The workshop was held in Valladolid on June 21st-22nd, 2004. The meeting was attended by 42 people from 10 countries and there were 22 speakers, distributed over four sessions. The key element of each contribution was the Powerpoint presentation, which have been reproduced here along with pertinent comments. The recommendations derived from the presentations and the discussions that followed them are: 1. Although there is already common EU legislation (CD 91/439/CEE), a greater standardisation among EU member states with respect to the medical criteria and procedures for evaluating fitness to drive and the periodicity of the evaluation is desirable. 2. Current EU legislation on driving licences needs to be adopted by new member states (EU – 25 member states) at the earliest opportunity. 3. Licensing and driving restrictions should also be standardised. Detailed research into the effectiveness of such restrictions should be carried out. Information on this is currently very limited. 4. We also have, at present, inadequate information on the criteria for refusing or revoking a driving licence in the EU member states, and on the opportunities and procedures for re-granting licences when drivers’ medical circumstances change. 5. It would be useful if many aspects of Annex III of CD 91/439/CEE, currently being rewritten, were revised and updated (and this includes all the epigraphs). In particular, decisions on the ideal periodicity of medical checks for all drivers should be made and then applied across the EU. A decision on the necessity for age-related medical check-ups in each EU state should also be revisited, and we suggest that a good cut off may be, if not before, then at the age of 65. 6. Another key priority for the next few years is to standardise the assessment of fitness to drive for the “elderly”. 7. There is a need to improve and develop driving licence information systems in the EU member states. 8. There is a clear need for greater and more in-depth EU-wide research monitoring the effectiveness of any current and forthcoming measures that cover the aspects discussed above. 9. On a national level, each EU member state needs to conduct close monitoring of the effectiveness of their national systems for evaluating fitness to drive. 10. Information on the national criteria and procedures, the research monitoring its effectiveness and the recent and planned changes should be more readily available and exchanged with other member states. A system of systematic data collection, and yearly updating of this information, carried out at EU level would be ideal. (Author/publisher) For the complete IMMORTAL web site see http://www.immortal.or.at/
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