HGV driving license

HGV driving license

HGV driver's license including eye examination and fitness to drive class C

If you wish to acquire or renew your driving licence, the legislator has defined certain requirements. The driving licence is valid for a maximum of 5 years. This means that you must have regular examinations in order to have your driving licence extended.
All required eye tests and other examinations can be done directly on site via an appointment. This saves both time and money!

Necessary examinations
The Driving Licence Ordinance requires the following examinations for initial issue and renewal:
Examination of physical fitness: This examination serves to detect illnesses that can impair fitness to drive (e.g. a poorly controlled diabetes).
Examination of vision: This examination serves to recognise insufficient visual functions, e.g. poor visual acuity or a restricted field of vision.

Certificate validity
The examination certificates are not valid indefinitely, so you have to submit the certificates to the licensing authority within a certain time together with the corresponding application. 
The following validity deadlines apply to the respective certificate:
Physical fitness examination: 1 year
Examination of the eyesight: 2 years

Legal basis

The legal framework is provided by the Ordinance on the admission of persons to road traffic and on the amendment of road traffic regulations. Article 1 of this is the Regulation on the admission of persons to road traffic, the so-called Driving Licence Regulation, in short FeV. The FeV regulates the issuing and renewal of driving licences (driving permits). 
§ Article 11 Suitability and Article 12 Vision form the framework for the medical and psychological examinations according to FeV. 
Other important paragraphs are:
  • § 48 Driver's license for public transport with reference to §§ 11 and 12
  • § 64 Proof of identity
  • § 67 Eye test center
Annexes 4, 5 and 6 of the FeV lay down the minimum health and performance requirements. In addition, it is specified which test procedures and examination methods are to be used. 
In the following the names of the appendices:
  • Appendix 4: Suitability and conditional suitability for the driving of motorized vehicles
  • Appendix 5: Aptitude tests for applicants and holders of license categories C, C1, D, D1 and their associated trailer categories E as well as the driving licence for public transport
  • Appendix 6: Visual requirements
Performing the physical fitness examinations

The investigation consists of several parts:

  • A survey on current and past illnesses, possibly also those of family members, since some illnesses or at least the disposition to them are inherited.
  • A blood pressure measurement
  • A physical examination
  • An examination of the urine using a test strip
  • If there are indications of diseases, further examinations may be necessary.

Physical fitness requirements

As a professional driver, you must be sufficiently healthy. At the very least, illnesses that could impair correct driving or lead to a sudden loss of consciousness must be excluded. Appendix 4 of the FeV "Suitability and Conditional Suitability for Driving Vehicles" contains concrete assessments of illnesses and their effects on physical fitness.

Vision requirement

As a professional driver, you must be able to see well, but you can compensate for existing defective vision with visual aids. The correction with spectacles must not exceed 8.0 dioptres, otherwise you must wear contact lenses..
The requirements are as follows:
  • Central daytime visual acuity: 1.0 for the better eye; 0.8 for the worse eye
  • colour vision: normal
  • Field of vision: normal in a range up to 70 degrees to both sides and up to 30 degrees up and down
  • Spatial (stereo) vision: normal
  • normal contrast or twilight vision

The vision exam consists of several parts:
  • Daytime visual acuity and spatial (stereo) vision are tested on a vision tester, and contrast vision is also tested. Colour vision is also tested on the vision tester or by means of colour vision charts on which you have to recognise numbers.
  • Field of vision testing is done by means of perimeters. With this device, different brightneses of point light are presented.

You should bring these with you:

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