People with ADD or ADHD no longer required to undergo medical tests for driving

People with ADD or ADHD will no longer be required to undergo a mandatory medical examination to obtain a driver’s license from April 1 next year. The Dutch Central Office for Motor Vehicle Driver Testing (CBR) found that these examinations were disproportionate. This comes months after the Cabinet had also agreed to stop mandatory medical examinations for people with autism.

A majority in parliament asked the Cabinet to abolish the mandatory medical examinations for people with ADD and ADHD. The Minister of Infrastructure at the time, Barry Madlener, did not go along with the request because he claimed people with ADD and ADHD are more likely to be involved in traffic accidents and violations. He asked the CBR to conduct research into this.

Almost all people with only ADD or ADHD are declared fully fit at the first assessment, Madlener’s successor Robert Tieman reported, citing the CBR study.

In a letter to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, he wrote: “Only one person was found completely unfit due to AD(H)D.” The medical examination is therefore “an unnecessary burden for both citizens and medical specialists.”

Currently, people who have experienced a psychosis must wait at least six months and undergo a medical examination before they are allowed to drive again. Tieman wants the wait to be reduced to two months. The Health Council recommended allowing the medical specialists to determine the waiting period themselves.

The plan in the past was to have these changes implemented from January onwards, but that has now been moved to a few months later. The CBR wrote that it needs time to make all the preparations.