It has been a long time since my last post. Apologies for my absence. Things are very busy right now as I am wrapping up my thesis.
I was in Manitoba this past weekend at a family gathering. We were talking about heart disease and how some individuals with heart disease can be a real risk on the roads (eg, they could faint from poor blood flow or even have a heart attack behind the wheel). This raised the issue of whether or not people with epilepsy should be allowed to operate a motor vehicle.
The laws vary from country to country, but in general if you are diagnosed with epilepsy you lose your permit to operate a motor vehicle until you have been seizure free for a set period of time (usually a year or two). My supervisor often mentions that individuals with epilepsy do show an increased risk of motor vehicle accidents. However, the number of accidents for this group is not nearly as high as the accident numbers for individuals with cardiovascular disease. To top it off, neither of these groups is anywhere close to the "most at risk" population for motor vehicle accidents, which is young male drivers.
I think of insurance companies as being very shrewd and number-oriented (ie, all of their rates/policies are determined by statistics). If this were really true then young males wouldn't be allowed to drive. Instead, insurance companies simply charge young male drivers much higher insurance rates. I wonder why they can't simply do the same with other "at risk" populations, such as those with heart disease or epilepsy. Either way, they should be consistent.
Food for thought.
Have a good one.
Kirk.
I was in Manitoba this past weekend at a family gathering. We were talking about heart disease and how some individuals with heart disease can be a real risk on the roads (eg, they could faint from poor blood flow or even have a heart attack behind the wheel). This raised the issue of whether or not people with epilepsy should be allowed to operate a motor vehicle.
The laws vary from country to country, but in general if you are diagnosed with epilepsy you lose your permit to operate a motor vehicle until you have been seizure free for a set period of time (usually a year or two). My supervisor often mentions that individuals with epilepsy do show an increased risk of motor vehicle accidents. However, the number of accidents for this group is not nearly as high as the accident numbers for individuals with cardiovascular disease. To top it off, neither of these groups is anywhere close to the "most at risk" population for motor vehicle accidents, which is young male drivers.
I think of insurance companies as being very shrewd and number-oriented (ie, all of their rates/policies are determined by statistics). If this were really true then young males wouldn't be allowed to drive. Instead, insurance companies simply charge young male drivers much higher insurance rates. I wonder why they can't simply do the same with other "at risk" populations, such as those with heart disease or epilepsy. Either way, they should be consistent.
Food for thought.
Have a good one.
Kirk.