Friday, April 17, 2015

Sugar Blood Content

If you have diabetes that you choose not to control, please don't drive when I'm working. If you're using your insulin vial as a paperweight, I would appreciate it if you didn't get behind the wheel on my beat.

I once came across a car that had been driven into a snowbank. The car was in DRIVE, the completely unresponsive driver had the gas pedal floored, and the rear wheels were spinning a hundred miles an hour. The clouds of blue tire smoke were glorious to behold. Fortunately, the car was stuck. The driver was so far out of it I literally could not pry his hands off the steering wheel by myself. His BGL was in the 20s, and his daughter later told us he did this kind of thing all the time.

Another guy caused a huge accident at a major intersection, continued driving as he ricocheted off parked cars for about 2 miles, and finally slammed into the back of a bus that was stopped to pick up passengers. I was the first cop on scene. The passenger compartment was filled with smoke and the driver was completely unresponsive. I had to break the window to get him out. We found out later this was at least the third time for this guy.

Please - have a Snickers before you drive, or stay home.

(Quiz: The title of this blog entry is attributable to whom?)

9 comments:

Chris said...

Tracy Morgan?

Hildy said...

Opie.

Rina said...

Well to be fair, if he had diabetes that he "choose not to control", his blood sugar would be high not LOW. He's obviously taking insulin or diabetic medicine if his blood sugar got that low, so he's just not controlling his diabetes very well.

Don said...

I think there should be some sort of scoring system for diabetics

1st time low BGL makes you lose control of your car, we all get a chuckle
2nd time , unofficial warning
3rd time, official warning
4th time, ticket
5th time, ticket
6th time, suspended license
7th time, revoke their license

your inability to maintain your BGL makes you as much a hazard to other drivers as an drunk driver.

If they cause and accident and someone else is hurt or killed, jump straight to step 6.

this stuff isn't funny

We don't let people with uncontrolled epilepsy drive. We shouldn't let people with uncontrolled diabetes drive either.

Anonymous said...

I am reminded of a woman in one of my college classes who seemed to have a seizure a week in class. We got to the point we just ignored them. Imagine my horror when I saw her walk out to the parking lot, get into a car and drive off, several hours after a seizure.

fallconsmate said...

six years ago, my uncle died in an auto crash. his blood sugar was extremely low, he crashed his truck into another vehicle and we were all thankful that the passengers to the other car were not seriously injured.

i'm a diabetic. i'm careful about my blood sugar because of it...it's my responsibility to others when i am driving.

pfongk said...

Rina
Just letting you know that in Australia a BSL of 20 is actually rather high due to the way ours are measured. I'm assuming it's the whole imperial/metric thing again.

My BSL on average is about 6 which is fantastic.

kate kudirka said...

http://www.tagsrwc.com/trickytimers/wavs/Barney/lowsugar.wav

Justa Dude said...

Second time ticket. Third time suspended license. You wouldnt give someone with epilepsy that many wrecks before doing something would you?