DVLA warning: The surprising medical conditions you MUST reveal or risk £1,000 fine

Driving with impaired health could prove to be very dangerous both to yourself and others on the road. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is the organisation of the UK government responsible for maintaining a database of drivers in Great Britain and a database of vehicles for the entire United Kingdom. The DVLA needs to be informed if a health condition could prevent a motorist from driving safely. According to gov.uk: “You can be fined up to £1,000 if you don’t tell DVLA about a medical condition that affects your driving.

“You may be prosecuted if you’re involved in an accident as a result.

There are a number of medical problems which the DVLA needs to be alerted about – but some might come as a surprise.

Déjà vu

One health condition that many might not think of as causing a problem is déjà vu.

Although déjà vu is not a concern in healthy people it is in fact associated with certain types of epilepsy.

According to Texas A&M University findings shared on Science Daily, déjà vu events may be caused by an electrical malfunction in the brain.

“Epileptic seizures are characterised by dysfunctional neuron (nerve cell) activity across the brain which disrupts the electrical impulses that ‘fire’ neurons. These impulses can spread across the whole brain – inducing seizures.”

“Clinical reports show that some patients who suffer from temporal lobe epilepsy report experiencing déjà vu, almost as a sort of warning, before an epileptic seizure event,” Michelle Hook, assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine said.

Déjà vu may suggest a neurological problem when it occurs frequently (a few times a month or more) or is “accompanied by abnormal dream-like memories or visual scenes,” explained the Cleveland Clinic.

A third symptom is when déjà vu is “followed by loss of consciousness and/or symptoms such as unconscious chewing, fumbling, racing of the heart, or a feeling of fear.”

Gov.uk explains: “You must tell DVLA if you have seizures or epilepsy that cause déjà vu. Talk to your doctor if you’re not sure if your déjà vu is related to seizures or epilepsy.

Diabetes

If you suffer from diabetes you may need to inform the DVLA. According to diabetes.org.uk, there are two main things about diabetes that can affect your ability to drive safely.

These are: “If how you treat your diabetes means you’re at risk of having a hypo (where your blood sugar drops below 4mmol/l)” and “if you develop diabetes complications that make it harder for you to drive – like problems with your eyes (retinopathy) or nerve damage (neuropathy).”

However, if you don’t take any medication at all to treat your diabetes, you don’t need to tell the DVLA anything right now.

Eating disorders

Severe eating disorders are another health condition that drivers have a duty to inform the DVLA about.

This is because serious eating disorders can leave the person feeling weak and dizzy and therefore potentially unsafe on the roads.

According to gov.uk: “You must tell DVLA if you suffer from an eating disorder (eg anorexia nervosa) and it affects your ability to drive safely. Ask your doctor if you’re not sure if your eating disorder will affect your driving.”

DVLA data has shown almost a third of a million UK motorists have had their driving licence revoked for medical reasons over the last five years.

Seizures, a loss of eyesight and memory problems were reasons for more than 10 per cent of medical revocations, while mental health issues, heart problems and drugs were also to blame.

source: express.co.uk