Statistically, the likelihood of having a second seizure after a first seizure is 50%, but this risk decreases with time. Therefore, to prevent epilepsy-related traffic accidents, it is generally recommended that driving should not be performed for the first 6 months after a first seizure. For this prospective study analysis, a total of 1386 patients who sought medical attention for their first seizure between 2000 and 2011 were included. According to the cause of epilepsy, there were two types of seizures: those with and those without a trigger. Induced seizures were mainly defined as having a clear recent factor, a previous injury to the central nervous system within 7 days, or a systemic injury and associated epileptic foci found at CT and MRI. Independent risk factors for unprovoked seizures included a previous symptomatic etiology, partial seizures, abnormal EEG presentation and first seizure during sleep. Univariate analysis found that antiepileptic drug treatment after the first seizure increased the recurrence rate, but there were no significant differences in multivariate and subgroup analyses. The presence of epileptic foci on imaging was strongly associated with previous symptoms, and after removing the cause of previous symptoms from the multivariate model, imaging abnormalities would be the only independent predictor of recurrence. If a patient has an EEG or imaging abnormality, this will result in a significantly higher recurrence rate. However, for patients without a causative cause, even if no abnormalities were found on EEG or imaging, the cumulative probability of recurrence was still 23% at 3 months, 34% at 6 months, and 45% at 1 year, with the conditional monthly probability of recurrence decreasing to 2.5% at 8 months. Independent factors predicting seizure recurrence with causative epilepsy included the presence of seizure foci on imaging, partial-onset epilepsy, and EEG abnormalities. The probability of seizure recurrence was higher in patients with central nervous system injury; the cumulative probability of seizure recurrence was 14% at 3 months, 23% at 6 months, and 31% at 1 year, decreasing to 2.5% for monthly recurrence conditions after 5 months in patients with epilepsy due to systemic injury and no EEG abnormalities. The quantitative data from this study provide a basis for when returning to driving occupations after the first seizure in patients with epilepsy can best avoid epilepsy-related traffic accidents. Patients with unprovoked epilepsy should be restricted from driving for 8 months after their first seizure, while patients with provoked epilepsy should be restricted for 5 months after their first seizure.