Driving and Seizures

Driving as an epileptic does pose a certain risk, especially if your seizures are not controlled. If they are under good control, however, your state may allow you to drive a car. Every state has it's own rules and regulations as far as that goes.

There are different licensing requirements in every state. In this article, I am going to point out what a few of the states say about your driving a car with controlled seizures. There are states, keep in mind, that will require your doctor to write a special letter stating that you may or may not operate a vehicle.

Take my state of Florida for instance. You must have been free of seizures for at least a six month period in order to receive your license, or get your license back again after having had it revoked due to seizures. The person affected, must remain under medical supervision with their doctor in order to keep their license active. So in other words, they must submit a report by their doctor to the Medical Advisory Board and the Department of Highway Safety as long as they are under medications for seizure control. Other states like Georgia, Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, and a few others have this same rule.

Now, take Indiana for instance, which is not like Florida. They have no period that is actually set for having to be free of seizures. If they submit a doctor's report that states they are free from seizures, then they may have a restricted license provided that they remain that way. The restricted license is to protect the person with seizures and others on the road in case something would happen. Other states like Indiana, are California, that has the same rules pretty much, Colorado, and Connecticut are some others that have a requirement like Indiana.

There are other states that are much stricter. The states of Arkansas, D.C., and a few others make a person wait for one whole years before they can drive, and they must have complete seizure control, and have not had one for a year. They will not make any exceptions to this rule no matter what. After the period of one year, they doctor must submit a report stating that the person is seizure free and has had no current episodes of seizures during this 12 month period.

Some of the states have three month periods that will allow you to drive your car if you have been free of seizures for that time period at least. You must submit a doctor's report stating that you are not currently having problems anymore with seizure activity and that they are under control. Some of these states are Kansas, which generally has a six month rule, but will make exceptions, Kentucky has a three month rule, and a few others.

Mostly all of your states require an evaluation at least periodically to make sure that your status with seizure activity hasn't changed. Some states require an evaluation on a renewal of your driver license date.