[Medico legal issues related to driving: the role of the general practitionner]

The Belgian law requires that the physician informs his/her patient when he diagnoses a medical reason that makes him/her unfit to drive a vehicle. This paper lists, as they appear in the official texts, the physical conditions and diseases which may be responsible for the inaptitude to drive. Thus are detailed the rules applied in the presence of neurological diseases, psychic disorders, epilepsia, pathological sleepiness, locomotive disorders, cardiovascular disease, rhythm or conduction disturbances, blood pressure abnormalities, coronary or myocardial disease, and hearing loss or vestibular problems. The reader will also find a summary of the rules related to visual ability, alcohol use, driving under the influence of psychotropic drugs, or medicines in general, renal or hepatic diseases, and to the patient who received an organ transplant or an artificial implant. The responsibility of the physician, primarily the general practionner, may be involved in these matters; this issue is discussed.