By Denise Brilla of Verband kinderreicher Familien Deutschland
The German Federal Ministry of Transport is about to abandon an additional permit to the German driver’s license, called D1 – a regulation that must be aligned with European law. With this addition to your license, a driver is allowed to transport more than 8 but not more than 16 people in his or her car. This permit is often used for cab companies in a professional manner, but it is also crucial for large families. Imagine you have 8 or more children and a vehicle with enough seats to transport them all. That would make 10 with 8 children plus 2 parents. In future, there will not be an equivalent to the D1 permit, so that this family could no longer ride together in one car.
So far, you need to be 21 years old, and the driver’s license is valid for 5 years. It can be renewed every five years for the same period. In addition to the regular requirements for getting a license, you need a medical check-up, and a certificate of good conduct issued by your local administration.
At the moment, we are waiting for a statement from the Federal Ministry of Transport, so that we can start to discuss it with them in order to find a solution for our large families. If the Ministry really is about to abandon D1, our families need an exception so that they can continue to drive with the whole family in a vehicle. Especially in rural areas it is so important that the families keep their mobility, as public transport often is either not reliable or not available at all.
We are curious, what about this regulation in your country? Has it already abandoned yet or does a special regulation exist (beyond European law)? Please let us know presse@kinderreiche-familien.de