Did you know that the DVLA has a list of medical conditions that must be declared on pain of losing your licence, a £1,000 fine, or even full prosecution if your undeclared condition is deemed to have caused an accident?
It stands to reason, given the importance of road safety, that the DVLA would need to know about certain conditions which could impact on a driver's capacity to safely use the road. So you might imagine there are quite a few conditions in the list...
And you'd be right. In fact, even removing some duplication, the DVLA's list of what it terms "Notifiable Conditions" is well over a hundred and fifty entries long. Headline conditions include:
- Diabetes or any use of insulin.
- Syncope - a susceptibility to fainting or blackouts.
- Heart conditions (including atrial fibrillation and pacemakers)
- Sleep apnoea
- Epilepsy
- Strokes
- Glaucoma
Many of the other Notifiable Conditions relate to vision and the restriction thereof - which is once again something most people would interpret as a critical issue in driving.
But there are other Notifiable Conditions which we'd imagine people might not regard as so obvious. For example, in the full list, which you can view on the DVLA's website, there are conditions such as:
- Palpitations
- Vertigo
- Tourette's
- A spinal condition
- A pituitary tumour
Some of the above have a discretionary element to them. You don't, for instance, automatically need to tell the DVLA if you have Tourette's. But you do need to tell them if it manifests in a way that can affect your driving. And you only have to report vertigo if it's either sudden, disabling or recurrent. Similarly, a pituitary tumour must impact your vision in order for it to be notifiable. Palpitations, on the other hand, must always be reported to the DVLA.
Some listed entries are not actually notifiable at all. HIV / AIDS appears in the health checklist, but clearly states upon clickthough to the reference page that:
"You do not need to tell DVLA if you have HIV or AIDS. You only need to tell DVLA if you develop a health condition that affects your driving."
The reference pages for other list entries can take some deciphering, as the exact requirement for notification can depend on the type of licence held by the sufferer. Hydrocephalus opens with the statement:
"You usually need to tell DVLA if you have hydrocephalus."
It turns out, upon further reading, that the notification status is unconditional for bus, coach and lorry licences. You have to tell the DVLA you have hydrocephalus if you drive a lorry, and coach or a bus. However, for car or motorcycle licences, you only have to tell the DVLA you have hydrocephalus if it manifests symptoms. Without any symptoms, there's no need for motorists or motorcyclists to report it.
We would highly recommend visiting the DVLA's medical list to check whether you have a Notifiable Condition.