Medicinski vjesnik, Vol. 40 No. (1-4), 2008.
Professional paper
Epilepshy and driving capability
Ivan Bielen
Abstract
The ability to drive is one of the greatest concerns of people with epilepsy (PwE) with a considerable impact on their quality of life. However, it is clear that there is a great risk of causing a traffic accident if a seizure occurs while a person is driving. There are great differences in legislations, which determine whether people with PwE are able to drive; they go from a complete ban in some countries to the seizure free interval of only three months that is required in some USA states. In the past few decades a great progress has been made in declining inappropriate restrictions for PwE in realizing their needs regarding driving. The trend of liberalization is based on the results of studies, which show that the risk for the public safety in traffic is acceptable, if individuals with well controlled epilepsy are allowed to drive. It seems that the current trend of liberalization will continue, but in the future, further clinical studies will be needed, which would be designed to monitor the influence of the liberalized regulations on traffic safety.
Keywords
Epilepsy; Automobile driving - legislation and jurisprudence
Hrčak ID:
191568
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2008.
Visits: 4.157 *