Risk: Medication at the wheel
Are you taking medication? Think about the possible consequences when driving. Medication and driving are not always compatible. Around 3500 remedies and medications available in Switzerland can have a negative impact on driving ability.
In Switzerland, around 150 people are seriously injured or killed each year in road accidents caused by the use of medicines or drugs. Several studies conclude that this number is actually even higher.
Every driver of a vehicle must have the required physical and mental capacity (Art. 31 para. 2 and Art. 91 of the Road Traffic Act SVG). The use of medicines can affect these requirements. Affect ability and entail legal consequences (e.g. revocation of the driver's license for at least three months).
Therefore, be careful and ask your doctor, pharmacist or druggist about side effects before you get behind the wheel under the influence of medication. In doing so, you protect yourself as well as other vehicle occupants and road users.
Tips for your own safety
- Ask a specialist (doctor, pharmacist, druggist) about possible side effects of a medicine. Often there are other medications with the same effect that do not impair the ability to drive.
- Be careful when taking sleeping pills: They can still have an effect the following day.
- Do not change the prescribed dose unless advised to do so by a healthcare professional.
- Avoid alcohol if you are taking medication: It may increase or cancel the effect.
- Only get behind the wheel when you are in full possession of your faculties.
Text: bfu
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