Elderly fitness to drive
In Germany around 10 million people over the age of 65 have a driver's license . The number of senior citizens with a driver's license will continue to increase in the future due to demographic developments. After spectacular accidents caused by senior citizens, a compulsory aptitude test is repeatedly required for older car drivers. Currently (as of 2009) in the European countries Belgium, Germany, France, Austria and Poland neither a driving aptitude test nor an eye test are required for older car drivers.
Performance and assessment
"The aptitude of older car drivers to drive cannot be adequately explained by age or individual performance." The ability to see and perceive decreases approximately linearly with increasing age; a "gradual decrease" is observed in mental function. It was found that older car drivers compensate for their deteriorating performance by adapting their driving style. "Significant differences [to other age groups] do not appear until the age of 75." In countries where older driver's license holders are required to submit a medical self-assessment or examination, many seniors, if they have serious health problems, voluntarily surrender their driving license Illnesses that remain after that, which often occur in the elderly, are not or only associated with a slightly increased risk of accidents.
The over 75-year-olds were assigned the main responsibility for three out of four accidents if they were involved in an accident as a driver of a car; thus higher than the risk group of novice drivers (18 to 24 year olds). According to a study by the Federal Highway Research Institute with participants over 65 years of age, senior citizens hope “to be able to drive for as long as their health allows.” Three out of four study participants had an illness that justified drug treatment; However, non-serious illnesses, which often occur in the elderly, are not or only slightly associated with an increased risk of accidents. In a study in real traffic, in the age group over 75 years of age, in particular, the lack of a look over the shoulder (“the older, the less often”) was found, especially when turning right in town at intersections with a cycle path and when changing lanes on the motorway.
Positions in Germany
Mandatory health checks for older drivers are taboo in Germany . Almost all experts rely on voluntary driver training and common sense.
- The Deutsche Verkehrswacht has "spoken out against age-discriminatory medical and psychological tests".
- The ADAC is "expressly against regular compulsory driving examinations for drivers license holders".
- The Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure , Alexander Dobrindt : "I can say very clearly: There will be no mandatory tests for senior citizens behind the wheel."
- In its 40th session (2002), the German Traffic Court Congress saw no need for action by the legislature for regular eye tests. In its 55th meeting (2017), he sees no basis for "the introduction of general, compulsory and periodic aptitude tests [...] at present".
- The German Road Safety Council considers a compulsory examination for older car drivers "not [to] make sense", since older drivers compensate for their declining performance through their driving style.
- The Federal Highway Research Institute recommends preventive measures, including by general practitioners, "who should inform their patients at an early stage about possible health-related impairments in performance". However, voluntary health checks should be done regularly; more than half of the seniors would voluntarily give up their driver's license if a specialist found them unfit to drive after a test drive.
- The TÜV Süd recommends a driving test with the feedback from relatives or a driving school .
Driving examinations in Europe
European and other countries have already made regulations on medical examinations for car drivers as follows:
| 50 years | Portugal |
| 55 years | Lithuania |
| 60 years | Latvia , Luxembourg , Czech Republic , Hungary |
| 65 years | Estonia , Greece , Croatia , Portugal , Slovakia , Spain |
| 70 years | Denmark , Finland , United Kingdom , Ireland , Italy , Malta , Switzerland , Slovenia , Cyprus |
| 75 years | Netherlands , Norway |
The examinations can consist of an eye test, a medical check, a driving test or a dementia check (from 70 years in Japan).
A fitness to drive examination has existed in Germany since 1999 for the driving license classes C, CE, C1, C1E, D, DE, D1, D1E from the age of 50 and every 5 years thereafter. In addition, special requirements are required for classes D, DE, D1, D1E from the age of 50 and for the driver's license to transport passengers from the age of 60 through a psychological stress test .
Warning signs for relatives
The German Seniors League has drawn up a list of warning signals for relatives of older drivers, which can indicate a possible deterioration in fitness to drive:
- Insecurity even in familiar surroundings,
- no adaptation to the traffic flow, noticeably slow driving, unsafe, driving too fast or too close,
- no anticipatory driving, apparently no perception of other road users and oncoming traffic,
- slow recording of signs, traffic lights and the general right of way situation,
- coordinative and motor problems when turning, turning and parking,
- Failure to stay in lane reliably, ignoring / not checking the blind spot when turning or overtaking, difficulty looking over the shoulder,
- Noticing critical situations (too) late, sometimes being overwhelmed in complex situations,
- frequent "standing on the brakes",
- Cars and garages have scratches and scrapes more and more.
Indirect effects of testing
The withdrawal of the driver's license or an early voluntary return, z. B. due to fear of exam failure, can have a negative effect on road safety overall and lead to more road traffic casualties and more serious injuries. The elderly, who were previously well protected in their cars, are then increasingly out on the road as cyclists, pedestrians or otherwise “poorly protected”. In addition, the vulnerability is higher in old age and the consequences of accidents are therefore often more severe.
Maximum rental age
Various tour operators and their car rental companies have stipulated a maximum rental age for the rental car in their terms and conditions , such as FTI (70 years), Rent a Car (74 years) or Hertz (75 years).
See also
Web links
- Accident research compact: senior citizens' fitness to drive
- Research Report No. 22
- Research Report No. 25
- Traffic risk grandpa - NDR report
References and comments
- ↑ Research report No. 25 , p. 53.
- ↑ udv.de ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Elderly fitness to drive (accessed May 26, 2016)
- ↑ spiegel.de Check the pensioners! (accessed on May 26, 2016)
- ↑ sueddeutsche.de Greens want tests for senior citizens at the wheel. (accessed on May 26, 2016)
- ↑ gruene-bundestag.de ( Memento of the original from November 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Vision Zero , parliamentary group decision of February 27, 2007, p. 41.
- ↑ Driving licenses issued before January 19, 2013 remain valid up to and including January 18, 2033.
- ↑ udv.de: Eligibility to drive senior citizens , p. 14, pdf: " The fitness of older car drivers to drive cannot be adequately explained by age or individual performance. "
- ↑ a b c udv.de: Fitness for senior citizens to drive , summary
- ^ A b udv.de: Eligibility for senior citizens to drive , p. 7, pdf
- ↑ udv.de ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Elderly fitness to drive (accessed May 26, 2016)
- ↑ destatis.de Accidents involving senior citizens in road traffic., 2014, p. 10.
- ↑ Research Report No. 22 , pp. 5, 78.
- ↑ zeit.de On the move at the wheel, into old age. (accessed on May 27, 2016)
- ↑ Only the head of accident research at the insurer , Siegfried Brockmann, calls for "mandatory eye tests (for all age groups) and mandatory health checks [...] for all seniors from 75 years" in his blog .
- ↑ deutsche-verkehrswacht.de Seniors at the wheel - is it still possible !? (accessed on May 26, 2016)
- ↑ adac.de Seniors in Road Traffic (accessed on May 27, 2016)
- ↑ bmvi.de ( Memento of the original from May 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. No compulsory tests for seniors. (accessed on May 27, 2016)
- ↑ deutscher-verkehrsgerichtstag.de 40th German Traffic Court Day (accessed on May 26, 2016)
- ↑ deutscher-verkehrsgerichtstag.de (accessed on January 28, 2017)
- ↑ DVR-report 1/2016, p. 6.
- ↑ bast.de ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Seniors in road traffic: individual support instead of mandatory health checks. (accessed on May 26, 2016)
- ↑ wdr.de Seniors at the wheel (accessed on May 26, 2016)
- ↑ tuev-sued.de Seniors at the wheel - personal responsibility is required. (accessed on May 26, 2016)
- ↑ In Italy there was a law in 1974, according to which people over 65 were not allowed to drive a car with a power-to-weight ratio of less than 9.2 kilograms per horsepower. See Der Spiegel, 22/1974
- ↑ See research report No. 25 , pp. 10-17.
- ↑ Driving license regulation : § 11 (9)
- ↑ Appendix 5 to § 11 FeV
- ↑ German Senior League: Frankly speaking. 12/2016, p. 6.7.
-
↑ deutsche-verkehrswacht.de, accidents involving senior citizens , table " In road traffic accidents, accidents aged 65 and over - accident figures 2016 "
A comparison of the values "Factor deaths in each 'type of traffic'" shows that car accidents for senior citizens are the least likely to result in serious injuries or lead to death than the other 'modes of transport'. - ↑ FTI catalog Greece Cyprus, summer 2016, p. 317.
