EU directive on hypos

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grandma

grandma

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I have just read on the DAFNE site that the new EU directive on driving and getting your license renued is that if you have 2 hypos even in bed then you dont get your license back. It says that there will be miollions lossing them. People will not test and keep a recored or tell if they are low.
 
They clearly don't understand how diabetes works and are using the old fallback of having to step into line with EU directives. Although they managed to resist falling into line on the HGV rules even now.🙄

I suppose, unless you require assistance from an official, documented source, then only you will know if you required assistance or not.

Sometimes I may ask for a jelly baby when I'm maybe 3.5. If I was alone I would be perfectly capable of getting my own. If I'm 1.5, I would be a bit silly to try and get my own treatment, but with the new rules, I might just give it a try (hypothetically).

It could cause a lot more accidents off the roads than it saves on them.

Rob
 
I know someone with a form of epilepsy - their license was automatically suspended on the basis the epilepsy needed to be under control. All well and good except their type of epilepsy 'ONLY' occurs during sleep and as they were not planning on driving whilst asleep it seemed ridiculous. The DVLA restored the license following a consultants letter.

Nocturnal hypos should fall under the same rationale = whether they are or net remains to be seen.
 
Northerner said:
Yes, I posted a news story about this yesterday:

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=20117

On the one hand I believe the rules are being relaxed so that diabetics can drive larger vehicles, but on the other is this more stringent requirement about hypos.
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Ye thanks sorry I diddent see that untill I had posted it.
I still dont understand it right dose it mean you dont get it back if you are low and treat a hypo your self. Or is it just when someone else helps you.
 
It's only when you need assistance from someone else twice within 12 months that they will take it off you.

So that would be an ambulance called out, someone finding you whilst you're hypo and needing help or presumably just your OH fetching you a can of coke in the night. In practical terms, if you lived alone, you'd manage to treat every hypo yourself unless you were in a situation where you had no carbs with you and had to dial 999 or similar.

There will be some test cases from people who are legally minded I'm sure.

Rob

ps. be careful about confessing anything on here in case the DVLA are snooping !
 
Thanks robster for making that clearer ! Something less to get stressed over cos i would hate to lose my licence which i got 3 weeks of my 17 birthday😱
 
I also heard about this, this weekend. I'm certainly fuming about the whole thing!!!
I drive a total of 3hrs a day to commute to work. If i had no licence the option is 3 buses, 2 counties and a mile walk to the office as it's at the end of a private road. Even then i would get there before 9am! and so would not have a job.

My diabetes control is v.good but as people have said (including diabetes uk) things can be mis-interpreted! Last month I completed my licence renewal as my current one expires in October. One of the Qu's ask if you experience hypos and I put yes, if i'd said no I wouldn't be diabetic!!! the next Qu asks if you've had any within the last 12 months, to which i've said no.
The first Qu is certainly a grey one. If i'd known about this before I would have said NO to the first Qu!
 
Robster65 said:
It's only when you need assistance from someone else twice within 12 months that they will take it off you.

So that would be an ambulance called out, someone finding you whilst you're hypo and needing help or presumably just your OH fetching you a can of coke in the night. In practical terms, if you lived alone, you'd manage to treat every hypo yourself unless you were in a situation where you had no carbs with you and had to dial 999 or similar.

There will be some test cases from people who are legally minded I'm sure.

Rob

ps. be careful about confessing anything on here in case the DVLA are snooping !
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Rob, I think you will find if you are passed a can of coke this is not counted as requiring help as in dvla rules.
As to living alone and dialing 999 because you have a blood sugar of 1.5........ erm if you can do that ok then you can treat the hypo :D
 
Pumper_Sue said:
Rob, I think you will find if you are passed a can of coke this is not counted as requiring help as in dvla rules.
As to living alone and dialing 999 because you have a blood sugar of 1.5........ erm if you can do that ok then you can treat the hypo :D
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I have had one hypo where my levels were refusing to come up so I went and asked my neighbour if I could sit with her. I treated the hypo myself, but wanted to make sure someone would be aware if it didn't work - I wonder how they would class that?

Also, it seems very unfair to apply such rules to diabetics, the vast majority of whom are no doubt very responsible about their driving - what about people who get blind drunk and need their stomachs pumping (when they hadn't been driving of course!)? They don't get their license taken away do they?
 
Pumper_Sue said:
Rob, I think you will find if you are passed a can of coke this is not counted as requiring help as in dvla rules.
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Sometimes I just get lazy ! 😉:D

Pumper_Sue said:
As to living alone and dialing 999 because you have a blood sugar of 1.5........ erm if you can do that ok then you can treat the hypo :D
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I did think that too. Unless you're actually discovered having a hypo or unconcious, who'd know ?
If someone's there, then they're going to help, whether at 3.2 or 1.2
And 1.2 would be disabling if someone was there to help but recoverable if you are alone. I suppose that's why you are obliged to self-report, but I can't imagine many people voluntarily surrendering their licence unless they really don't need it. It's a powder keg within a hornets' nest wrapped in a right old mess.

Rob
 
Northerner said:
I have had one hypo where my levels were refusing to come up so I went and asked my neighbour if I could sit with her. I treated the hypo myself, but wanted to make sure someone would be aware if it didn't work - I wonder how they would class that?

Also, it seems very unfair to apply such rules to diabetics, the vast majority of whom are no doubt very responsible about their driving - what about people who get blind drunk and need their stomachs pumping (when they hadn't been driving of course!)? They don't get their license taken away do they?
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If it wasn't disabling, which it wasn't because you treated it yourself, then you're ok. If your neighbour had intervened, I suppose it's arguable. It's a bit like the rules on assisting marathon runners. You can do so much, but give too much help and they're disqualified (an analogy you'll appreciate I'm sure ! :D).

As for other groups, I hope so. Recreational drug users aren't required to notify DVLA as far as I know. People who use their mobile while they're driving, etc.
All dangerous but not required to surrender their licence unless they get caught.
But have a couple of night time hypos while you're ill or on holiday or just get your calcs a bit wrong and you HAVE to inform DVLA that you're a danger on the roads. :confused:

Rob
 
Having read the DVLA proposal, there are a few areas where I feel the legislation is too vague and would benefit from clarification. As it hasn't yet been implemented, we still have time to do something about this.

I've read the recommendations Diabetes UK submitted to the DVLA on this in April and if they were fully implemented, they would address most of the issues I have (lack of decent definition of "severe hypo", lack of distinction between night time and day time hypos to name just two).

I have written to my MP asking that he please do what he can to ensure the Diabetes UK recommendations are implemented prior to the legislation coming into force.

You're welcome to plagiarise my letter to send to your own MP - it only takes a minute to send the email and it's certainly preferable to trying to clarify the law through the courts at a later date. I've also included details of how to find out who your MP is if you're not sure - http://www.shootuporputup.co.uk/2011/08/changes-to-driving-regulations-take-action-now/
 
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AlisonF said:
Having read the DVLA proposal, there are a few areas where I feel the legislation is too vague and would benefit from clarification. As it hasn't yet been implemented, we still have time to do something about this...

You're welcome to plagiarise my letter to send to your own MP - it only takes a minute to send the email and it's certainly preferable to trying to clarify the law through the courts at a later date. I've also included details of how to find out who your MP is if you're not sure -http://www.shootuporputup.co.uk/2011/08/changes-to-driving-regulations-take-action-now/
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That's great Alison. Thank you so much for doing that.
M
 
Is it possible to set up one of those ePetitions for this? It seems some idiot is doing their jobs-worth and isn't quite aware of what the implications are!
 
mrpistachio said:
Is it possible to set up one of those ePetitions for this? It seems some idiot is doing their jobs-worth and isn't quite aware of what the implications are!
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There is one already at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/14125

Over the years, I've always found personal correspondance with my MP to make them understand the impact on the people who vote for them is more valuable than petitions and the like, but it can't do any harm.
 
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