EU rules on driver medicals: a call for full enforcement in France

A French lawyer representing the family of a girl killed by an elderly driver whose state of health was not suitable for her to be at the wheel says new EU driving licence rules on obligatory medicals should be enforced in full.

Personal injury avocat Vincent Julé-Parade welcomed the new directive, which France must put into effect in around four years’ time. It calls for obligatory medicals on licence renewal, but says countries can opt instead for drivers to self-assess their fitness to drive on a form.

Mr Julé-Parade is opposed to the watered-down version. He told The Connexion in effect ‘self-assessment’ already exists – if people develop a condition that may affect their ability to drive they are meant to volunteer for a medical with a doctor from an approved prefecture list. This is to check if they are fit to drive or if they need adaptations to their car (see the conditions list).

However, Mr Julé-Parade said this “does not work”, as many in France see driving as a “fundamental right”, equivalent to the right to bear arms in the US. “The idea that the French are capable of self-regulation is a myth,” he said. 

He added that GPs are meant to advise people if they should get checked out, but cannot oblige them or denounce them for not doing so.

Drivers' associations oppose the plans, with some opponents saying they are ageist. 40 millions d’automobilistes said they are “discriminatory, costly and of no use for the majority of drivers”.

"Of course, the first people affected would be senior citizens because it is naturally with the decline in physical ability that the question of aptitude arises. It's not that they are specifically targeted, but that's just how nature is. But it is not just a question of age.

"There are people who, at age of 25 or 30, will suffer from a medical condition and undergo medical treatment that will make them unfit to drive. 

"That is why the idea put forward by Europe, which I find rather intelligent, would be to say that a medical examination is necessary from the very beginning of a driver's life."

Mr Julé-Parade said, as well as supporting the EU directive, he backs a similar French proposed law, which, if passed, would also require regular medicals for drivers: every 15 years, then every five years after age 70.

He said the only potentially ‘discriminatory’ element would be the requirement to be tested more often: any consequences would be purely based on health. 

This is worth it, he believes, to reduce 3,000 plus annual road deaths – a “socially acceptable carnage”. We would not accept this if that many people died in air accidents, without a change of rules, he said.

He said that the current rules mean that, essentially, "we wait for accidents to happen" and then the courts hand out driving disqualifications, rather than problems being avoided upfront. 

Asked if older drivers statistically cause a lot of accidents, he said no, but when involved they have a high rate of responsibility. 

Case in La Rochelle highlights the problem, lawyer says

In the case he is working on, a driver in her 80s was found to have health conditions incompatible with safe driving, when she knocked down and killed a 10-year-old in La Rochelle. 

"I am fighting alongside the parents of little Margot, to get the proposed law on the Assemblée nationale's agenda," he said.

He said there is cross-party support, apart from Rassemblement National MPs, but the issue of cutting road deaths and placing restrictions on some drivers is politically sensitive - President Macron has "not spoken once in 10 years on the subject", he said. "It's as if we accept the situation because it's the price of social peace".

He said in his case, it was found by the court that the driver was at fault because "she got behind the wheel despite all common sense telling her not to" and she was given a four-year suspended sentence and had her licence revoked. 

The issue of compensation is still pending a decision. 

He added: “When you’re the family's lawyer, you realise the disaster that an accident causes, when you have parents who are devastated and a little brother who asks where his sister is. Behind the road safety figures there's a reality that we don't want to see."

EU changes not expected until end of 2029

Under the EU plans states have three years to transcribe the changes into national laws. It will take at least a year for them to come into force, said the inter-ministerial road safety department. 

“Effectively the earliest date for it to come into force in France is in October 2029,” a spokesman said.

He dismissed media speculation that France would adopt self-assessment as “simple commentary”, saying “there has been no official stance on how the rules will be implemented”.

The EU directive covers several other areas but most will change little in France, with the issue of the medical checks being the main hot potato. 

France has a large rural population, with access to a car being seen as important because village shops have often given way to supermarkets in towns.

Anything seen as a threat to rural life can cause problems to politicians, one example being lowering the speed limit to 80 kmph, which was one of the factors behind the gilets jaunes protests.