Driving restrictions and people with epilepsy

Epileptic seizures are the most common cause of sudden incapacity at the wheel of a motor vehicle to result in road traffic accidents.1 Although they do not contribute greatly to the totality of road safety, most countries and states have some laws or guidelines governing fitness to hold both ordinary and vocational licenses. Krauss et al.2 provide an account of the enormous variability in these across the United States, from statutory restrictions based on a minimum seizure-free interval, through to systems of individual driver’s risk assessment. This variability is magnified on a worldwide basis, with some nations imposing a blanket prohibition that is, for practical purposes, life-long for the person with epilepsy.3 This has presented obstacles to efforts to harmonize regulations across the countries of the European Union.4 This variability in regulations from state to state and country to country seems unwarranted and probably inequitable, but has its basis in a lack of …