More of a Wwyd - friends son with epilepsy

I don’t think I have ever read anything so fucking stupid 🤣

This thread belongs in the Classics section….not because of the topic but because of the absolutely ridiculous and dumb responses that some posters are giving.

The stupidity and ignorance is laughable.

L’épilepsie touche plus de familles qu’on ne le pense souvent. Envoyant de la force et du soutien à tous.

It’s unfortunate. But he really oughtnt be driving. My DS had to stop driving bc of a single grand mal. He got onto it straight away. Meds sorted him, and he had to wait a year (more however bc the system to get your license back is such a mess). It was a huge blow to him but he completely manned up and took responsibility. I’m afraid your friend’s son (and friend) must do the same

Thank you ❤️ I'm glad to hear yours is under control and you have your licence back, I always feel more hope reading people's experiences like this. Just started another medication increase so 🤞🤞🤞

I'm so invested in this thread as my previous posts I have said my dh is an ADI but I also have epilepsy, fortunately controlled now for 30+ years and my seizures did not affect my conciousness. Even so I wasnt allowed to drive and despite it being so long ago I still remember how horrible it was to lose my licence. Every time I get in the car I am thankful to be where I am now, a driving licence is a privilege not a right and this entitlement and ignorance just boils my blood. I hope you find some control soon, it can take time and some adjusting of meds but it can be done.

I have close relative with epilepsy.
To even get a provisional licence (ie to get behind wheel as learner) you have to demonstrate at least one year seizure free and provide details of GP & neurologist to DVLA.
I assume either this lad lied on his provisional application form, or the situation has changed since then.
Either way HE SHOULD NOT BE DRIVING. Including learning to drive!
Please please contact DVLA. Personally - having seen seizures up close- I would also contact police.
This is incredibly dangerous.
I am just dumbstruck your friend is allowing this. Amazing irresponsibility if the facts are correct.

Yeah I can and yeah I have - many many times. Close family - driving, fallen down and smacking head and had a brain bleed, in a pool and went under so your can take your judgement and hold onto it thanks.

i also said the post was about the equipment in the car and agree he was breaking the law.

What a crappy thing to write.

The instructor is unlikely to be able to gain sufficient control just from leaning over an adult man who is in the middle of a seizure, potentially thrashing around, and grabbing the wheel. Sure, if they're in the middle of practising a three-point-turn. But not if, for instance, they're doing 60 on a dual carriageway, which they could easily be doing during a lesson.

This definitely does need reporting. When people say 'I reported this and nothing happened' it's usually because the condition is one that doesn't have a set rule - for example, I have a relative who drove for a long time with Parkinson's disease - very erratically in the later stages and definitely not safely - but the DVLA would have done nothing about it because there's no clear rule on driving with that condition and his consultant just said 'If you feel you're OK to drive, I'm happy to write a letter saying you can drive'. Epilepsy does have a set rule, so is a bit easier to enforce.

Report, he’s not insured if he has an accident.

btw 8 seizures this year isn’t bad. 8 a day is bad, dsd has a dozen a day often

It beggars belief that this woman can be so irresponsible and so reckless. Is she thick or what? I couldn't be friends with someone so lacking at her age and having a son to be responsible towards.
I knew someone who had an operation which dealt with the epilepsy and was then able to drive for the first time in his life, in his forties. This boy may just have to wait a while, see how it develops or can be controlled, and eventually get his chance to learn to drive.

it's so limiting and having had a licence and lost it, it feels extra painful.

My OH didn't reach a year seizure free until he was 45. Now he won't learn to drive as he doesn't think he could cope with gaining a licence then losing it.

I can only imagine that those talking about dual controls have been fortunate enough never to witness a tonic clonic seizure.

@Hiptothisjive "But they can brake hard and stop the car so it is actually fine."

Jesus Christ. It really, really isn't "actually fine". He's a driving instructor, not a paramedic. Have you ever had to deal with someone having an epileptic seizure? Because I can tell you it's absolutely fucking terrifying. Just try to imagine that scenario whilst travelling at 30mph. I doubt that the driving instructor knows the boy is epileptic in which case he will be thrown into sheer horror and panic - sufficient to kill them both or some other poor innocent sod. If the driving instructor does know, then he's wilfully breaking the law which is in place for a bloody good reason.

Well then maybe you shouldn't be driving either.

Yeah he shouldn’t be driving but the point of the controls (which was the point of my post) is that this is in the issue of an emergency happening - seizures (not known), dangerous driving, panic attack etc.

Indeed, I can’t make up my mind as to whether it is wilfully stupidity or dumb ignorance. Also presumably have never seen someone suffer any type of seizure from dribbling and mild incoherence to a full blown grand mal… my best friend’s DH hasn’t been to drive for 12 years due to the epilepsy.

No, it bloody isn't fine!!!!!

And if his hands are locked on the steering wheel? Or if he's slumped over it?

And if he then passes his test, is it safe to then not get behind the wheel for potentially years, as a totally new driver?

Not just illegal but downright irresponsible.

They've got next to no grasp of reality either!

But they can brake hard and stop the car so it is actually fine.

OP you sound really over invested and your language is hyperbolic at best. I think you need to take a step back.

As others have said, you absolutely need to report this to the DVLA. Please don't be in any doubt, you're doing the right thing.

Not being able to drive due to epilepsy is shit; I'm struggling to get past 1 month seizure free let alone 1 year and I cry every time my clock resets, it's so limiting and having had a licence and lost it, it feels extra painful. Even still, I'd never contemplate getting behind the wheel until I'm a year seizure free, because it's people's lives at risk.

Ignore the idiots blabbering on about "dual controls"; they don't have a clue what they're talking about.

Ridiculously irresponsible of both the woman and her son, who is old enough to know better and not be a selfish twat! He doesn't need a license, he's not fit to drive. Clearly they both intend on him driving illegally, since that's what they're already doing. I'd report everywhere I could and would feel good about it. There way a guy last year who had an epilectic fit while driving and killed his 14 year old son. He lived, though. It's an unnecessary gamble with other peoples' lives. Risk your own if you want to, but don't you dare take other people out because of your own stupidity and selfishness.

https://contact.dvla.gov.uk/driver/capture-transaction-type?locale=en

Drivers medical

I have concerns over someone's fitness to drive

Then put details in

I don’t believe generally in reporting people to officialdom; but a solicitor told me once, he was working on a case, where the pharmacist gave a person with epilepsy, the wrong doses of medication. The customer had a seizure while driving and 5 people were killed in the accident. I wouldn’t turn a blind eye, to someone, with uncontrolled epilepsy, driving without them informing DVLA or the driving instructor. People can get aggressive during a seizure - the driver could do anything to the driving instructor, who’d be fighting him off and trying to control the car!

I know. Words fail me at this level of stupidity
CopperWhite's, Barrenfieldoffucks', Hm17's and EatMoreChocolate44's comments are beyond stupid. It is to be hoped that they aren't drivers as they have so little grasp of the law.

Report to DVLA and the driving instructor. I’m sure they wouldn’t be happy being driven round by someone with unstable epilepsy (risk to life/health and the car - which is their business!). If the boy’s health improves he can learn to drive later.