Fit to drive in Jamaica

The Jamaican League Against Epilepsy is making another push for people with the neurological condition to be deemed eligible to receive a driver's licence once they meet certain medical requirements and the proficiency test to operate a motor vehicle.

But the Government is maintaining that it will not go down that road.

"The existing driving rules in Jamaica state categorically that if you have epilepsy, you cannot drive," said consultant neurologist Dr Amza Ali during a Gleaner Editors' Forum.

However, Ali, who is also the president of the Jamaican League Against Epilepsy, said it is time for the law to be reviewed to make it consistent with the situation in developed countries.

"There is clear data elsewhere in the world that it is quite safe to have people who have epilepsy allowed to drive," he said, adding that their overall risk is less than other drivers for serious accidents.

Paul Clemetson, director of the Island Traffic Authority, cited Regulation 46 of the Road Traffic Act addressing diseases and disabilities that contains a clause barring persons with epilepsy from driving.

The regulation was drafted in 1938, 72 years ago.

Clemetson said he was aware that persons from the epileptic community had been lobbying for the right to drive, and confirmed that in some jurisdictions, persons under medical observation and treatment who had not suffered seizures in less than two years could be recommended for a driver's licence.

However, he said they were yet to get the green light in Jamaica.

"We've had consultations with members of the medical fraternity and they've considered what obtains in other jurisdictions, but are not presently of the view it should be accommodated in Jamaica and, of course, we have to be guided by the experts in that profession," Clemetson said.

However, Ali said the Jamaican Epilepsy Association and the Jamaican League Against Epilepsy, whose attempts to obtain feedback on the issue through a document unsuccessfully circulated sometime ago, refuse to be discouraged.

Recently, Ali established a relationship with Antigua to change the rules in the English-speaking Caribbean barring persons with epilepsy from driving.

"Between Jamaica and Antigua, we're trying to see who will first change their rules about driving. It has to change because many people with epilepsy are well controlled and they are out there driving, and driving very safely," Ali said.