the essential
In 2022, Road Safety launched a new campaign on the issue of medical fitness to drive. With the help of three interns, general practitioners in the Greater Narbonne region want to build tools to improve the effectiveness of the system.
End of year celebrations oblige, Road Safety does not skimp on resources, between TV spots and displays. With ”Sam”, a driver responsible for sobriety, the association has a slogan sufficiently strong to enter, if not into customs, at least into memories: “He who drives is the one who doesn’t drink.” But Road Safety also tries to innovate, every year, to achieve the objective stated at its creation, in 1982: “Save lives and avoid suffering linked to traffic accidents.”
In 2022, it was at the 15th General Medicine Congress, at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, that Road Safety presented a new campaign: “Doctor, is it serious if I drive?” A question to put on the table the problem of the ability to drive of millions of French people, due to pathologies: vision or hearing problems, taking certain medications, addictions, cardiovascular or neurological pathologies, pain, diabetes or disabilities,… The list is long. On December 6, 2024, 1 p.m. on TF1 addressed the case with the testimony of Dr. Jean-François Romero, a general practitioner from Narbonne, one of the 11 doctors approved in Aude to issue an opinion of medical aptitude or unsuitability for the license.
A delicate subject. Even more, undoubtedly, because of the procedure: it is up to the patient himself, or to one of his parents or close relatives, to report his doubts by post or email to the prefect. Enough to slow down the effectiveness of the campaign. A question that Narbonnais general practitioners have chosen to explore further. Dr Jean-Baptiste Tostain, also a general practitioner from Narbonne and head of university clinics at the Montpellier-Nîmes medical school, highlights the issue in a country whose President ”loves cars”: “Driving is a taboo subject, it is considered an inalienable right. But every year, accidents linked to pathologies or taking medication increase. General practitioners have well received the campaign broadcast by the Ministry of Health. ‘Interior. But often, we quickly look at the flyers and throw them away. What is certain is that there is a lack of understanding about the method of declaring incapacity. question to the scale of the territorial professional health community (CPTS) of Greater Narbonne (which brings together 37 municipalities, with 252 health professionals, Editor’s note).”
An initiative launched with the support of three medical interns on internship in Aude. The first, a doctoral student, will contact the general practitioners of the CPTS, to “measure the impact of the campaign, specifies Dr. Tostain. She will ask questions about the evaluation methods, about what is missing to make this initiative something more relevant.”. The result is a scientific article, “co-produced with the Ministry of the Interior”. The Aude initiative has in fact attracted the attention of the State, and received the support of Dr Anne-Marie Gallot, Health technical advisor to the interministerial delegate for Road Safety. The in-house research should be highlighted in ”Exercer”, a reference journal, and presented at the Congress of the National College of General Teachers (CNGE), in December 2025, in Toulouse. The 2nd intern will look at the “raising awareness among doctors and paramedics”evoking the examples “pharmacists, who issue prescriptions or nurses, who see patients every day. The objective is to offer individual or plenary training sessions, and to work within the framework of the local health contract for a large campaign audience”hopes Dr. Tostain. What, perhaps, can change habits: “Perhaps we are not yet asking the question systematically enough about medications, that we are not measuring the potential effects enough.” A doubt which could also be resolved by aligning ambitions and means : “In Nîmes, at the University Hospital, a driving simulator allows disputed cases to be resolved.” An avenue to explore while the 3rd intern will have to build an e-learning tool or documents to be kept by general practitioners, to achieve a “clear local pathway. The real problem, currently, is that we must streamline the process between ordering care and finding an expert doctor. Doctors must be able to provide clear information to patients, have solutions to systematize things. Also have the reflex to ask yourself if my patient is compatible with the behavior and, above all, if he has understood that he is incompatible..
