Driving: what control for older drivers?

In its reply, the Ministry of the Interior recalls first of all that, at the regulatory level, the highway code provides for a periodic medical check-up for people with a medical condition:

• incompatible with the issue or renewal of a driving license;
• or which may give rise to the issue of a driving license with a limited period of validity.

Drivers affected by this situation must therefore declare any medical condition, otherwise they will be liable in the event of an accident.

Moreover, these provisions are supplemented by Article R 221-14 of the Highway Code, allowing relatives, when they consider it necessary, to make an alert to the prefect, who can then impose a medical check on the holder of the driving license.

Finally, the Ministry points out that, because of the lack of effectiveness demonstrated by studies of the medical check of older drivers, it is not planned to introduce in France to date a specific and compulsory medical check for older drivers.