Should Epileptics Be Banned From Driving?

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Cint

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I wanted to share an article from The Daily Beast and see what some think. I gave up my driving privileges because I did not want to end up killing someone after having two seizure accidents while driving. I was married to a "pilot" and lived in a nice part of town, but it didn't take the "stigma" away. Enough for me.

Should Epileptics Be Banned From Driving?
The Daily Beast Fri, May 4 7:46 PM MDT

In March, the normally peaceful, tree-lined streets of Brooklyn’s Park Slope were pierced by the screams of two mothers when a driver allegedly had an epileptic seizure at the wheel and rammed over two toddlers, a boy and a girl. The accident garnered attention in New York, primarily because it was made complicated by biology. There was the lack of street cameras, of course. There was also the fact that the mother of one child was a Tony Award-winning actress. And the tragedy occurred in New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s neighborhood, a section of Brooklyn known for its quaint brownstones, yuppie families, and the children that come with both. “I wish she was under arrest right now,” de Blasio ...
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/should-epileptics-be-banned-from-driving?source=articles&via=rss
 
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Hi Cint,

Thanks for sharing the article I know each state is different regarding driving and epilepsy. The last I knew here in NY a person has to go 1 yrs. seizure free and have a Drs. written statement that they can drive before they can even apply for their license.
I know there have been times when I would love to be able to drive but no way would I take the chances of endangering another persons life just to please myself. I will admit I did learn how to drive in case of an emergency and nobody else was ever around. I live In upstate NY and I would hate to see what the insurance costs would be if I could drive because I know I would be considered a high risk driver in NY even if I went 1 yr. seizure free. Thanks for sharing this article. I wish you the best and May God Bless You!

Sue
 
I had learned how to drive when I was in high school, when I only had simple partial seizures. I had one right before my final behind the wheel lesson, & that's when I decided that I just wouldn't drive. Now that I also get complex partials, & they occur w/o any aura, I'm glad that I don't.
 
I live in PA and here the law is that you have to go 6 months seizure free and have a drs written approval before you are able to drive. The amount of time varies from state to state though but you always have to have a drs, usually written, approval. I've never gone more than a month without having at least 2 seizures, usually more. I almost never know when a seizure is coming on, or if I've even had it. I don't think I'd feel comfortable driving until I went a few years without having a seizure.

Having a heart attack or a change in glycemic levels completely is different than having a seizure. You legitimately don't know when a they could happen. If you can't drive because you might have either then no one out there in the world should be able to drive.

From what I've read on a few different web-sites it is recommended that you go a certain amount of time, weeks to months, and have a drs approval, not written, before you should, not can, drive. It is not a law. If you've had a heart attack you could hop back in the car and drive the next day if you wanted to.

People usually don't know if they have diabetes unless they have their blood levels tested or if something happens then have their blood levels tested and find out. If you know you have diabetes and as long as you are following your drs orders when it comes to diet and meds then you don't know if something might happen. My father has diabetes, and didn't find out until he had his blood levels tested, still drives. He follows all of his drs orders and tests his blood levels every day but there's still that chance that something could happen while he's driving.

Knowing you have epilepsy (and without going the legal restrictions) and knowing you could have a seizure while driving is a whole different story.
 
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No, epileptics should not be banned. That's called discrimination. The laws are pretty hard as it is. Not everyone has seizures that make them go unconscious and loose the ability to drive during a seizure (I don't).
 
No, epileptics should not be banned. That's called discrimination. The laws are pretty hard as it is. Not everyone has seizures that make them go unconscious and loose the ability to drive during a seizure (I don't).

THIS>>>>>>>

I can back our car better into the garage while using 1 hand and sitting in the passenger seat compared to my wife.

Ive have always been good at driving, i have a good track record ticket wise, etc, etc.

But having tonic-clonic's kill me with the DMV
 
Having a heart attack or a change in glycemic levels completely is different than having a seizure. You legitimately don't know when a they could happen. If you can't drive because you might have either then no one out there in the world should be able to drive.


People usually don't know if they have diabetes unless they have their blood levels tested or if something happens then have their blood levels tested and find out. If you know you have diabetes and as long as you are following your drs orders when it comes to diet and meds then you don't know if something might happen. My father has diabetes, and didn't find out until he had his blood levels tested, still drives. He follows all of his drs orders and tests his blood levels every day but there's still that chance that something could happen while he's driving.

Knowing you have epilepsy (and without going the legal restrictions) and knowing you could have a seizure while driving is a whole different story.

I, too, have Type 1 Diabetes in addition to Epilepsy. Once I had a seizure while driving out of a parking lot and hit brick a wall. The paramedics were called and they did check my glucose level. The level was a bit low, so they were not sure if the seizure was from low blood sugar OR from the actual seizure disorder.
Usually when my glucose falls below 70, I DO know. For me, it doesn't feel like an "aura" does before any seizure. I know the difference.
So this is why I decided to stop driving. Too much stress for me and other drivers. Plus, what would it do to MY family if I were to hit and kill another human being? God forbid!:(
 
The article was not about whether patients with uncontrolled tonic-clonics or complex partials should drive. It was about whether states should require physicians to report epilepsy patients to state DMV’s. Studies have shown there is no benefit to such a law, and instead negatively affect patients getting the medical care they need.
 
Why should we force people to get medical care? CAN we force people to get medical care?

Driving requires a license, at least according to the law (don't tell that to the sovereign citizens, SSSHHHH!), and so to keep people off the road, their license should at least in theory be taken away. At least in the state of Florida, anyone can report someone who is suspect of having a medical condition that puts someone at risk of endangering others or themselves on the road, and requires them to visit a doctor and submit a form to the DMV stating that they are in good health. However, to prove that this person is "unfit to drive" this person must prove that they are in distress - they get lost easily while driving, do not obey traffic signals repeatedly, etc.

Unfortunately, you just simply can not know until it is too late that someone is at risk for a medically related accident.

The statistics show that epilepsy is one of the least likely ways you will die in a car accident. http://n.neurology.org/content/63/6/E12.full
 
I bet if you did one now, texting and drinking would be #1 & #2 causes of driving deaths.

You forgot a big one: Texting while walking.

I've seen it happen too many times to count. People fiddling with their phones while walking.
They are looking down as they walk aimlessly across the street.
 
You forgot a big one: Texting while walking.

I've seen it happen too many times to count. People fiddling with their phones while walking.
They are looking down as they walk aimlessly across the street.

on yahoo news i saw two things to that....

One was a video of someone walking into a moving firetruck and literally bouncing off and falling down. Wasnt hurt, but he just looked like an idiot, the firetruck had the siren on and everything.

next was either in honolulu or another island in Hawaii, it is illegal to walk through a cross walk and text. So is j walking, people have to get in line at cross walks and somewhat hurry walking across the street.

yes, lots of people paying ZERO attention to anything but their phone's while walking.
 
No body should make a sweeping statement without knowing all the facts first, as others have said there are other medical conditions which cause an accident and when it is reported somebody had a heath attack or something else, no matter the damage caused or lose of life all you hear is how terrible a thing it is. Nobody ever calls for people with hearth conditions to be banned from driving so why epileptics. It seems the stigma and fear associated with epilepsy are still healthy.

Most people have the sense not to drive no matter what the condition if there is the possibility it can result in harm and this apply's more so to people who have epilepsy so it might be a good idea to look elsewhere. You will always get the person "its safe for me, I will not cause an accident" or " I am well able to drive and if anything happens I would stop the car." and this is across the board. After 30 years driving I have stopped, I do not want to be the cause of somebody being injured or killed. Epilepsy should not be singled out.
 
I think that the individual cases of E should be considered. For example, I currently have seizures about once a week however they are always within the first hour of getting up (at home) and I can't remember the last time I had one outside the house. Applying a rule to all people with E is pretty tough in my opinion.
 
I think yes personally, for everyone's safety as well as the drivers. In England you have to be seizure free for one year, that includes focals, and then have a written statement from your epileptologist sent to the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority.
I think that's how it should be actually.
 
I think yes personally, for everyone's safety as well as the drivers. In England you have to be seizure free for one year, that includes focals, and then have a written statement from your epileptologist sent to the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority.
I think that's how it should be actually.
So what if someone has two seizures ever in their lifetime? That is enough to diagnose them with epilepsy, yet they remain seizure free after this incident, thanks to medication or because of extreme circumstances. Why should they be banned from driving? I'm sorry, that makes no sense.
 
So what if someone has two seizures ever in their lifetime? That is enough to diagnose them with epilepsy, yet they remain seizure free after this incident, thanks to medication or because of extreme circumstances. Why should they be banned from driving? I'm sorry, that makes no sense.

My father in law was diagnosed with epilepsy in his early 20's, he's in his 70's now. He'd been in the military when he was diagnosed they never discharged him he was just taken out of combat and then work in offices in the states. He hasn't had any more seizures since. I'm not sure what the driving laws were back then concerning seizures but I know he's been driving for over 50 years.

My grandmother had 2 seizures very close together in her sleep when she was in her 70's. She lived for about 15 more years and never had another seizure but she was diagnosed with epilepsy. The family doesn't think that she actually had it though and think that the seizures could have been caused by meds she'd been taking for other medical problems or something else like a stroke. They changed some of the meds she was taking around and put her on keppra. She stoped taking the Keppra because of the side effects and hadn't been taking any other epileptic meds after that. The dr told her that she had to go 6 months without driving. She didn't drive anyway because of her age and she didn't feel save doing it so it really wasn't a problem for her.

I don't think people with epilepsy should be completely banned from driving all their life, just until it's felt safe for them to drive again.
 
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you need to go 6 months to 1 year without a seizure, if you do......you should be able to drive.

Thats the long and short of it. It does not need to be complicated, you just need to be good to go for a long period of time. Any event puts you back to square one. Waiting your 6 months - 1yr.

There are tons of people who have had a few, or even had one event every few years. Allow those people to drive and live the normalest type of life just like everyone else.
 
I don't believe it is right to just have a "blanket" law saying it is fine to drive after being X amount of time (6 months seems to be most common) seizure free. To me this is nowhere near long enough for individuals who up u n til 6 months ago were having seizures any time of day or night. On top of this, there are those who may have been seizure free for an extended period but continue to show epileptic-type abnormalities on their EEGs. And on top of all that are the common medication side effects of dizziness, sleepiness, etc.

I fully realize there are many other drivers on the road who are a concern- case in point is a family member who has essentially no vision in one eye, cataract in the remaining eye, mild dementia, takes strong pain medication, etc. Yet his doctor approves him for driving. Go figure. Driving is a privilege, not a right; there are enough injuries and deaths on our roadways due to factors we cannot control or prevent that we don't need to risk adding more casualty numbers due to factors (such as some medical conditions) that we can control.
 
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