Driving is an activity that demands complex psychomotor skills, good visuospatial functions, rapid information processing, vigilance, and satisfactory judgment. Driving ability can be impaired by fatigue, drowsiness, and drugs and alcohol, all of which have been implicated in causing road traffic accidents. Acute hypoglycaemia, the most common side effect of insulin therapy, may also compromise driving skills. Modest degrees of neuroglycopenia can provoke cognitive dysfunction without necessarily producing symptomatic awareness of hypoglycaemia. Because hypoglycaemia is a causal factor in some motor vehicle accidents, most national authorities who regulate the issue of driving licenses, period-restrict licenses for applicants who have insulin-treated diabetes, with renewal at varying intervals being subject to reassessment of medical fitness to drive. (Author/publisher)
Abstract