Changes are coming for driversbut also theirs doctors. The new law on health examinations comes into force. Sciatica, broken arm or leg, uncontrolled high blood pressure – you should not get behind the wheel with these diagnoses. Doctors will write the warning in the medical record.
“Everything after that is the personal responsibility of the patient driver. If he still drives and participates in a traffic accident, a court inspection of his record will show that he was warned and that he did not act on that warning,” he explains. Nataša Ban Toskićpresident of the Coordination of Family Medicine Doctors.
Doctors will write such warnings only for complaints that reduce the ability to drive for up to 6 months. They are obliged to report everything else to the MUP. “All serious neurological diseases, for example Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, apnea, conditions after major strokes, are still required to be reported immediately to the MUP, which calls the patient for an emergency medical examination in occupational medicine,” adds Nataša Ban Toskić.
New rulebook on the health examinations of drivers and driver candidates enters into force next week. The Faculty of Transport says that the new rules should contribute to greater safety on the roads. “It should be much stricter considering that the state of road traffic safety in Croatia is not very good. We should go for stricter measures, but this is already a good measure, a compromise between the traffic and medical professions. We will see what they will do to be effective, and if necessary, then tighten it even more,” he said Marko Šoštarićdean of the Faculty of Traffic Sciences in Zagreb.
Positive changes for insulin-dependent diabetics. Due to their illness, they could not get a professional driver’s license or were left without one. “They had to change professions, they lost their jobs. Now they will be able to do it, but there are prerequisites. They have to have glucose measuring sensors funded by the HZZO-o that will warn them if their sugar drops. They react, the sugar stabilizes and they are safe again traffic participants”, he explains Davor Skeledžija from the Zagreb Diabetic Society.
Although the option for doctors to immediately revoke a patient’s driver’s license due to certain conditions has been abandoned, the Coordination of Family Medicine warns. “We are not entirely happy with our role because the relationship of confidentiality between doctors and patients has been violated. It is not in the doctor’s interest to harm the patient or to enter into a conflict with him, these are very difficult and unpleasant situations that are not easy to deal with”, said Nataša Ban Toskić. In this way, she says, the responsibility is not only on them but also on the patients who must comply with their warnings about temporary incapacity to drive.
