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DIABETES AND DRIVING LICENCE QUESTIONS

Re: diabetes and driving licences.

The best questions on the form are along the lines of

Diabetes Type : 1[] 2[]

How is your diabetes controlled insulin[] diet [] tablets [] (tick type 1 and tablets to confuse them!)

If you are Type 1 have you **** EVER **** suffered from a hypoglycemic episode yes [] no []


And there I raged. And raged and raged.
 
Re: DVLA revoked driving licence - any advice?

Hi Babo
Thanks for your reply, it's good to hear that you think he'll be ok as we haven't heard anything back as yet!!!!

I did think myself that it would be ok as the other points are fairly scattered about, it was just the 3 on the horizontal line that bothered us.

Cheers x
 
Re: DVLA revoked driving licence - any advice?

Gosh you lot are getting it rough. We now live in France and I have an HGV licence, glaucoma and had the trabotomy on both eyes and the operation for cataracts and diabetes type 2. Luckily we live where the best eye hospitals in France are. Currently as of today my eyepressures are 16 and 18, no retinal damage and pretty good visual acuity and range.
Here we have to have a medical every two years and tell the doctor about problems, however the distance is the only thing they worry about. My medical is also due next month so I shall let you see the results. However, I have a letter from the EU stating that the DVLA are acting illegally by saying one has to get a UK licence if they move back to the UK and that the only time when I need to change my French licence is when it runs out, and for a car thats when I die or become too infirm to drive.
My comment is therefore get a written thing from the EU, live here for a while and get a french licence but do it before your UK one is blocked. After it is blocked you can either continue driving here on a "sans permis" or do the french test. Providing you can read the right bit on the board you get a licence.
Swansea have refused to respond to my request about the licence from other EU countries, and in fact do not reply, intimating they know they are acting illegally, their site says you have to get a new one, I sent that to the EU and was told they are wrong.
If you lose your job etc thru not being able to drive then you must be registered as blind in which case you may be able to get a carer, disablement allowances and much more, so do on receipt of the licence refusal notify your doctor and the waffen SS that you feel that now you are now entitled to be registered as blind, they cannot have it both ways. Either you are or you are not. My mother could watch TV, and do most things for herself but when she got a detached retina due to manque service in a UK hospital her licence was revoked but she then got some of the associated things.
If you have to move thru not being able to pay the mortgage etc. you may be abled to get a disabled flat so do do the research. I found loads out when I was injured and even then discovered I was entitled to another £50 a week on top of what I thought. All the best.
 
Re: DVLA revoked driving licence - any advice?


The Law in the UK is quite specific about Foreign Driving Licences and moving or taking up residence in the UK.

Basically, without going into Acts and Sections......If you hold a current EC Driving Licence it is valid for the UK for all visits providing they are just that, visits. If however you move here and you have a permanent address in the UK then you are no longer a visitor but you become a resident.

In those circumstances then all you need to do is exchange your EC Licence for a corresponding UK Licence. A simple matter and fully in accordance with present UK Law.

A link here explaining the process.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Dr ... DG_4022562

Vocational Licences.

 
Re: diabetes and driving licences.

Oh you lot do have it rough. I have an HGV a limited PSV and am 65 have glaucoma, had trabotomy, am diabetic, had cataract replacement and my vision is better than when I was a teenager.
I have a medical every 2 years and there is no problem with notifying insurance, if you have a medical thats it!!
However, I luckily live in France. Do though read, and re-read the UK licence bit about the distance, there should be no peripheal thing, there is nothing in the driving licence blurb about it, does not it say on the advice of the doctor treating you somewhere.
Here one has the medical and even though one is a diabetic on insulin there is no drawback unless your doctor states otherwise of course. It is purely on the medical, not on some half wit that thinks he knows best. As for Swansea well it seems that according to the EU they are breaking the EU law by saying that one has to exchange ones foreign licence (EU) for a UK one. The DVLA have refused to answer letters and emails with that info, and copies of the correspondance, so frankly I would feel that it would be good to contest what they say, they may well be wrong on the insulin thing.
How about asking the EU. Try Frederik.Jansen@ec.europa.eu
He is the transport guy on road safety, you never know you might be able to clobber the DVLA.
Incidentally a copy of the email is below:-

I understand you have taken up permanent residency in France. In France
driving licences have an unlimited validity; however the UK licences
have to be renewed regularly. According to EU Directive 91/4309/EV you
can therefore use your UK driving licence in France, without having to
change your address for your current French one, until your UK licence
expires. At that point you will be obliged to exchange it for a French
one, indicating your current address.

Apparently the converse is also right.
 
Thanks to everyone who replied to my question, as to informing my insurance company I done that when diagnosed, I was fairly sure that I did not need to inform DVLA, but became a little concerned when a fellow diabetic told me the rules had been changed and unless I informed them my licence would be revoked and I would be banned.
 
Re: DVLA revoked driving licence - any advice?


Well apparently the DVLA are acting illegally, why is it when the EU state something and the whole of the EU comply and the UK does neither comply nor accede to those wishes do some state "the UK says" please, do accept the EU ruling. By all means get the EU to take them to court, or conversley drive on a foreign EU licence and make the DVLA and the EU pay to got to court.
Do not accept the expression, we have found out thru comming here that France and the UK both try to ignore EU law but eventually get caught and it costs the government millions. EG France, denationalization, vehicle regulations, UK, vehicle legislation on fuel importation, and other vehicle legislation.
 
Ah ! The good old EU/EC........Until we are officially governed by the EU/EC as far as I am concerned UK Law is sacrosant. What I worked with most of my working life.

What I posted is the current position legally in the UK, what happens elsewhere is another matter. What happens in the future is something to be addressed at that point in time. I really can't see a problem in exchanging a licence once someone moves to the UK........

As for the Politic's of it all......we could discuss that ad infinitum. However, Politic's and Religion are really not something I will discuss on a Diabetic Forum.
 
I think I have just failed the field vision test, (yesterday) and the revoking of my licence is iminent. This test is just awful. I don't know about anyone else, but I never drive with my head pressed against the windscreen, only looking ahead, whilst trying to look behind me at the same time. I'm sure I'm like everyone and drive whilst scanning the road in all directions (eh, normal). It would appear that the DVLA require you to have the all-round vision of an owl.

I wear glasses for driving, and have no problems with that. But it would appear that unless I can see something out of my ear, then I am a danger. A mate of mine, who has near perfect eyesight, says his field of vision isn't that great, and yet he has no test, nothing. Because he's not diabetic, and therefore doesn't have to declare any eyesight problems. Your eyes don't get progressively worse, just because of diabetes alone.

Another two mates of mine, have problems with their eyesight, and by their own admission, know that they would fail an eye test. Yet they are driving around with no investigation, or penalty, because........they're not diabetic, and don't have to declare it.

I know that because of my impairment neccessating the wearing of glasses, I am extra careful when driving. I certainly don't consider myself to be any greater a threat than these guy's. Infact I may be less of a danger, as my eyes are checked more regularly than theirs. Which wouldn't be difficult as they rarely have them checked. One of them actually has glasses for driving, that he got ages back, but doesn't wear them. This makes me so angry.

I know everyone's different, and I'm not trying to be childish by saying, 'I know someone who.....
like a small child telling tales. But the guy's driving who can't see properly think it's hilarious, and don't give a monkey's about it. They know they're putting themselves, and others, in danger.

Also the fact that I can't drive with an impairment in both eyes, which are adjusted by wearing glasses, but someone with one eye can, is an insult. Where's there field of vision? Ok the criteria might be that they have to have perfect FOV, and sight in one eye, but they don't have ANY in the other eye AT ALL, The fact they have NOTHING in that other eye, doesn't matter. It's a joke. They're going to HAVE to look around. Whereas myself, and countless others who can see out of two eyes, are tested by having your head pressed against a box with flashing lights in it, and be expected to see directly behind you at the same time. So I am more dangerous with a slight loss of my field of vision in both eyes, tham someone who can't see out of one eye at all. Come on DVLA!! Think about how stupid that makes diabetics feel. I'm sure people with one eye aren't tested by someone standing on their blindside saying, 'Can you see me? eh? eh?

Anyway, if another vehicle comes at you from the side, there ain't alot you can do about it. Even if you had a compound eye, a collision is unavoidable. I have never seen anyone able to avoid a side impact. Why? Because even with perfect FOV, our reflexes aren't fast enough. It's nothing to do with what you see, or don't see. It's the speed at which it all happens. I'm sure 'It just came out of nowhere' is a very familiar statement heard by insurance companies the world over. I'm not angry because my licence will be revoked, it's because the system favours some groups, and not others.

I think it would probably be shocking, but not unbelievable, to find out the exact amount of people who shouldn't be driving, because their eyesight is not good. I bet you it's in the millions. Hundreds of thousands, at the very least.

But as someone who relies on their car for work, and getting around,(I have a bk amp,and can't walk any great distance) And every week I take my 91 year old grandmother for her groceries and her pension, who I also call in on every day, the effect will de devastating. It will all stop. I will lose work, and more importantly the last piece of independence I have left will now be taken away. Life is a struggle as it is, but will be dramatically worse now. I know I've said that I am waiting on the DVLA getting back to me, but there is no doubt in my mind what the outcome will be. Not because I think, my vision is that bad, it's just that the DVLA expect you to look directly into the eyes of the passenger sitting directly behind you, without use of the rear view mirror, whilst driving. Absolute nonsense!! I have now resigned myself to being a prisoner in my own home, and never seeing anyone anymore. Not that I really see anybody, as I lost alot of my friends when my marriage broke down. I don't have anyone significant in my life, and live alone. People always go on about how there is someone out there for everyone. But I've had first hand experience of discrimination. Contrary to popular belief, most people don't want people who are incomplete.

Sorry, went a bit off-topic there. Anyway, without being over-dramatic, I consider my life to be over, and have no interest in myself, or anything about myself. I'm not depressed. I've done the counselling thing, to no avail. I am just genuinely fed-up with my pointless life, that's all. I don't do self-pity, I am just stating a fact.

Far too many things to go on about here, but the almost definite loss of my driving licence, just puts the tin lid on it.

Apologies for my post turning into something else.
 
In response to this thread in general, not to any one specific post:

I had been planning on living somewhere where I would need to drive to commute. Now I have found out I cannot drive for a while, so I am not going to drive, so will have to live somewhere else. I may not be able to find somewhere to rent in time for the new job, so might have to not accept the new job, but the DVLA do no take this into account, and they should not. The only relevant thing is 'am I safe to drive?', as the answer is no, I have no right to risk killing people just because I need a job. I have lots of hospital appointments, that I now cannot drive to, they will cost me £30 each to get to. I have a couple of other things I need to go to, they will cost me £100 in train fares each. The petrol would be a lot less. But that is not at all relevant, I am not safe to drive. There are lots of relatives I cannot visit now, lots of social things I cannot go to, but that is not at all relevant.

It is scary that people have to be forced to take things like visual field tests, and have to be forced to give up their licence if they are shown to be unsafe to drive (if the tests are accurate, I do not know anything about them). I volunteered the information that I was unsafe to drive to the DVLA, and surrendered my licence (well, I'm trying to, they keep failing to send me the form!). I could have easily lied and kept my licence. But I didn't, as I don't want to put other people's lives at risk.

It is really worrying to think that people think they have some 'right' to be able to drive, because their personal circumstances mean they need a car, eg as in the first post of this thread. I find it worrying that people mention their need for a car in threads like this - do they think because they need a car for their job the medical requirements for a licence should be lessened? Do they think they have more right to a car than people who do not use thier car for work etc? If not, why mention it?
 
I've come late to this thread, but I have read the whole thing through (ouch).

There seem to be two camps:

One camp supports the general rules of the DVLA because they are based on expert evidence and established tests. There is also support for the tests being regularly reviewed, and updated in the light of new findings.

The other camp rejects the current rules because "they aren't fair" - apparently judged not on any scientific evidence (please supply references if there is scientific evidence) but because they have failed or are likely to fail the test, and are convinced that they are perfectly safe to drive.

I am fully in support of the first camp.

There have also been posts complaining that others have eye or other medical problems but don't have to report them and this isn't fair.
I am pretty sure that there is a general requirement to report any health problems which could impair the ability to drive, and if an existing complaint is found after an accident then this could invalidate insurance if not previously declared.

As far as I know (and I could well be wrong) no medical professional reports diabetics to the DVLA; any diabetic who should by the rules report the condition faces the problems of invalid driving licence and invalid insurance should anything happen after a failure to report. This in turn is unlikely to lead to a sympathetic hearing about the problems this has caused the offender.

So people with dodgy eyesight or dodgy general health aren't in a privileged position - hopefully what we are seeing is that diabetics are behaving responsibly and staying within the law.

If people want to campaign, the first step is to gather scientific evidence and the second step is to present this evidence in an organised fashion so that the rules can be changed.

Just saying "It isn't fair, the test is wrong." without any scientific evidence to back it up is just wasting everybodys time and polluting the whole issue to the detriment of any future group which comes forward with a reasoned argument.

It isn't fair that I have diabetes and other people don't.
However I have to live with it as best I can.
Thankfully so far I haven't suffered and major problems with my day to day life - just myriad inconveniences.

One last thought (well, perhaps two or more?):

(1) I haven't seen cycling put forward as an alternative personal transport method but it is perfectly feasible all year round for commutes of up to 10 miles each way. After a little practice this should take less than 45 minutes each way. It might even improve diabetic control for some people. Hardcore cyclists can commute for 20 miles or more but that takes a lot of dedication and training. I've managed it for a couple of days but couldn't hack it long term.

(2) There has been a lot of talk about needing a car because public transport is cr*p; why not campaign for better public transport? The statistics suggest that diabetics will form a significant part of the electorate and it appears that there could be a "story" here to garner popular support.

(3) A lot of communities have a charity bus which provides transport for those who can't drive. Why not form a group to share such a bus in your location for your commute to work? Or just club in for a taxi? Taxi firms offer very good rates for long term bookings.

(4) No transport solution is more flexible than having your own personal transport. Most people can't afford a full time driver or daily taxis so they drive their own car. It will make life harder if you can't drive. However, sh*t happens and when it does you have to deal with it. A car is not some kind of divine right. 60 years ago it was a privilege enjoyed by relatively few.

(5) [Edit] Just remebered one point - nobody seems to have mentioned peripheral vision which is generally very important in locating threats outside the main current focus of your vision. I find I can watch the road ahead but maintain an awareness of wing mirrors and rear view mirror using my peripheral vision. This is also good for picking up movement at the edge of your vision (such as a child running towards the road or a vehicle approaching a junction). If the tests show blind spots in peripheral vision then this is surely a reduction in the ability to sense and react to threats, and no amount of "moving your eyes about" can counter this.


I've forgotten at least one point along the way, for which you should all be truly thankful

Cheers

LGC
 
Round of applause to HLW!!!! (can't do the clappy hand smilie ) - the most sensible post of the thread - we all have reasons why we think things in life are unfair or that make us feel like victims of unfairness- but that's life

If life deals you lemons - make lemonade

 
There have also been posts complaining that others have eye or other medical problems but don't have to report them and this isn't fair.
I am pretty sure that there is a general requirement to report any health problems which could impair the ability to drive, and if an existing complaint is found after an accident then this could invalidate insurance if not previously declared.

This general requirement to report any health problems is,as you say GENERAL. It is entirely up to the individual's own conscience. and we all know that if something is going to have some detrimental affect, in most cases, we'll not bother. The people I'm talking about have no problems other than a visual reduction due to age. They're both under 40. They're certainly not going to volunteer any information if it means the possibility of losing their licence. Somewhat ironically, one of them has a driving job.



LGC[/quote]
 
Not pointed at anyone ,,,,,,,,,and I prob get right flamed
But all this whinging :cry: :twisted: Grrrrrrr

DVLA restricted then removed my license :evil: In a matter of weeks
Disability then Medication
I was a right petrol head :? Had to sell my new car Grrrrrrr

Sh*t Happens !!! and life isn't fair.
We Adapt we have to

You still have two legs and two arms can use normal Public transport :?:
you can sell or move rent house
Use a bike ,Walk,Run change jobs

"Walk mile in someone else's shoes "





im going to have a Right ***** on Now :wink:

Lost the use of my legs ,80% one arm last year

Public transport is a right *****
Buses with non working ramps or no ramp at all
Cant use buss pass before 9
So called wheelchair taxis that turn out 90% of the time , just a van with windows
and ramps from ebay ,Head always hits roof sitting over rear axle feel all the bumps
can not get one before 9 as always doing school runs in them :?
Trains you can not use unless you phone 24hrs in advance (does not always work)
Aircraft same always need to Pre book only few spaces
Wheelchair will run out of charge 20 miles 6hrs to re charge
my wife will do 20miles walking around M&S :?
80% local shops inaccessible steps to entrance
Then you have to try find wheelchair toilet , Not very easy if your visiting family
All mine are over 300 miles south ,So have to stay in hotel with disabled room :evil:

Takes over an hour to get me up washed and down stairs
I have to Pre medicate to cover pain for any travel
1 day out will put me out action for two days
Can not travel any place on my own :evil:

I have worked all my life now have little to no chance of ever
working again
Not saying i did not feel sorry for myself,and have the odd off day
But found out very soon

That will not do you any good just drive you deeper into Depression ,

There is only one real answer
Adapt overcome get over it , Move on


Bob

Prob Rub salt in the wound but :mrgreen:

Free Buss pass out of hours
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Publictransport/BusAndCoachTravel/DG_10036264
 
driving and type 1 diabetes?

hi, im 25 and have been diabetic 13 years. at first i didnt really look after my diabetes very well until a few years ago when i had my children. anyways a couple of years back i was told i had background retinopathy but it didnt need treatment at this stage. this has put a lot of fear into me into trying to control my blood sugars and never letting them run high, this in turn means i often run on the low side. my last hba1c was 5.6. i would really like to start driving but im afraid of low blood sugars if i do and what will happen. i sometimes have up to 5 lows a day because i am constantly trying to keep it at normal levels. will i still be able to hold a driving licence with background retinopathy. also if i always check my sugars and eat before driving would this not be a problem with the dvla. thanks
 
Further to my previous posts on the subject of debarring visual fields tests, I wrote to the DVLA in December asking for further information on the study that the DVLA have been conducting to see if people with stable diabetic retinopathy can be considered under the exceptional cases rules. I received a reply a couple of weeks ago and, to my surprise, as a result of this my case is being reviewed.

Included in the reply was a V1 consent form, allowing them to gather information from my doctors and an application form for a driving licence.

In previous correspondence with them I had told them of my difficulty concentrating on the Esterman test machines and the letter said that "in the first instance" they are going to arrange for me to have another test, this time with a manual operator, such as the Goldman perimeter test. They will also need confirmation from my doctors that my condition is stable (I go for regular check ups and have been told it's stable for over two years now), and that I have full functional adaption to the defect. I will then, have to take a practical driving assessment.

I do not know if I will be given my licence back yet, but at least I'm being given a chance to take further tests rather than just the Esterman test.

I have said before that I have never found any noticeable problem with my vision but if these further tests show me that I do, then I may then have to accept the DVLA's decision to revoke my licence was justified.

I'll keep you informed as to the outcome, although I'm sure it's going to take some time.
 
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