17-year-olds will be allowed behind a car wheel when accompanied by a more experienced driver under a rule change that’s just been agreed by the European Parliament and Council. They may also be licensed to drive lorries under certain conditions, for which you need to be 21 at the moment.
New drivers will also face a two-year probationary period, with stricter rules and penalties for driving while intoxicated. Driving tests will check awareness of risks to pedestrians, cyclists and scooters, but will all those precautions be enough?
“Yes, I agree. I think it might be a bit like the United States where they have licenses to practice with someone responsible, who has a driving license,” said a resident of Lisbon, Portugal. “Supervision doesn’t exist for two, because there is only one person driving. The person next to him can’t do anything,” an Athenian said.
The directive also aims to harmonise the medical screening process for people both obtaining a licence for the first time or renewing it, a topic that was at the centre of difficult negotiations.
“Some countries will keep doing mandatory health checks, others could require to fill in the self-assessment. There’s not going to be a new EU-wide rule, but there’s the encouragement in the directive to have some consistency when it comes to the health assessments,” said Euronews reporter Gerardo Fortuna, who followed the debate.
A digital licence for a digital wallet
The review also aims to expand the use of the digital driver’s licence. These already exist in Denmark, Spain and Germany, but a uniform model should be available across the EU by 2028.
However, drivers will continue to be entitled to a physical driving licence, for use in those countries outside the EU that don’t use digital systems.
When asked about risks of cybersecurity failures, German Green MEP Jutta Paulus said “it is a test case for the EU digital wallet. Right now, we don’t have anything that can go in that wallet”.
Paulus led negotiations on revision of the driving licence at the European Parliament and added that the EU digital wallet has “many provisions concerning cyber security, forgery, fraud and theft of digital data”.
Road safety is a shared responsibility between the EU institutions and member states, though its an area where Brussels is playing a greater role. The EU has set the so-called Vision Zero target, to reduce fatalities by 50% by 2030 and have zero road deaths by 2050.
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Journalist: Isabel Marques da Silva
Content production: Pilar Montero López
Video production: Zacharia Vigneron
Graphism: Loredana Dumitru
ADVERTISEMENTEditorial coordination: Ana Lázaro Bosch and Jeremy Fleming-Jones
