Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, heavy locomotor or hearing disabilities… The rules governing the right to drive were reviewed earlier this week. This update follows the publication in the official journal of the Order of March 28, 2022 setting the list of medical conditions incompatible or compatible with or without adjustments or restrictions for obtaining a driving licence.
Road safety ensures that this new text takes into account “the evolution of medical knowledge and technological innovations of vehicles”.
The list of illnesses incompatible with driving reviewed
If the excessive or inappropriate speed is the leading cause of fatal road accidents (29% of cases), some disorders may decrease responsiveness people driving. Road Safety reminds you that the most frequently encountered driving incompatibilities are:
- l’epilepsy ;
- the significant vision problems ;
- the cognitive disorders and the heaviest cardiac pathologies ;
- the disorders caused by addiction to alcohol or narcotics.
However, the authorities have recognized that “scientific and technological innovations have increased the possibilities of fitting out vehicles and equipping drivers, thus making it possible to open up driving, including heavy vehicles (heavy goods vehicles, public transport vehicles …), to patients suffering from locomotor handicaps”. Heavy vehicle license is thus now open to people who have a profound hearing impairment.
Good news for diabetics also, they are no longer required to have the green light from a healthcare professional before driving. “People who present diabetes whose treatment does not generate a risk of hypoglycemiaare no longer subject, for the driving of light vehicles, to a medical examination, hitherto compulsory, by an approved doctor”, confirms road safety in its press release of April 3, 2022.
Alzheimer’s: ban on driving at the first signs
If the text reinforces the road autonomy of diabetics and certain deaf people, it imposes new constraints on people with cognitive disorders. The text provides for “definitive incompatibility with driving for neuro-evolutionary pathologies such as Alzheimer’s disease and related diseases. People with cognitive disorders related to these pathologies should no longer drive as soon as cognitive decline appears.“.
Questioned by AFP, Benoît Durand, director general of France Alzheimer, expressed his dissatisfaction with this “radical cleaver”. “The text says that as soon as a cognitive decline appears and in particular pathological decline of the Alzheimer’s type, there is a total ban on driving, but who is going to decide? Often for a diagnosis, you need an appointment with the neurologist, who in some regions, cannot be obtained until lead times of 12 to 18 months. What’s going on in the meantime?” he said.
Road safety recalls that the restrictions on the issuance of driving licenses are decided by a doctor approved by the prefectures after a medical check-up.