Measures for Drink-Drive Offenders in Germany: Assessment Criteria of Driving Aptitude in Medical-Psychological Examination

Abstract

The present work describes the basic principle and quality assurance of medical-psychological examnation for drink-drive offenders in Germany.　Medical-psychological examination is carried out for those whose driving license has been revoked as a consequence of serious traffic offence or traffic accident.　In case of drink driving it becomes obligatory when, for example, Blood Alcohol Concentration 0.16% (0.8 mg/1 in breath) or higher is detected.　Trained specialists in traffic psychology and traffic medicine assess whether an examinee is free from physical/ psychiatric problems that would deteriorate his/ her driving performance, or whether he/ she has overcome psychological problems that led to excessive drinking or inappropriate coupling of drinking and driving, and therefore is deemed to be fit to drive safely.　Assessment criterion is outlined based on relevant literature and is contrasted with Japanese measures for drink-drive offenders.