Driver fitness to drive has once again become a topic of discussion. The new EU-wide driving licence directive underlying health requirements was adopted on 22 October 2025, and a comprehensive reform of the national driving licence legislation is about to begin. At the same time, Finland’s population is ageing: there are already 700,000 driving licence holders aged 70 or over, and the number is expected to grow to as many as one million by the 2040s. On the other hand, road safety among young drivers is also raising concerns. Many young people obtain a driving licence by self-declaring that they meet the health requirements.
Driver fitness refers to functional ability in traffic, and it plays a key role in road safety. The ability required for driving is based on adequate vision, cognition, and motor skills. Visual acuity has therefore been systematically screened for decades in connection with obtaining and renewing a driving licence. This screening has proven effective: based on accident investigation data, deficiencies in vision are only rarely a contributing factor in serious traffic accidents.
Assessing visual function will remain central in evaluating compliance with driver fitness requirements. As regards visual acuity, the thresholds in the new directive remain unchanged: for group 1 licences, binocular visual acuity must be at least 0.5, and for group 2 licences, visual acuity must be 0.8 in the better eye and 0.1 in the poorer eye. In addition, the new directive requires that the need for a more detailed examination of the driver’s visual fields be assessed during the check.
An optometrist is a qualified professional for screening visual function
The directive itself does not specify who should assess visual function; the legislative text refers only to “competent professionals.” It is hardly questionable that, in many cases, an optometrist would be more skilled than an average general practitioner in conducting screening examinations of visual function. Results of vision examinations carried out by optometrists have certainly been utilised before when available. However, because the driving licence process often requires a medical certificate issued by a physician regarding driving ability, situations frequently arise where visual acuity is measured using an outdated Landolt chart in a dimly lit consultation room, and the extent of visual fields is assessed using imprecise finger perimetry.
At the same time, the purpose of this stage of the process is primarily to identify individuals who require further examination and to refer them to more detailed assessments when necessary. Traditionally, this has meant referral to a private ophthalmologist or to specialised ophthalmology services in secondary care. This may indeed be necessary, for example, when a progressive eye disease is suspected. However, given the current strain on public healthcare and increased cost awareness among clients, it would be welcome to see a broader adoption of a practice in which, in unclear or borderline cases, patients are more often referred from general practitioners to optometrists for examination. A standardised optometric examination using modern equipment could also help target specialist medical resources to cases where they are truly needed.
Vision care professionals play an important role in assessing fitness to drive
Since 2018, applicants for their first group 1 driving licence have been allowed, to a limited extent, to self-declare that they meet the health requirements. With the new directive, such self-assessments are likely to become even more common, as all driving licences will need to be renewed at least every 15 years, regardless of age. At the same time, the increasing use of remote healthcare services challenges the traditional examination system. Particularly in these situations, the demand for optometrists’ expertise and vision examinations may grow. There is no need for authorities to place obstacles in the way of such a development. For example, adding or removing a vision correction requirement from a driving licence already requires only an optometrist’s statement, including at service points operated by Traficom’s service providers. When issuing statements on driver fitness, optometrists now use the same forms as representatives of other medical specialties.
Road safety is a significant component of overall societal security, and a driver’s functional ability has a direct impact on it. Assessing driver fitness is not solely the responsibility of physicians; it is a matter of multidisciplinary cooperation in which vision care professionals play an important role. In the future, assessments related to driver fitness may even be generated partly automatically from health data stored in the Kanta system. For this to succeed, it would be important for optometrists’ examination results to be recorded in Kanta as part of the shared healthcare information repository. I warmly welcome professionals in the field of optometry to participate in multidisciplinary discussions and regulatory development concerning the national implementation of the new driving licence directive.
Petteri Harjuvaara
Special Adviser, Specialist Physician
The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom
Links
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:L_202502205
Driving Licence Act reform (only in FIN): https://valtioneuvosto.fi/hanke?tunnus=LVM051:00/2025
