A medical certificate must be submitted when applying for a driving licence in line with EU rules, the transport watchdog said yesterday.
Transport Malta said in a statement this year it would launch an online system that tracked drivers’ medical assessments, limiting the risk of motorists changing doctors to obtain a positive certificate.
The statement comes after the lawyer of a driver accused of the involuntary homicide of Rainer Mader in Sliema on Monday said he suffered a condition that could cause blackouts lasting between three and five seconds.
The lawyer told the magistrate that his client Mario Gatt was never informed that his condition precluded him from driving but said it might be the right time for Transport Malta to reconsider the conditions attached to driving licences.
Without referring to the case in question, Transport Malta said the medical requirements specified in the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations (SL 65.18) were in accordance with EU Directive 2006/126.
Spread over seven pages, these requirements vary according to the type of vehicle and include details on eyesight, hearing, locomotor disabilities, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, neurological diseases, epilepsy, mental disorders, alcohol, drugs and medicinal products and renal disorders.
The transport watchdog said the regulations also specified the need for every new applicant to submit a medical certificate confirming that he is medically fit to drive and that if he developed a medical condition after the driving licence was issued he should inform the authorities, which could, in turn, request further medical assessments.
His client was never informed that his condition precluded him from driving
When renewing the licence, an applicant was required to declare there was no change in his medical condition.
Transport Malta acknowledged that medical fitness to drive was a very serious matter and noted that, in October, it set up a working group to draw up guidelines on the complexities of the certification of new and existing drivers as medically fit to drive. The guidelines, aimed at the medical profession, were at an advanced stage and should be published by the second quarter of this year, it said, adding it was also developing a system that would allow people to apply for their driving licence online.
The system included a requirement for medical practitioners to certify an applicant either as fit or not to drive, allowing the authority to keep track of all assessments and limit the risk of applicants changing doctors to obtain a positive certificate. The system is expected to be launched this year.