Several media outlets have reported that the Transport Agency is linking the right to hold a driver's license to the National Board of Health and Welfare's guidelines on a maximum of 10 standard drinks of alcohol per week. According to Skånska Dagbladet's investigation, thousands of Swedes will lose their driver's licenses after a doctor's visit.
Massive criticism, including from members of parliament, has been directed at the Transport Agency for revoking driver's licenses from individuals who have consumed one and a half bottles of wine per week – despite being sober behind the wheel.
According to Ingela Janbjer, section chief at the Transport Agency, the criticism is misleading.
"In the debate, it is claimed that we equate our definition of 'abuse' with the National Board of Health and Welfare's definition of 'risk consumption'. This is not true", she writes.
She emphasizes that it is only when a doctor, for medical reasons, such as alcohol abuse, considers a person unfit to hold a driver's license that the doctor is required by law to report it to the Transport Agency.
To reach a limit value for abuse, significantly more than 10 standard drinks per week is required, rather around 30-40 glasses of wine or up to 28 cans of strong beer, according to Janbjer.
"Thus, high alcohol consumption over a long period of time is required to exceed the limit value", she writes.
