A series of studies is reported attempting to evaluate the safety effects of the Finnish system of obligatory medical screening of holders of driver license aged 70 years or more. In a Swedish-Finnish comparative accident study, the age-related accident trends of older private car drivers in Finland were similar to those in Sweden; i.e., no safety gain for Finland could be demonstrated. A subsequent survey study among older Finnish license holders showed that at the age of 70, the licenses were most easily given up by female drivers with low mileages and consequently very few accidents. A third study, comparing the activities, general knowledge, and attitudes of Finnish and Swedish general practitioners, failed to demonstrate that the Finnish screening experience would benefit the doctors in their normal clinical work. The Finnish physicians were not more active, nor did they have more knowledge about issues related to ageing and driving than their Swedish colleagues. It is concluded that the Finnish screening system has no documented beneficial effects. Rather than screening whole cohorts, efforts should be concentrated on identifying older driver subgroups with increased accident risk, and on developing testing methods for such subgroups. For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E117882.
Abstract