medical examination or through a self-assessment. According to the Commission’s plans, the EU member states should be able to decide for themselves which of the two variants should apply to them. The transport directive is intended to help bring the number of road deaths to zero by 2050.
Against further lowering of the alcohol limit
At the same time, Wissing opposed calls to further lower the alcohol limit in Germany. The background to this is the increasing number of accidents, especially under the influence of alcohol. “The accidents usually do not happen at low alcohol levels. There is already a complete ban on alcohol for novice drivers between the ages of 17 and 21, and 0.5 per mille applies to everyone else,” said the minister. “I don’t see any need to change anything about it.”
There is a clear requirement to avoid alcohol when driving. “The question is at what limit the state can no longer make this the responsibility of its citizens and must intervene with punitive measures,” he said. “In any case, we can never create a perfect catalog of laws for a righteous life. A society cannot function without personal responsibility.”