Probe of diabetic drivers a non-starter
Victim’s sister asked for official action
Alberta’s ombudsman will not investigate the issue of monitoring motorists with poorly controlled diabetes, said the woman who requested the probe.
Josie Bellemare, whose brother was struck and killed by a driver in diabetic shock, wanted Alberta to examine the issue after Ontario’s ombudsman launched an investigation into how that province monitored diabetic drivers. However, Bellemare said she received a call from an official in the Alberta ombudsman’s office Friday informing her the independent monitor will not be doing the same here.
“She basically said the Alberta ombudsman looked into it and he’s not convinced there’s a systemic issue happening in Alberta,” Bellemare said from her home in Ottawa.
Her brother, Jason Lapierre, was a triathlete and popular ski coach who was killed in July 2006 when a car crossed the centre line and hit him as he cycled on Highway 1A near Cochrane.
The driver was a 49-yearold diabetic man who was hypoglycemic — driving with a blood-sugar level so low he was close to lapsing into a coma and had no recollection of hitting Lapierre.
The RCMP charged the driver with dangerous driving causing death, but prosecutors stayed the charge against him in 2008.
In March, Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin announced an investigation into that province’s regime for monitoring motorists with poorly-managed diabetes.
Ontario launched its probe in response to a 2009 crash involving a hypoglycemic driver in Hamilton who killed three people.
The motorist in the Hamilton crash, Allan Maki, was later convicted of dangerous driving causing death, but Marin said the case raises concerns about whether transportation officials are taking drivers with uncontrolled hypoglycemia off the roads.
In Ontario, medical professionals are required to report drivers who have uncontrolled hypoglycemia to the Ministry of Transportation, which then assesses their ability to control the condition and drive.
Even though police and a doctor red-flagged Maki, it took two years after the fatal collision to suspend his driver’s licence.
There are an estimated 165,000 Albertans diagnosed with diabetes, but unlike Ontario, the province doesn’t have any rules requiring physicians to report anyone who may have poor control of the disease.
The province recently relaxed a rule that required diabetic motorists to provide annual medical reports.
Under the new rules, drivers with well-managed diabetes and no documented severe hypoglycemic episodes only have to provide medical reports when they renew their licence.