Having diabetes does not mean that you cannot drive a car or motorbike but it does mean that in order for you to do so you need to have the disease under control and you must actually have a doctor say that you are safe to drive (see my previous post on listening to your diabetic doctor for more information on doctors).
The first thing that you must do before you start driving is inform the insurance company and the DVLA because if you do not do this you will find the insurance you have to be invalid if they find out. Once this has been taken care of you then need to think of ways to treat the disease if something happens (for example having a hypo) when you are driving.
you can during the journey too.
Don’t forget the symptoms of a hypo and if you start to suffer from just one of them when you are driving then the first thing that I would do is pull over. You are risking your life, the other people in the cars life and motorists around you if you do not pull over as soon as it is safe to do so. Make sure that you always carry glucose tablets along with biscuits or fruit juice with you in the car so you can put a stop to the hypo.
Insulin is a drug and if you crash the car when having a hypo you can be charged with driving under the influence of drugs and can be prosecuted for it so make sure that this doesn’t happen by regularly checking your blood glucose levels.
Driving a car for a diabetic is not a dangerous thing to do at all as long as the person doing it knows what they are doing and has the disease under control. Note that you cannot drive heavy goods vehicles if you are insulin dependent here in the UK but this is looking to be overturned in the near future.
If you are worried about driving then make sure you talk to your doctor as they will advise you on the best form of action to take.
Ryan is a diabetic internet marketer, representing a company that deal with car accessories and contract hire. He is looking to start driving (after delaying it for many years) in the near future.
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