Driving health is assessed individually, with due consideration for all illnesses and the related medications as well as the necessary ability to function in traffic. All long-term health problems have specific health requirements for category 1 and category 2 driving licences, which the person in question must meet.
Having diabetes does not prevent getting or renewing your driving licence as long as you meet the relevant health requirements. Neither does it prevent obtaining a commercial driving licence.
A doctor’s certificate for driving health is required if a person is applying for or renewing a driving licence or if you want to move to a higher licence category. A person with diabetes also needs a doctor’s certificate when applying for a moped licence whereas, previously, a young person’s health certificate sufficed. Otherwise, driving health is monitored at the doctor’s appointments related to the treatment of diabetes.
If you have diabetes, special attention is paid to the following matters:
How often is your blood sugar tested or scanned?
To what degree are your glucose sensing results below 3.9 mmol/l or below 3.0 mmol/l?
Have you had incidents of severe hypoglycaemia that required help from others?
Have you had severe hypoglycaemia while you were awake or only when you were asleep?
Do you still get warning symptoms of hypoglycaemia and at which blood sugar levels?
What is your glycated haemoglobin HbA1c level that demonstrates your long-term sugar level?
To what degree are your glucose sensing results above 10.0 mmol/l or above 13.9 mmol/l?
How good is your eyesight and the scope of your field of vision?
Do you have any complications related to diabetes or other medical conditions that affect your ability to drive?
Even though diabetes is seldom the cause of traffic accidents, near misses are not that uncommon. In terms of fatal accidents, in roughly half of the cases there is an underlying fit of illness, usually a heart attack or circulatory disorder.