DVLA’s ‘Assessing fitness to drive: a guide for medical professionals’ UPDATE

[britishpub]

DVLA has updated the ‘Assessing fitness to drive: a guide for medical professionals’ guidance.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/diabetes-mellitus-assessing-fitness-to-drive

There are two changes relating to Diabetes

The Secretary of State’s Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on Driving and Diabetes has defined adequate awareness of hypoglycaemia as whether ‘the licence holder/applicant [is] capable of bringing their vehicle to a safe controlled stop’.

The reliance on alarms on glucose monitoring devices are not accepted as a substitute for adequate symptomatic or physiological awareness of hypoglycaemia experienced by the driver.

Should a driver become reliant on these alarms to advise them that they are hypoglycaemic they must stop driving and notify the DVLA.

and for Group 2 licence holders

There is a clarification that for drivers receiving Insulin treatment the required frequency of examination with the applicant’s usual doctor is at least every 3 years.

 

[Jaylee]

There ain't no replacement for having a good nose for your own hypos..

 

[LooperCat]

Still have to undergo the DVLA medical annually for group 2 however...

DVLA “arranges an examination to be undertaken every 12 months by an independent consultant specialist in diabetes if the examination by their usual doctor is satisfactory”

 

[ringi]

The Secretary of State’s Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on Driving and Diabetes has defined adequate awareness of hypoglycaemia as whether ‘the licence holder/applicant [is] capable of bringing their vehicle to a safe controlled stop’.

I assume this is getting to the next moterways services as it is not safe to otherwise stop on a moterway.

 

[Jaylee]

I assume this is getting to the next moterways services as it is not safe to otherwise stop on a moterway.

It's technically a hazard to stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway under any circumstances. (I had a blowout once.)
As long as you follow protocol when doing so, don high viz & leave the vehicle keeping to the grass verge out the way..

Not forgetting to turn you steering to the curb in the unlikely event your vehicle gets a rear end shunt..
(Which points it off the carriageway.)

 

[ringi]

It's technically a hazard to stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway

What about moterways without hard shoulders and the danger that stopping then creates for other road users? Eg is just being able to detect a hypo in time to break good enough for someone to be safe to drive?