VIEWS OF BRITISH NEUROLOGISTS ON EPILEPSY, DRIVING, AND THE LAW

The accident rate amongst drivers with epilepsy is 1.3 to 2.0 times that amongst aged matched controls without epilepsy. There are therefore good reasons for preventing some people with epilepsy from driving. Though restrictions exist in many countries there is good evidence that many drivers currently ineligible with epilepsy are driving. Areas of confusion have been caused by a number of "grey" areas into which some patients fall, by inconsistent advice given by some neurologists and their inability to predict the UK Drivers & Vehicle Licensing Centre's (DVLC) ruling. The authors attempt to identify these areas of confusion by investigating current practice and understanding amongst neurologists. This was done by sending 23 short case histories to 233 members of the Association of British Neurologists and asking them when the subject of each case would become eligible to hold a driving licence under the current regulations. They were also asked when they would prefer each of the hypothetical patients to be allowed to drive if this interval were different to what they thought the regulations required. A response rate of 56 per cent was obtained and the results showed a considerable variation in the neurologists understanding of the regulations. Wide discrepancies were discovered between their interpretation of, and apparent intent of, the regulations. The areas of confusion are discussed and it is felt that there is a need for further studies of the risk of recurrency of seizures under various circumstances, so that the guidance given by the DVLC and its advisory panel may be more firmly based on fact. (Author/TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01406736
• Corporate Authors:

  Lancet Limited

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  London WC2N 6AD,   England 
• Authors:
  • Harvey, P
  • Hopkins, A
• Publication Date: 1983-2-19

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 401-404
• Serial:
  • The Lancet
  • Issue Number: 8321
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0140-6736
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01406736

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Case studies; Crash rates; Data collection; Diseases and medical conditions; Driver licenses; Driver performance; Drivers; Epilepsy; Laws; Personnel performance; Physicians; Questionnaires; Risk taking; Standards; Surveys
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• ITRD Terms: 1612: Accident rate; 1772: Driver; 1550: Driving licence; 2113: Epilepsy; 9147: Interview; 1556: Legislation; 2154: Medical aspects; 2259: Risk taking; 8119: United Kingdom
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00373964
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-035 913
• Files: HSL, ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 30 1984 12:00AM