Although the majority of road accidents are still caused by younger drivers, the number of accidents involving older drivers has increased. According to the police, they often come across elderly drivers whose health is such that they should no longer drive. However, suspending the right to drive in such cases is difficult and takes a long time.
The situation should be that if the police suspects that there is a health condition dangerous for traffic and the driver should not be behind the wheel, he sends this information to the family doctor, who cancels the health certificate and also informs the transport office Speaking of which. The Transport Authority, in turn, can suspend the right to drive a vehicle. While such examples exist, police say the system doesn’t work well.
“At the state level, there should be a specific procedure and set of rules, so that each institution or each party knows exactly what it has to do. The solution to these cases must come as soon as possible, it cannot be the case today leads one person very dangerous in traffic, today we take her off the wheel, but in reality she still has a valid medical certificate,” said Üllar Kütt, head of the Pärnu police station.
Family doctor Liis Kaasik said that if they receive a report from the police about a dangerous elderly person in traffic, they will take action to have the health certificate revoked. At the same time, Kaasik acknowledged that there are no precise instructions on how such information should get to the doctor and how exactly the doctor should behave.
“There is currently no uniform system on how information about a traffic violation should reach the family doctor. If it concerns the health certificate of the driving license, the patient must first complete a health declaration and express the desire to have his health evaluated,” Kaasik said.
However, it may take some time for the patient to show up for the appointment. If the family doctor cancels the health certificate, this information will automatically reach the Transport Authority. However, under the current system, the Transport Authority must notify a person of the suspension of their right to drive. Before this it is not possible to suspend the right to drive. However, driving suspensions can also take time.
“The Transport Authority also made a corresponding proposal in the draft road law, so that in these cases the right to drive is suspended automatically, without us having to start handing it over to another person,” he said
Health Minister Riina Sikkut said that although the number of elderly drivers in traffic is increasing, in her opinion they do not represent a problem that requires urgent traffic intervention. At the same time, Sikkut acknowledged that the Ministry of Social Affairs is currently looking for an answer on the need to change something in the issuing of health certificates to drivers.
“We don’t have an answer yet, but the government’s road commission will also meet this week to discuss these options. The first step will probably be to revoke the validity of health certificates if a person has been involved in a road accident where a person was left injured, so in that case you can’t automatically continue driving,” Sikkut said.
2024-01-25 19:24:00
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