Can you be too high to drive?

[EmmyBuzz]

I was just wondering if you can ever be too high - blood sugar wise! - to drive? Obviously if your blood sugar is so high your vision is blurry I suppose that could be an issue and ketones could be too but legally all the advice I can find is about being too low drive...

 

[trophywench]

Well yes, what you said - if it's high enough to be in ketone territory then please don't. I mean you'd be on a sticky wicket in court after an accident methinks - but no there's no official advice. But testing isn't ONLY to see if we are low, and it is perfectly reasonably assumed you will have functioning brain cells before you even contemplate unlocking the car, that doesn't have to be ensconced in LAW, surely!!

 

[EmmyBuzz]

If I felt terrible, had high ketones or felt like I couldn't see I definitely wouldn't risk it, I'm anxious enough about driving since being diagnosed! I suppose you know personally if you can concentrate and focus on the road properly but I just wondered if there was any official guidance as to acceptable levels etc! Everything driving wise I've had drilled into me is hypo related!

I'm working on my levels more now too as I feel more comfortable adjusting my own doses slightly so I'm hoping the days of high teen/20s readings will be mostly gone anyway except if I was actually to be ill and therefore unlikely to wish to drive anyways!

 

[Matt Cycle]

I don't know of any guidelines relating to high blood sugar and driving.

The sad story below from the US illustrates that high blood sugar can possibly affect judgement when driving.

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/board...abetes-led-to-crash-death-coroner-says.58416/

 

[Diabeticliberty]

When I first saw the title of this thread I got the wrong end of the stick completely. I have never personally read or heard of DVLA restrictions regarding high blood sugars. That is not to suggest of course that they do not exist. The thing is though with high blood sugars ands ketones I really doubt whether I would want to drive for feeling absolutely dreadful.

 

[Robin]

Despite the huge mound of rules and regulations that exist these days, some things are still left to common sense. There's nothing to stop you driving while you're ill, for example, but I wouldn't ever get behind the wheel if I'd got a bad dose of 'flu.
I suppose it comes under the 'being fully in charge of the vehicle' and the hypo rules were brought in because people who have lost hypo awareness ( or ignore the signs) may not realise they are unfit to drive.

 

[EmmyBuzz]

I don't know of any guidelines relating to high blood sugar and driving.

The sad story below from the US illustrates that high blood sugar can possibly affect judgement when driving.

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/high-school-student’s-diabetes-led-to-crash-death-coroner-says.58416/

That is a really sad story, I'm certainly going to be more aware of the idea of driving whilst my levels are too high and really thinking about how I feel before I get behind the wheel I just really hadn't thought about it until last night! I'm hoping I won't have to make the decision if I am ok to drive because I am working hard on getting my levels under better control but I my mind set has been 'at least I'm not at risk of having a hypo' when I've been on the higher side!

 

[Alan.tnh]

Good discussion, and I take the points on we should take responsibility for how we feel etc, But as we know from so many posts, not everyone has a meter to check in the first place. So an arbitrary no on it eg 22 would be impossible to enforce..

 

[palmoff]

I would imagine it would be the same as driving whilst tired, there is no set law against it but if you find it hard to stay awake which have a high can do, then you shouldn't drive.

 

[casey jones]

you did not say if you are on insulin but if you are, you are supposed to test blood sugars before and every two hours whist driving. depends on how much driving you do but testing may get costly and some gps are trying to limit number of test strips issued.

 

[mikeyB]

And no-one has yet mentioned that high BG can affect your visual acuity, to the extent that you might fail the DVLA standard.