Shaunah CULLATI ; Emma COYAN ; Claire VASLIN.
“ Arrêté du 28 mars 2022 fixant la liste des affections médicales incompatibles ou compatibles avec ou sans aménagements ou restrictions pour l’obtention, le renouvellement ou le maintien du permis de conduire ou pouvant donner lieu à la délivrance de permis de conduire de durée de validité limitée (refonte)”
Link : https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000045464094
“Order of March 28, 2022, establishing the list of medical conditions that are incompatible or compatible with or without accommodations or restrictions for obtaining, renewing, or maintaining a driver’s license or that may result in the issuance of limited validity driver’s licenses (recast)”
The March 28, 2022 Order, published on April 3rd, 2022 permits revising the authorizations and prohibitions of driving for people with disabilities.
This decree prohibits every person who has been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative or neuro-evolutionary illness to drive. When we talk about neurodegenerative diseases it means Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and many others. It’s also important to notice that even if the person is only at the beginning of its illness, without diagnosis, she is not allowed to drive either.
We think that this prohibition can pose several problems. First, patient’s associations were not consulted before this decree was published. Some of them, like France Alzheimer, are however currently conducting a study on the consequences of neurodegenerative diseases on driving. Indeed, no study has yet shown a more important involvement of people with these illness in road accidents. Moreover, this decree highlights inequalities between people because old people suffering from cognitive impairment due to aging have no driving prohibitions unless they are involved in a traffic accident. So why do people wait until an accident happens for these people but prohibit driving for others with a diagnosis ?
This prohibition result in a second problem. Indeed, the driving ban can deprive the person of its freedom, it also causes social withdrawal and a loss of autonomy. From this point of view, we can suppose that this decree can delay the diagnosis. Indeed, people with neurodegenerative symptoms will not want to be diagnosed for fear of being taken away.
This is problematic for symptoms management. However, we know that not managing symptoms can lead to a precipitation of cognitive decline or other associated disorders such as motor impairment. In addition, the patient will not have access to medication which has benefits such as delaying institutionalization, reducing anxiety, depressive disorders and cognitive decline. We also know that people suffering from these diseases are vulnerable to isolation and withdrawal. It’s therefore very likely that this measure will accentuate this isolation. Also, a diagnosis of neurodegenerative illness can be a source of anxiety, can lead to a loss of identity, a decrease in self-esteem and increases the risks of depression.
So, a driving ban could amplify these feelings because it increases patient stigmatization. Indeed, this decree may wrongly attribute a negative image, for example : people with neurodegenerative diseases are dangerous for society. Finally, this decree can also give a negative image of health professionals, who will be seen as people who take away patients freedom and not as people who want to accompany and help them.
We know that this article doesn’t want to accuse or to further exclude people with neurodegenerative diseases, its main objective is to protect users. However, it seems important to talk about the negative consequences of this driving ban. By the way, several associations have put measures in place in order to remove this decree be removed.
In our opinion, it would be more interesting to test people with neurodegenerative diseases each year in order to know if they are able to drive or not, rather than prohibiting them from driving. These tests would be part of the patient’s care. This would not only preserve the patients autonomy as long as possible, but also protect other road users which is also a very important matter.
Words we learned :
- withdrawal = retrait
- illness / disease = maladie
- prohibition = interdiction
- involvement = implication