The law states that you must not drive while impaired in any way. Apart from those people who are so moronic that they should not come anywhere near a vehicle, what does that statement actually mean?
An easy interpretation would be that if the driver is suffering in any way the use of his full faculties then he must not take up the position of controlling his vehicle. So, whether you have a hurt foot or arm or hand or eyesight, or anything of that sort, the edict is to take a break.
However, having said that we have driving by special disabled operators, so that seems to call into question whether every injury automatically bars driving. Certainly drunkenness or impairment through default of sight are clearly acceptable reasons why we need to stay away from trying to drive. Also, we have to acknowledge that disabled drivers usually have specially customized cars to assist them
What if we have an automatic car, can we still drive if we have injured our left foot? This is a foot that is simply not necessary for driving an automatic. But can we still drive a manual shift if we have sustained an injury to that foot. It really all depends on how severe the injury, as you certainly have to be able to apply the clutch.
If you have an injured right arm that disallows the changing of gears, can you cope? Doesn’t sound like it as you should never remove both hands from the steering wheel while in motion. I do recall seeing a man doing just that to have a mobile telephone conversation, but that’s as we say, another story.
What about the left arm injury? Can it be used to at least hold the steering wheel and to make turns, because if it cannot you will be taking an exceptional risks in going out into traffic.
I want to say that in the case of the sufferance of injury commonsense has a great role to play. Getting around by vehicle is such an important part of our every day life that sometimes stretching things may be necessary, however, should you ever have to make such a decision it is critical that you err on the side of safety. A reckless decision now might lead to horrific results later.
Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael
