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Permalink Reply by christy on August 5, 2012 at 8:36am

And what about the thousands of people who text and drive on a daily basis and how many accidents THEY cause or lives that are lost. Driving is dangerous PERIOD, we can only control what we do in a car, not what everyone around us does. I mean this man was up in age, it could have been a number of things that caused his accident. Stroke, heart attack, etc. I think as people with a chronic illness we should make ourselves as safe as possibe, eat something before driving, have a form of glucose on hand with us, and most important TEST before driving to know where our blood glucose range is. I just really hope it comes out, and of course it wont...but that this man's blood glucose level was perfectly normal, and it was some other cause for this accident. I saw that too last night, and yes the lynch mob mentality kinda got to me. It could simply be nothing more than old age in this case...I think we all owe it to ourselves and everyone we share the road with, if we have a chronic medical condition to show we are safe to drive, and if that included periodic updates by our health care provider to dmv, I'd be ok with that, BUT I too think, that ANY driver after a certain age, should be required EVERY YEAR a physical and a actual driving test for DMV. Old age, and older driver's medical conditions or not, kinda scare the bejesus out of me, when I see them on the road.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on August 5, 2012 at 8:59am

When you are 84, there's about 1/2 dozen things that can hit you at any minute so blaming D w/o medical evidence (although it may be reasonable to conclude that the daughter may have had such evidence, you can't say for sure?). Diabetes and driving can be done very safely but I keep 1/2 lb of jelly beans in my car, just in case. I definitely feel badly for the little girl and her poor family.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Jolly on August 5, 2012 at 1:01pm

I totally agree with you people are such jackasses

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Permalink Reply by Cinderfella on August 5, 2012 at 4:36pm

I test if I'm going to be driving for more than a half hour.

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Permalink Reply by Judith on August 5, 2012 at 7:05pm

Well, Phooey. I agree. Soooo many variables. With my beloved Mom, we had to forcibly take her car keys away from her at 87 (she died at 89). We "lucked out" that there wasn't a major accident. We, with The D, if we are conscientious, as I believe we are!, are much less of a threat then my mom was---or a driver after 1 drink, even!

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Permalink Reply by MyBustedPancreas on August 6, 2012 at 6:25am

Ok, first, the article says that he has been diabetic for a few years. Given his age, this means that he is probably a T2. The article does mention that he takes insulin, but the daughter implies that he may not have taken it and his sugars "went out of control." Yes, sometimes the symptoms of being high can be distracting and can cause blurry vision, but it's usually a bad low that causes an accident like this. And that all said, given his age, it could be any number of things (heart attack, stroke, etc) that resulted in this accident. In fact, those things are far more likely.

I think the article just focused on the diabetes because that is the information they obtained from the family. I really hate the media and how they report on things sometimes. So sensationalistic and so light on the facts.

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Permalink Reply by HPNpilot on August 6, 2012 at 6:45am

It's upsetting to read, but it is just pure ignorance on the part of the commenters.

There is no reason why a careful diabetic cannot drive and operate complex machinery.
The FAA allows T1 diabetics to pilot private airplanes if they demonstrate good control and test every hour in flight and 20 minutes before landing. In Canada, there are commercial airline pilots with T1DM.

No matter how much testing is done, things still happen. A year or so ago a (non-diabetic) Continental pilot dropped dead in the cockpit. Airline pilots undergo a physical every 6 months!

I am careful to test before driving or at least make sure I know my CGM is reading reasonably accurately if it is a short drive.

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Permalink Reply by Mountain Biker on August 7, 2012 at 11:21pm

There is a big problem in this country that whenever people think there is a problem they want a new law against some other group. I always seems like a great idea to the people who want the new law, and a very bad idea by those that are effected by it.

Legislating against diabetics is just the one that impact us the most (I'm type I for 40 years), but it is just a part of a much bigger problem with our nanny state.

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Permalink Reply by Sam Iam on August 8, 2012 at 1:13am

I've had a few close calls with low BG while driving. If you drive every day, it's nearly inevitable. Now, I only live places where I don't need a car. One of the best decisions I've ever made.

Tragedies like this will cease to occur, only when self-driving cars replace human drivers.

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