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Older lady behind the wheel: Should older drivers have regular health checks?

Photo: HalfPoint Images / IMAGO

An 83-year-old driver hit a mother and her child in Berlin on Saturday.

Both died.

The Greens in the Bundestag are using this as an opportunity to demand regular health tests for older drivers.

»After new drivers, old people are the most likely to cause accidents per kilometer driven.

And that despite their many years of driving experience," said the transport policy spokesman for the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Stefan Gelbhaar, to the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (Tuesday's edition).

Many have driven for decades without accidents, "but with age, their eyesight, hearing and ability to react slowly deteriorate."

Regular tests therefore make sense.

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) has repeatedly spoken out against a mandatory health test for drivers.

At the end of February, members of the European Parliament also voted against mandatory EU-wide health checks for driving license holders.

The individual member states will continue to decide on the introduction of such tests.

In Italy, drivers have to renew their driving license every ten years, every five years from the age of 50, every three years from the age of 70 and every two years from the age of 80.

Misbehavior in road traffic is not a question of age, said SPD transport politician Mathias Steinden to the RND newspapers.

“We therefore reject age-related additional obligations.” Steinden advocates that “all road users complete voluntary check-in trips at regular intervals.”

Changes to the law are unnecessary because “restrictions on car journeys can already be imposed on people of all ages who are not fully fit to drive due to physical limitations.”

Saxony-Anhalt's Transport Minister Lydia Hüskens (FDP) is also counting on more voluntary tests in an interview with the RND: "They have to be affordable for everyone.

We should work towards that.”

In Germany, seniors are, in absolute terms, less likely to be involved in accidents than younger people - but they also travel significantly less; measured in terms of the kilometers they travel, the risk of accidents is comparable to that of younger drivers.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, seniors involved in accidents are more often the main culprits than younger people.

vet/AFP