[Fitness to drive with cardiovascular diseases : Current guidelines of the German Federal Highway Research Institute].

The general rules for participation in road traffic are specified in the German Driving License Regulations (FeV). The assessment of fitness to drive motor vehicles is, in addition to Annex 4 of the FeV, governed by the guidelines of the German Federal Highway Research Institute, which implements the requirements of the European Union in Germany. By anchoring the assessment guidelines on fitness to drive in the FeV (Annex 4) and the publication in the Traffic Journal, the guidelines have a normative character. On 28 December 2016 the 11th amendment of the FeV came into force with the newly revised Chapter 3.4 on "Cardiovascular diseases". For a physician there is a duty to inform the patient about the lack or loss of driving ability. This information must be documented. Taking into account the current state of knowledge, this article describes the preconditions as to when a person has limited or is permanently unfit to drive because of cardiac arrhythmia, for patients with implantable defibrillators, syncope, coronary heart disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, heart valve diseases and arterial hypertension.