MONTEGO BAY, St James – Just over a year after government was asked to amend the Road Traffic Act, allowing deaf persons to be granted driver’s licences, epileptics are now agitating for their turn.

“We have made the recommendations,” president of the Jamaica Epilepsy Association Nora Perez said yesterday. “We are way behind compared to the rest of the world,” Perez told the Observer.

According to Perez, who is working in conjunction with the Jamaica League Against Epilepsy (JLAE) to lobby for driver’s licences, it is commonplace for persons with epilepsy – a disease characterised by sudden recurring convulsive seizures – to drive in places such as the United States, which allow them in some states to drive after being seizure-free for three to five months.

“What is happening in Jamaica. Is it because the law says you can’t even take the test if you have epilepsy?” she questioned. But she said some people may be driving with epilepsy and hiding their condition.

Perez said the submission, which is based on the Japanese model, was forwarded to the Ministry of Transport last month, recommending the granting of licences to persons with mild cases of epilepsy if no seizures have occurred in one year and for chronic epileptics to be granted licences after a seizure-free period of two years.

She said the submission was informed by consultant neurologists as well as overseas experts in road traffic regulations and that epileptics would require certification by a consultant neurologist, which she said has all been worked out.

Meanwhile, senior policy officer in the Ministry of Transport and Works Joan Wynter told the Observer that the submission is now under review by the ministry, which is in the process of reviewing the 1938 Road Traffic Act and Regulations.

“We have received the submission and we have sought advice from the Ministry of Health and a committee is now reviewing the document,” said Wynter, who added that the 68-year-old Act, which currently exempts persons with epilepsy and formerly deaf persons from obtaining a driver’s licence, has been under review now for the past five years.

Additionally, the executive director of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Paula Fletcher, who is also part of the review committee, said incidents such as a recent traffic fatality in Mount Salem, Montego Bay, which police suspect resulted when the female driver had an epileptic attack, would be taken into consideration.

However, Perez dismissed this as a rare occurrence, which she said was unlikely to lower the chances of a successful outcome to the discussions resulting in an amendment to the road traffic regulations, which presently bars epileptics from driving.

“How often do you see this happen?” she asked. “In other countries, people are driving with epilepsy without having accidents and what about all the ‘normal’ people who have accidents every single day,” she added.

“There are people who drink and who drive, people who smoke marijuana, people who are just reckless,” she added. “People with epilepsy are a lot more careful drivers.”