Driving in People with Diabetes Mellitus

Hypoglycemia impairs driving performance and can be associated with an increased risk for accidents involving the driver and other road users. Especially diabetic people with hypoglycemia unawareness have an unpredictable risk of sudden loss of consciousness due to progressive neuroglucopenia. Approximately 2025 % of diabetic patients on insulin therapy suffer from hypoglycemia unawareness. This special patient group requires comprehensive evaluation concerning incidence of hypoglycemia. Other complications of diabetes mellitus, especially retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, and macroangiopa thy can lead to limitations of driving ability as well. In many cases, it is necessary to obtain an endocrinologist's assessment on the level of impairment with regard to driving performance. In 2012, the European Union published a recommendation for the handling of restrictions of driving licences in people with certain diseases. Based on these recommendations under the guidance of the Kuratorium fur Verkehrssicherheit and the Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology a working group was constituted. The challenge of this working group was to develop guidelines to facilitate implementation of these EU recommendations.