Medical contraindications for drivers will change in Russia

An updated list of medical indications, contraindications, and restrictions on driving will come into force on September 1, 2025. The relevant government decree was adopted and published in April.

The updates touched upon the 1st and 4th items of the list. In addition to mental illnesses, "general disorders of psychological development" were added, and achromatopsia was replaced by the more general concept of "color vision abnormalities."

According to the codes of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) included in the list, "general disorders of psychological development" include autism, Rett syndrome, Asperger's syndrome and a number of diseases associated with impaired interaction with the outside world. Color blindness, in particular, falls under the definition of "color vision anomaly."

Earlier, psychiatrist Dmitry Stezhkov said in an interview kp.ru That the innovations won't change much for drivers

"Those who were not given rights before will not be given them now. And vice versa. Everything is decided by the doctor and everything depends on the manifestations of the disease. If the patient is confused or does not distinguish any specific colors well, he will most likely be allowed to drive. But achromatopsia is a complicated thing. There are more than 2,000 shades of gray in the world, and a person with achromatopsia is actually quite good at them. That is, he is able to distinguish colors — just in his own way. But in a stressful situation, in a difficult traffic situation, it can "get confused", misjudge the situation — and this will lead to an accident. Even with simpler forms of color blindness, unpleasant situations are possible," the specialist said.

On July 31, the Ministry of Health denied the imminent digitization of driver's certificates. There are no plans to introduce changes in the procedure for organizing medical examinations of drivers and the form of a medical report from August 1 of this year. They will enter into force on March 1, 2027.

By that time, the authorities will have adopted the necessary by-laws, and detailed explanations have been prepared, said Alexey Kuznetsov, Assistant Minister of Health of the Russian Federation. Updates to the procedure for organizing medical examinations for drivers, including changing the form of the medical report, will come into force in the spring of 2027.

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