EU Directive - Million Drivers face losing their licence.

Published in the Daily Mail today: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2028152/Million-drivers-face-losing-licence-EU-diabetes-diktat.html

'Under a new definition of the rules to meet an EU directive, a diabetic who has two hypos in a year – even while in bed – will end up banned from driving.'

This will have a serious negative impact on all type 1 diabetics if true. No driver will keep a Diary as this could be used to ban you from driving. As could a Blood Glucose monitor with a memory. It will also not be long before insurance companies use this as a get out clause. No-one will admit to a hypo. And I suspect a fair few will no longer aim for a good target and tend to keep their levels high. Be warned !

I'm always a bit dubious about things that appear in the Daily Mail, but they seem to have got this right. I found this on the DUK website:

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us/Our_Views/Consultations/Past_responses/DVLA--Consultation-on-amending-medical--driving-licence-standards/

I agree with grybek - this could be very serious indeed.

I have heard this from other sources also, but a significant point to note is the DVLAs definition of hypo, and in this case the hypo they are referring to are ones that require the assistance of someone else..........

Not a lot of people will actually let the DVLA know if they are having hypos, even though, if you do have a bad one, the right thing to do is to let them know......

As type 1 diabetics we will always have hypos, its just part of life........

This is why whenever I get a job I never tell anyone I am diabetic and take insulin. They say there is no prejudice but I do not believe it.
I work hard first and afterwards I say that in fact, I am diabetic and I take insulin. There is much more value.

The worrying aspect of this is the EU's take on what constitutes severe hypoglycaemia. They term it as, 'any episode where the assistance of another person is required.' I know Diabetes UK have commented on that and asked for a better definition. I just hope it doesn't lead to people not seeking assistance, but that is a possible scenario. It seems remarkably unfair that an episode at night could fall within this criteria. Perhaps I am concerned without good reason, it just seems to go against my desire to keep my levels within the targets.

grybek said:
The worrying aspect of this is the EU's take on what constitutes severe hypoglycaemia. They term it as, 'any episode where the assistance of another person is required.' I know Diabetes UK have commented on that and asked for a better definition. I just hope it doesn't lead to people not seeking assistance, but that is a possible scenario. It seems remarkably unfair that an episode at night could fall within this criteria. Perhaps I am concerned without good reason, it just seems to go against my desire to keep my levels within the targets.

Cant beat politicians meddling in people's lives and pretending that the world is black and white!

The "EU" is a joke, a very bad one at that.

This attempt at "law" will need years of attention by people who actually know the law before it could be considered usable for the public. Don't give it a second thought.

grybek said:
The worrying aspect of this is the EU's take on what constitutes severe hypoglycaemia. They term it as, 'any episode where the assistance of another person is required.' I know Diabetes UK have commented on that and asked for a better definition. I just hope it doesn't lead to people not seeking assistance, but that is a possible scenario. It seems remarkably unfair that an episode at night could fall within this criteria. Perhaps I am concerned without good reason, it just seems to go against my desire to keep my levels within the targets.

This is a total joke. Before I completed the Dafne course I had quite a severe hypo on the way back from watching football and my partner called an ambulance, as she had never seen me have a hypo before. I treated myself with dextrose and by the time I was in the back of the ambulance my blood was about 3.2 but raising gradually. My driving Licence at the time was with the DVLA going through renewal, and the ambulance asked me if I wanted to go to hospital, to which I said no as I diid not want any repocussions, so basically got chucked out back of ambulance and had to walk home when still effectively in hypo. If this ruling comes in I can imagine this will be quite common for people with difficulties in bloodglucose control

ketostix playford said:
so basically got chucked out back of ambulance and had to walk home when still effectively in hypo.