In December’s RoSPA Occupational Safety &Health Journal there is an interesting article which highlights how hospital patients discharged from hospital may not know they should not be driving for a period of time after an illness.
The study shows some doctors do not know how long patients should stop driving for following a stroke or a first episode of epileptic seizure. As a result patients are not being given the appropriate advice regarding medical conditions which can affect their driving.
Researchers claim that an acute or chronic medical condition increases the risk that an individual will be involved in an accident. Estimating that 15 in 10,000 road accidents are precipitated by loss of consciousness due to an acute medical condition.
Worth thinking about raising your driver’s awareness of how medical conditions may affect the way they drive, their duty to disclose certain conditions to DVLA and how as an organisation you manage this risk and support your work force.
For DVLA information about medical conditions, disabilities and driving see:
www.gov.uk/driving-medical-conditions
RoSPA have a free guide to Driving for work: Fitness to drive:
www.rospa.com/road-safety/resources/free/employers/
