LIVING WITH EPILEPSY: DRIVING AND EPILEPSY

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Driving is risky business for everyone. The magnitude of the risk of driving is determined by the driver’s age, sex, and use of drugs and alcohol. Health problems such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and prior health-related incidents like head trauma and infections of the nervous system can also be risk factors. Epilepsy is only one health-related condition that carries a risk factor for driving.
Driving is considered a privilege, and, therefore, people are licensed to drive. In granting that privilege, society theoretically weighs the risks to the public of granting the license against the benefits to the individual of being able to drive. In the U.S. a state grants or withdraws the privilege. What are the risks to society of someone driving who has epilepsy? What benefits does an individual lose when a license is not granted?
Because seizures are transient alterations of consciousness or of motor or sensory function, caused by electrical discharges from the brain, it is obvious that some of these alterations, in particular, of consciousness, can lead to a motor vehicle accident if they occur while the person is driving. Not all seizures do involve loss of consciousness. Some are purely sensory. Some may be purely focal motor. Neither of these may interfere with control of the car. Some persons experience an aura (warning) before a seizure, allowing the driver to pull off the road. Some seizures occur only during sleep. To be reasonable and sensible, licensing procedures should be guided by the type of seizure the individual has.
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