Re: Driving while fasting - some FOOD for thought!

Hi 97202, my longest Water Fast was 27 days back in November 2007, and I dove distances up to 200 miles a week or so into it, and locally up to 20 miles (maybe an hour in London traffic) twice in one day on occasions towards the end of it. But I do not commute, or drive regularly.

I personally didn't have any problems at all. I did not feel tired and I did not lack any alertness. However, there were times during my fast when I felt tired, and did not drive, a similar choice to what you would (or SHOULD) make when eating normally.

You may think a reduced blood pressure would cause a problem. I did find that sometimes when I got up from lying down I felt dizzy, however this goes after a few seconds. In a car your posture does not change drastically, so this cannot happen, i.e. there are no nasty surprises.

Driving is not a strenuous activity, so I did not find that driving itself made my tired. I just listened to the radio, it was quite relaxing, traffic jams aside.

One word of warning though, about a month before my first fast started I was involved in a minor collision where the other party later tried to claim for injury, so the insurance loss adjuster / investigator visited me to get full details. They sad they did this fact finding mission at the start in potential injury claims because memories fade and the third party has 6 years in which to start a claim. One of the questions on the standard form is all about when you had your last meal. I was able to answer truthfully that it was just before I left home.

I asked about this question and I was told it was that in a court case it may be alleged by the other side that the drivers health or state of mind or tiredness could be a factor that contributed towards blame, and this could be influenced by the last meal time.

Anyway the claim was sorted out and there was no court case. All I can say is that if this does happen to you when fasting, I am sure the other side would make a meal of it, if you pardon the pun. Remember, mainstream thinking usually prevails in courts, not Curezone thinking. Having said that, in any typical car insurance claim, it never goes to court, and quite frankly the main reason loss adjusters are usually sent out is to save the insurance company money, and the best way to do this to try and get out of paying altogether.

Fortunately I keep my books in good order and everything about my car, driving licence and documentation was absolutely fine. Furthermore, if I WAS fasting I could see no reason for the insurance to refuse to pay out, as there is nothing in my insurance to dictate my meal times before driving. If I had been fasting, it would have just meant the insurance company may have been in a weaker position if the third party decided to dispute an injury claim, and found personal injury solicitors to sue in order to get enhanced compensation. Only then would the issue of my potential tiredness come out as being a factor, and only then, in a court, would any arguments about the effects of fasting start.

As I mentioned the claim was resolved without incident and I did not have to pay a penny. And from what I know, the loss adjuster's MAIN job was mainly to check if my car had it's MOT test certificate and I had no undeclared endorsements on my license. That was all OK.

So in summary, I didn't find it a problem, but be wary of telling strangers that you haven't eaten for a month if you do get involved in an accident, regardless of who you think is to blame. Tweet