Driving ability and psychotropic drugs: Legal framework, forensic aspects

Although the rate of victims of road traffic accidents is already relatively low in Switzerland compared to other western countries, still 253 people died in 2015. The Swiss parliament therefore issued in 2012 already a program called “Via secura” to increase road traffic security by means of a package of measures, ranging from immobilizing systems for the car in case of drunken drivers to stricter rules for medical assessment of ability to drive a car and better training for doctors in such assessment to finally stricter laws regarding lower tolerance for alcohol levels and zero tolerance for drug consumption when driving a car. The presentation will focus on changes in legal regulation for both medical assessment as well as rules for alcohol or drug consumption when driving a car. Positive and negative consequences for the field of forensic psychiatry are discussed.