[Mental diseases and driving ability-An update]

Driving has a high priority as it is often a guarantee for participation in professional and social life. For patients as well as for the treating physicians, the topic is associated with great uncertainty and is often proactively not addressed. In Germany the notification of diseases that could limit driving safety or fitness to drive is not mandatory but there is a duty to exercise caution to ensure that safe driving is not impaired by physical or mental illness or by the intake of medications. Treating clinicians, in turn, have a duty to inform the patient; they are required to inform about the risks of the disease, the treatment and potential consequences for daily life. Mental illnesses can restrict driving safety or in some cases even nullify the fitness to drive; however, broad restrictions for patients with a mental illness cannot be derived from empirical data so that a case by case clarification and counselling regarding driving safety and fitness to drive are indicated.