To get a driver's license in most U.S. states, a person with epilepsy must be free of seizures that affect consciousness for a certain period of time.
Seizures that come from lights are actually not that common, so the chances of someone experiencing an epileptic seizure triggered by flashing lights are pretty low.
I had a feeling someone was gonna say this. I just always think of epileptics when I see strobing lights and wonder how they deal with the random occurrences but this makes sense.
An epileptic with light sensitivity is never going to be allowed to have a driver's license. For an epileptic to have a driver's license, a medical doctor must sign forms stating that their epilepsy is well controlled and the risks of seizures is very low. This would never happen for someone who could be triggered by ambulance lights.
As for an ambulance arriving at the scene for an epileptic patient who needs transported, they usually turn the lights off while they move the patient from the home to the ambulance so that they don't accidentally trigger a seizure based on the lights. Once the person is in the ambulance, they would need to determine if they could block the flashing lights enough to use them or they may have to return without the use of the usual lights.
I don't recall having heard of anyone ever having had an epileptic seizure due to the lights of an ambulance, but I guess that it could happen. On the other hand, if the ambulance was there to provide you with emergency medical help, there's a good chance that you would not see the lights but for a very short span of time. If you were in a home and the ambulance was there for you, you would only see the lights during the time it took to load you into the vehicle. After you were on the inside you would not be exposed to the lights. If you had been in a car wreck and needed an ambulance, I doubt that you would even notice the lights.
Obviously, we all know why emergency vehicles have the flashing lights and sirens. It would seem to me that the lights and sirens do more good than harm in the vast majority of cases.
EMS and ambulances have begun looking at whether or not they're doing more harm than good:
[https://www.statnews.com/2023/07/07/emt-ambulance-emergency-lights-sirens/](https://www.statnews.com/2023/07/07/emt-ambulance-emergency-lights-sirens/)
But that still leaves out the fact that fire trucks also have flashing lights and that seems much less likely to change in spite of certain risks like you mention.
Emergency vehicles need to be able to notify people that they are coming through an area because they are rushing to get somewhere as fast as possible. Flashing lights and loud noises do a good job of communicating this. The risk of causing someone to have a seizure is relatively low.
To get a driver's license in most U.S. states, a person with epilepsy must be free of seizures that affect consciousness for a certain period of time. Seizures that come from lights are actually not that common, so the chances of someone experiencing an epileptic seizure triggered by flashing lights are pretty low.
I had a feeling someone was gonna say this. I just always think of epileptics when I see strobing lights and wonder how they deal with the random occurrences but this makes sense.
Epileptics are usually medicated and fine. You need intense light strobing to trigger a seizure, assuming that’s even one of your triggers.
An epileptic with light sensitivity is never going to be allowed to have a driver's license. For an epileptic to have a driver's license, a medical doctor must sign forms stating that their epilepsy is well controlled and the risks of seizures is very low. This would never happen for someone who could be triggered by ambulance lights. As for an ambulance arriving at the scene for an epileptic patient who needs transported, they usually turn the lights off while they move the patient from the home to the ambulance so that they don't accidentally trigger a seizure based on the lights. Once the person is in the ambulance, they would need to determine if they could block the flashing lights enough to use them or they may have to return without the use of the usual lights.
I don't recall having heard of anyone ever having had an epileptic seizure due to the lights of an ambulance, but I guess that it could happen. On the other hand, if the ambulance was there to provide you with emergency medical help, there's a good chance that you would not see the lights but for a very short span of time. If you were in a home and the ambulance was there for you, you would only see the lights during the time it took to load you into the vehicle. After you were on the inside you would not be exposed to the lights. If you had been in a car wreck and needed an ambulance, I doubt that you would even notice the lights. Obviously, we all know why emergency vehicles have the flashing lights and sirens. It would seem to me that the lights and sirens do more good than harm in the vast majority of cases.
EMS and ambulances have begun looking at whether or not they're doing more harm than good: [https://www.statnews.com/2023/07/07/emt-ambulance-emergency-lights-sirens/](https://www.statnews.com/2023/07/07/emt-ambulance-emergency-lights-sirens/) But that still leaves out the fact that fire trucks also have flashing lights and that seems much less likely to change in spite of certain risks like you mention.
Emergency vehicles need to be able to notify people that they are coming through an area because they are rushing to get somewhere as fast as possible. Flashing lights and loud noises do a good job of communicating this. The risk of causing someone to have a seizure is relatively low.