here we go again!

[galexinda]

I agree with Tuppence - Cyprus driving licence issued on 70th birthday and renewed on 73rd birthday - next one due on 76th birthday.

[darrow]

This information is on the Government website and came into force about 2 years ago. Quite a few Doctors seem unaware of it and are still issuing 3 year licences. Good luck if you go with a private Dr and get away with it! It is, though, illegal!

[JimX]

http://cyprusdriving.net/department-of-transport-forms/


You should find calcification on this web site (TOM)

[Devil]

This information is on the Government website and came into force about 2 years ago. Quite a few Doctors seem unaware of it and are still issuing 3 year licences. Good luck if you go with a private Dr and get away with it! It is, though, illegal!

Not so. Doctors do not issue licences. The Dept. of Transport issue them. I'm 85 and my licence, issued this year, is clearly for 3 years. It is perfectly legal for categories B1, B, BE. There may be other rules for other categories.

[trevnhil]

I agree with Devil... And how can it be illegal if the department of transport issue one for 3 years

[Tuppence]

A consultation period is underway on a bill amending regulations for driving licences for young drivers as well as the elderly.

The draft bill provides for granting a learner’s licence at 17, minimum hours of compulsory training for candidate drivers by instructors, as well as annual medical tests for drivers over 75, in order to have their licences renewed. In addition, it regulates the obligations and responsibilities of doctors who issue such health certificates.

Full article here:
http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/04/22/chang ... icences%27

If ever implemented it will probably reduce the elderly driving population by at least half. I'll belive it when it happens but don't think it will happen in my life time!

[darrow]

Cyprus Mail

HomeHealth
Health checks for older drivers
MARCH 9TH, 2015 RACHAEL GILLETT CYPRUS, HEALTH 43 COMMENTS
Health checks for older drivers

MOTORISTS aged 75 will from now on be required to obtain a doctor’s certificate every year stating that they are fit to drive.
The decision was taken on Monday at a meeting of the Road Safety Council, chaired by communications minister Marios Demetriades.
The safety of the senior citizens as well of other drivers was the primary concern, Demetriades said.
Each year people aged 75 and above must now renew their driving licence after supplying authorities with a certificate from a doctor or doctors.
The physicians will bear responsibility for the information they certify, and must be specialist doctors, unlike cases in the past when even gynaecologists would issue such certificates, Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said.
Moreover, the doctors signing the certificates will be required to inform the Road Transport Department of any change in the state of health of the drivers that may affect their ability behind the wheel.
The Road Safety Council also discussed the intended introduction of the narcotest, an issue pending since 2010.
Draft legislation prepared by the government has hit a snag due to legal complications on issues touching on privacy.
Demetriades said officials from the ministries of communications and justice, the state lab and the Attorney-general’s office will soon be holding a meeting to further discuss the issue and find the “best possible solutions.”

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TAGSANNUAL HEALTH CHECKSOLDER DRIVERSROAD SAFETY

I know Doctors do not issue the driving licence, but they enter the date of validity on the form you take to the Road transport! The doctor at the General insists these new rules are in force and my research says they are too. It is probably like every other law here, not enforced by majority. We will be doing the same as most, go for a private medical next time!

[DavidatLWH]

My next door neighbour, a 79-year old Cypriot, lost the sight of one eye many, many years ago. He drives slowly and badly.
I once asked him if his insurance company knew about his eyesight problem. He looked at me as if I was stark raving mad.

[Devil]

Many people with one eye drive well and safely but it may take a year or more before they can do so, as they develop compensation techniques. Of course, the remaining eye must be good.

[ApusApus]

Many people with one eye drive well and safely but it may take a year or more before they can do so, as they develop compensation techniques. Of course, the remaining eye must be good.

No disputing that but how is it measured?


Shane

[Tuppence]

When my husband reached 70, a few years ago now, & had his medical done by a private doctor he asked why the Health Certificate wasn’t available in English. The doctor replied that it didn’t translate well! When I got my form this year I scanned it & did a Google translate & it’s perfectly understandable.

Previously it has been said in this topic

It is also law that once you get to 70 you only get a licence for 3 years, then 2 years to 75 and yearly tests thereafter.

This is what it says on the bottom of the form:

Valid until: ..................................... (see note (*) * below)

Based on the PIC Notification. 458/2015 I have referred this person to the most lower ratings for further diagnosis, on the basis of which I have certified the above:

* Duration under Article 35 of Law 94 (I) / 2001:
(a) This certificate expires after a period of three months from its issuance unless it is used within this period for issue purposes driving license,
(b) A certificate issued for a person who has reached the age of 70 shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of issue of the driving license, for its issue it has been submitted,
(c) a certificate issued for a person who has attained the age of 70; whose health condition necessitates a reassessment in less than three years space or for a person whose health condition requires a reassessment in specific time or at specified intervals, is valid for the shortest time space.

[TLR]

Cyprus Mail

HomeHealth
Health checks for older drivers
MARCH 9TH, 2015 RACHAEL GILLETT CYPRUS, HEALTH 43 COMMENTS
Health checks for older drivers

MOTORISTS aged 75 will from now on be required to obtain a doctor’s certificate every year stating that they are fit to drive.
The decision was taken on Monday at a meeting of the Road Safety Council, chaired by communications minister Marios Demetriades.
The safety of the senior citizens as well of other drivers was the primary concern, Demetriades said.
Each year people aged 75 and above must now renew their driving licence after supplying authorities with a certificate from a doctor or doctors.
The physicians will bear responsibility for the information they certify, and must be specialist doctors, unlike cases in the past when even gynaecologists would issue such certificates, Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said.
Moreover, the doctors signing the certificates will be required to inform the Road Transport Department of any change in the state of health of the drivers that may affect their ability behind the wheel.
The Road Safety Council also discussed the intended introduction of the narcotest, an issue pending since 2010.
Draft legislation prepared by the government has hit a snag due to legal complications on issues touching on privacy.
Demetriades said officials from the ministries of communications and justice, the state lab and the Attorney-general’s office will soon be holding a meeting to further discuss the issue and find the “best possible solutions.”

Print Friendly
TAGSANNUAL HEALTH CHECKSOLDER DRIVERSROAD SAFETY

I know Doctors do not issue the driving licence, but they enter the date of validity on the form you take to the Road transport! The doctor at the General insists these new rules are in force and my research says they are too. It is probably like every other law here, not enforced by majority. We will be doing the same as most, go for a private medical next time!

Can anyone tell me what is meant by a "specialist" Dr.........does this mean an opthalmic specialist?

[exodus]

Tuppence is correct in regard to Professional Driving Licences (Buses, Coaches, etc). But not for Private Vehicles (Cars, M/Bikes, etc).
This I was told at Ministry of Transport Offices in Larnaca last year when we arrived here and went in for licences for me and for my wife.
Amos.

[galexinda]

TLR - there is now a list of doctors who can undertake the medical for the driving licence and certain GPs (and probably other doctors but I have only dealt with private GPs) can do this and as part of the examination they do a basic eye test which involves looking at an Eye Test Chart as well as a general check up and they complete an on-line questionnaire. Dr Marangos at Blue Cross Medical Centre is one of the more thorough doctors!

[malsue]

I exchanged my British Licence for a Cyprus Driving Licence (valid till I was 70) within 6 months of arriving on the Island (Sep 2003) which was free as I was already 65,at 70 I (via eye test etc at the Paphos General) same again at 73, same again at 76. But last year when I was 79 only issued for a year so I have to do eye test etc every year as I approach my birthday in May, I applied on 11th May and only gave me licence to 11th May this year when my birthday is on 29th ?????

[Tuppence]

Exodus

Tuppence is correct in regard to Professional Driving Licences (Buses, Coaches, etc). But not for Private Vehicles (Cars, M/Bikes, etc)

My licence & the information given is for driving a private car. A friend with a Cypriot professional driving licence wasn’t allowed to drive a bus once he reached 70 years of age.

galexinda

there is now a list of doctors who can undertake the medical for the driving licence

Do you have a link for this list of doctors?

[TLR]

TLR - there is now a list of doctors who can undertake the medical for the driving licence and certain GPs (and probably other doctors but I have only dealt with private GPs) can do this and as part of the examination they do a basic eye test which involves looking at an Eye Test Chart as well as a general check up and they complete an on-line questionnaire. Dr Marangos at Blue Cross Medical Centre is one of the more thorough doctors!

Thankyou very much for that, galexinda.

[darrow]

More info.Road safety and ageism
July 18, 2016 Local News, Opinions Comments Off on Road safety and ageism

By Michalis Attalides

One would have thought that our lawmakers and law enforcers would by now have concentrated their efforts on the nightly illegal and offensively noisy motorcycle racing by a number of young reprobates on the main streets of the capital, which has for months kept inhabitants of the centre awake.

Yet what they seem to have done is to zoom in on older drivers as the main issue of road safety.

Road safety is crucially important as it involves lost lives and injuries. But any proposed measure must be examined as to whether it is, in fact, necessary and effective.

In the past, medical certification every three years, as compared to never for the rest of the population, has been imposed for all above a certain age. It is proposed that the interval for re-certification will become yearly for all people who are above a certain age.

So the first thing we need is the statistics on people causing road accidents by age.

For Cyprus, I have not been able to locate such statistics. All I found are some figures offered by the police for 2000-04 in a table entitled “Dead drivers/passengers according to their age”. In 2000, we find that only one driver over 60 was killed whereas the figures for other age groups were 11 for 15-24, 13 for 25-39 and 10 for 40-59. By 2004, however, the over 60 drivers had unfortunately caught up and 12 drivers over 60 were killed, which was the same figure as the 15-24 age group and the 40-59 age group, while the figure for 25-39 had fortunately fallen to 7 dead drivers.

Recent EU statistics show that the percentage of fatalities for people over 65 in road accidents (25%) is higher than their percentage in the population (18%), whereas the percentage of fatalities for the 25-64 age group (55%) is the same as their percentage of the population. But the very young 15-24, who are 11 % of the population, unfortunately account for a disproportionate number of the fatalities (17%).

But before we rush to the wrong conclusion that over 65s are dangerous drivers, we must take into account another fact. And that is that in the EU over 65s are an enormous 44% of the pedestrians killed in traffic accidents.

This swells the overall figure for fatalities of the old on the roads, but says nothing as to the aged being dangerous drivers. Incidentally, this figure indicates that we probably need a campaign to train and test drivers of all ages to be capable of driving in a way which avoids killing the aged on the streets, rather than to force all the aged and only the aged, to be frequently tested for their ability to drive.

There seems to be much confusion on the issue with some of our experts seemingly adding the five aged drivers who were killed this year to the five aged pedestrians who were run over this year to conclude a strange equation resulting in the penalisation of aged drivers.

In the UK, increased frequency of drivers killed or seriously injured by age is not observed. Indeed 8% of the total killed were in the age group of 17 -19. The 60-69 age group accounted for 9% and the over 70’s for 13%. This is much better than the 25% of the 20-29 age group and better than the 42% of the 30-59 age group.

For the US also, rates seem similarly distributed by age.

It is also worth quoting the conclusion of the AAA that: “Drivers aged 85 and older had the highest rates of (their own) death per driver and per mile driven; however this was largely due to their diminished ability to survive a crash rather than to their increased crash rate”.

Finally, it is worth mentioning one of the conclusions of the International Older Driver Consensus Conference: “ It is not clear from the literature that age-based screening would reduce the risk of road collisions”.

If this is really the scientific case, it is unjustified to impose annual testing on those above a certain age in an indiscriminate and ageist way.

Though article 28 of the Constitution of the Republic on non-discrimination does not specifically mention age, it may be that if age is used in an indiscriminate way for imposing obligations or tests, on the basis of age alone, it conflicts with the human rights guaranteed in the Constitution, and particularly equality and non-discrimination.

The writer is an analyst

[darrow]

More info from last year.Driving the message home
July 10, 2016 Local News, Opinions Comments Off on Driving the message home

By Lucie Robson

Swiftly on the trail of the death of a 69-year-old woman hit by a car driven by a 90-year-old man last week, the Road Safety Council is tipped to draft a proposal calling for all drivers over the age of 75 to obtain a doctor’s certificate on an annual basis to certify that they continue to be fit to get behind the wheel of a car.

The accident happened on the Astromeritis -Nicosia motorway. The driver claimed that he hadn’t seen the woman step out onto the road but the Traffic Police said that headlights are “adequate for safe driving”.

I have been away from the island for a little bit and it is very welcome to return to Cyprus to learn that, in my absence, everybody has suddenly decided to abide by the rules and regulations of the road as is indicated by the Traffic Police’s optimism that such tests, if anybody bothered to have one at all, and if the police even cared to check elderly drivers, would be carried out in an above-board manner.

I take it that you can detect the sarcasm.

Does the Road Safety Unit seriously think that in a country where teens regularly sneak behind the wheel, nothing ever, ever, ever gets done about boy racers (they’ve had to set up a petition about this in Paphos), and where more than a few vehicles’ indicator lights don’t work (which is just as well since using them seems to be optional anyway) this draft proposal is going to make any difference?

Anyway, I thought such a regulation already existed.

This is because, some years back, one of my elderly acquaintances of the time told me how his doctor friend had given him necessary documentation to enable him to keep driving. ‘Given’ and ‘friend’ are the operative words here. My acquaintance didn’t have to do any medical tests whatsoever.

I cannot see any reason to believe that this type of practice has changed in the intervening years.
In any case, you don’t need to dig around for statistics, but rather,p just read the news or have attended a few funerals, to know that men under the age of 25 cause a significant number of road deaths each year or are victims themselves.

Statistics presented by the Transport Minister last year showed that out of 513 road fatalities recorded between 2007 and 2014, 114 victims were under 25, with 93 being men.

I think this data is what the Road Safety Council should base any action on.

Yes – the elderly should be tested as there may be a handful who cannot respond quickly to the demands of driving any longer. But by the same token, driving tests and being granted the privilege of a licence should be tougher for those groups that cause the lion’s share of accidents