Would Chuck (from NBC’s Chuck) legally be allowed to drive?

There will obviously be spoilers for the show, though I’ve tried to keep it as vague as possible, so don’t read if you don’t want spoilers.

Small disclaimer: the info I used is based on UK laws from UK websites so I apologise if anything in inaccurate.

Okay so hear me out.

After starting to rewatch the show, I started to wonder whether Chuck’s flashes would last long enough to be disruptive in some way.

In order for them to be disruptive, they have to immobilise him for some period of time that could lead to consequences when, say, driving.

Okay, so how long are they?

Duration of the Flashes

Based on the few times you get more than a millisecond glimpse of Chuck as he flashes, I estimate that his flashes tend to last about 3-6 seconds. [S2E5, S2E16, S4E21]

(Yes I included the fake flash because it’s the only time you see the entire “flash”. Given Beckman believes it at first, I would hazard a guess that it’s not that far off from the usual length of time)

This also isn’t including the few times there’s a chain of flashes which I would imagine would take far longer. [S1E2 (triggered by pictures), S1E12, S2E1, S2E14]

3-6 seconds isn’t a lot of time to be fair but, in a car on a motorway, for example, that could be the difference between crashing or not crashing so it’s possible it could stop him from driving.

Plus! The skill flashes seem to be a lot faster. Given he’s able to react and catch the knife in S3E17 and catch the bar as it falls in S4E2.

But that’s not a definite answer.

In conclusion, he would maybe be affected but maybe not enough to legally stop him from driving so-

But wait!

I didn’t stop there!

Disrupting Physical Movement

The next part I looked at was whether the intersect briefly disabled his ability to move and hold things.

Based on a scene from S1E11, where Chuck drops the binoculars, it could impair his ability to hold onto objects.

However, as far as I’m aware, this is the only time you see him fail to hold onto something so this isn’t conclusive. In many other cases where Chuck is holding something when he flashes, he is able to keep hold of it.

That being said, the intersect does definitely have some affect on physical movement, specifically walking, dancing and posture.

In S3E4, he flashes and kicks Lester in the head before he has time to stop himself. Although, this problem likely occurred more because he was worried about Devon, it still suggests that the intersect can take over his nervous system and react as a reflex action.

He often stops walking when he flashes [S1E4, S2E10, S3E3, S4E14] and in S2E12, he stops dancing. In several episodes [S1E13, S4E4, S4E21], he changes position from crouched down or hunched over to standing straight up if able to. If he’s smiling, he will stop smiling when he flashes. [S3E10]

He also occasionally cuts off mid-word or mid-sentence [S2E9, S4E21].

Occasionally, he is able to tell when he’s about to flash [S2E1, S2E8, S4E14] and get a few words out but that is pretty far and few between so not the most reliable.

Not to mention, he often needs a few seconds to recover and process after a flash. Either babbling what he’s seen or reacting to it in some way, usually with a shocked expression and a sudden manic energy. [I mean... basically any episode is evidence for this one]

None of the physical affects seem to be super harmful but it doesn’t answer our original question of “could he drive?”

So that brings me onto my next question.

Would The Flashes Count As Seizures?

Okay so you’re not allowed to drive with epilepsy, right?

So I quickly scanned the NHS website for info on epilepsy to see whether he would fall under any of the categories.

Now 3-6 seconds is actually very short by seizure-standards. Seizures can last seconds but they tend to be more in the minutes range.

However, there is a type of seizure called an absence seizure. It still falls under epilepsy and it tends to last no more than 15 seconds, usually less than 10.

And if we have a quick look at the symptoms:

An absence seizure, which used to be called a "petit mal", is where you lose awareness of your surroundings for a short time. They mainly affect children, but can happen at any age.

During an absence seizure, a person may:

stare blankly into space

look like they're "daydreaming"

flutter their eyes

make slight jerking movements of their body or limbs

Which I mean... 3/4 can be somewhat seen when Chuck flashes so...

According to healthline:

“Some activities can be dangerous for people with absence seizures. This is because absence seizures cause a temporary loss of awareness. Driving and swimming during an absence seizure might cause an accident or drowning.”

But I wanted to know whether the government would actually restrict it so then I checked the government driving restrictions for epilepsy to see whether it would count.

The closest to what Chuck experiences is likely classed as a “transient loss of consciousness (‘blackouts’) – or lost/altered awareness”.

The guidance for a TLoC depends on what type he has. I’ll leave links down below if you want to check all this out but I would guess that he would fall under “unexplained syncope, including syncope without reliable prodrome”.

In English, that means “unexplained loss of consciousness, including without reliable warning”.

Okay so that’s not exactly what Chuck has, given there is a known trigger for the intersect: anything related to the info it holds. However, it’s not always certain what is and isn’t in there or what will trigger a flash so I think it counts under “without reliable prodrome”.

And technically, he doesn’t lose consciousness after, or during, his flashes however, I would guess he is unresponsive, given how he cuts off speech so I’m also going to tentatively count that too.

The guidance for that specific TLoC is: “must not drive”.

I glanced through a couple of others and it says that if there is reliable warning for when it’s about to happen and the person is able to identify it and get themselves safe, they may still be allowed to drive.

However, as covered earlier, Chuck is able to react to it before it happens in only 3 instances in 4 seasons which isn’t reliable. Plus with the disorientation and/or panic that occurs after his flashes, I don’t think he’s fully aware for a few more seconds afterwards.

Does He Flash in a Car?

One of the criteria for being unable to drive is posture, whether it ever happens sitting down. Now for the particular TLoC that I thought he would be classified under, it technically doesn’t matter but we’re gonna cover all bases rn and check it anyway.

If Chuck never flashes while in a moving car, it could potentially be fine for him to drive.

However, in S1E13, he does flash while in a moving car after hearing a name.

He isn’t driving at the time, admittedly, and I don’t believe he ever flashes at the wheel so it’s possible that he would be able to drive but, based on the government guidelines, he would probably be exempt from driving.

In Conclusion

Okay so, by now, I have well and truly proved that I have too much time on my hands.

TL;DR: I think Chuck Bartowski’s intersect flashes could be counted as a form of epileptic seizure which could legally restrict him from driving.

The answer to the question is:

With the intersect in his head, he would probably not be legally allowed to drive under the government guidelines.

However, in canon, this is obviously not the case and the CIA/NSA would likely be able to pull some strings so he would still be able to drive regardless.

References