OCD and Driving - DVLA / Car Insurance Declaration

[Ashley]

Whilst renewing my car insurance this morning I noticed a new question that I don't recall seeing before.  It's a subject I have done a bit of research on and spoke to the DVLA in the past so thought I would make this post in case anybody was ever unsure.

So this was the question on the car insurance form. 

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Do you have any medical conditions or disabilities that are DVLA reportable?

Having OCD does not automatically require you to notify the DVLA, so for most of us we can answer NO to that question. 

What the DVLA say is this... 

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You must tell DVLA if your obsessive compulsive disorder affects your driving.

The key words there is 'affects'.  This does not mean if you have to retrace your route when driving you must tell the DVLA, because even if you are engaged in a compulsion you could still be perfectly safe driving.  I did speak to the chief medical officer at the DVLA about this a couple of years ago and what he said was, the only time someone would need to declare OCD is if they engage in compulsions whilst driving that make them unsafe/dangerous to drive, for example having to blink several time whilst passing traffic lights, or constantly driving with the attention significantly more on the rear view mirror than the windowscreen and road ahead... and even then it would need to be 'significant', checking the rear view mirror a couple of times wouldn't be significant. 

If in any doubt, consult a health professional or GP (preferably with experience of OCD).

[Triple]

Thankyou for this information. I've always been unsure about this requirement and it's made my recovery, in regards to driving, very difficult.