Can I Safely Drive If I Have Diabetes?

— -- Question: Can I safely drive if I have diabetes?

Answer: People with diabetes, even people who take insulin, should have no problems with driving. The key to driving and diabetes is being responsible, no different for any other chronic medical condition. And being responsible, especially for people who take insulin, means checking blood glucose levels before driving. What we encourage our patients to do is to check the blood sugar if it has been more than one hour after eating. By the same token, if they are driving for more than an hour, they should stop the car and check the blood sugar to make sure it is not getting low.

Over the years, however, there are people who have not been responsible, are not checking their blood sugar around the time of driving, and it is due to this that diabetes and driving has been in the news quite a bit. But for people who are responsible and who do check their blood glucose, they do fine. I look it no different than making sure you are wearing a seat belt, making sure you are not drinking alcohol, and all of other things we should do to be responsible while driving.

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