Yes, Adult ADHD can affect driving behavior, too. In fact, Chapter 5 of the book Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.? explores exactly how the ADHD Roller Coaster hits the road. An excerpt follows this great animation from “A.D.D. Man!” Buckle your seatbelts and watch out for Road Rage Ralph and Sally Soccer Mom.
Chapter 5:
Driving While Distracted:
The Roller Coaster Hits the Road
My husband’s driving has improved since
taking medication. He no longer “punishes”
drivers who pass him—by flashing his lights,
making rude gestures, and yelling. I’d be so
embarrassed, I’d slink down in the seat.
– Elizabeth
Carol, married 15 years, says her husband is the absolute best driver ever: “At night, Ken notices little animals on the side of the road and has stopped for moose and deer that I never would have seen.”
Denise’s husband stopped for a moose, too—after he slammed into it at 50 mph. “He says it jumped in front of him,” she says, “but God help me, I wonder if Michael could have avoided the collision had he not been playing with the radio, fussing with the cell phone, adjusting the heat—all the things he does while not watching where he’s going.”
Hubby Michael also doesn’t connect the dots, for example, between speeding citations and higher insurance premiums. What’s more, if he gets one more ticket, he will lose his license and therefore his transportation to work. “But he can’t see the ‘big picture’ in anything,” Teresa says.
“White-knuckling it” is how Rory describes the experience of riding with her husband because, as she explains, “It used to be, if I was going to ride with Clint for more than 15 minutes, I took a nerve pill.” After a particularly nasty road-rage incident, she put the brakes on riding as his passenger ever again; instead, whenever they rode together, she did the driving. He didn’t like it, but she valued her life too much to care. A few months later, she learned about ADHD, and “That explained a lot.”
There you have it: Some adults with ADHD drive extremely well, some drive less well, and some downright menace our highways. None of these stories, or others shared in the support group for partners of adults with ADHD, surprise the researchers who’ve made driving one of the most heavily studied facets of ADHD in teens and adults. They’ve gathered mounds of data demonstrating that ADHD’s driving-related deficits are real, and even life threatening. What’s more, they’ve shown that adults with untreated ADHD often remain unaware of their driving challenges.
Consider the results of one 2005 study by a pioneering researcher in this area, psychologist Russell Barkley, and colleagues. Echoing many other studies, the group diagnosed with ADHD showed these outcomes:
• Had a higher rate of collisions
• Had a higher incidence of speeding tickets
• Had higher total driving citations in their driving history
• Rated themselves lower in the use of safe driving behaviors
• Used fewer safe-driving behaviors in lab simulators
Here’s the clincher. Despite their quantifiably poorer performance when compared to a control group, the adults with ADHD in this study thought they did just fine.
Of course, plenty of people with ADHD prove to be excellent drivers, and many dangerous drivers do not have ADHD, cautions Daniel J. Cox, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center. Author of more than 170 scientific articles, he has extensively
researched driving safety and how disorders such as ADHD, alcoholism, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes affect it. By and large, though, when it comes to untreated ADHD, the preponderance of evidence suggests critical, even life-threatening, disruption.
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How about you? If you or your partner has ADHD, do you find it’s affected driving safety?
Tags: Adults with ADHD, Attention-Deficit Disorder, citations, collisions, Driving, driving safety, road rage, speeding tickets
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Driving. A woman I know with ADD tells me she is a very good driver but that her driving capability falls apart if she is forced to drive a vehicle with automatic transmission. She says if she has the shifting to do, it provides just enough “to do” that she doesn’t lose her focus.
Not having to actually do anything but steer, accelerate and brake (amazing, that’s three things already; add looking at mirrors and it’s four) causes her to be bored enough that she begins to cast about for something else to occupy her brain.
It underscores what you say — that the ways ADD expresses itself are so varied among individuals. I know someone else with ADD who doesn’t drive because her anxiety about all the split-second decisions she must make create such discomfort she doesn’t even approach the idea much anymore.
One person’s thrill — or even mere pleasure — is another person’s fright (or overstimulation).
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Betsy- My son (ADD Inattentive type) swears that he’s a better driver because he has a manual shift car. He said that he’s less likely to grab the iPod and switch songs because he knows he has to shift soon. Who would have thought?
On the other hand my husband (ADD Inattentive type) is a hyper focus driver. Instead of being distracted he hyperfocuses to the extent that he forgets to turn off the windshield wipers 10 minutes after it’s stopped raining… despite the horrible scraping noises eminating from the windshield!
When I drive with him, I want to reach over and push the gas pedal. He’s such a slow driver that people pass him continually and honk and gesture as they go by. I’m not sure what he’s hyperfocusing on, but I know it’s not the speedometer. His average speed is usually about 10-15 mph below the speed limit. After 23 years of marriage, he understands that I that I have exclusive control of the radio knob. It’s the only thing that helps me to drown out the sounds of honking.
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I sometimes think my husband has ADD but has not been diagnosed. He is the one who pays no attention until I shout “James! SLOW DOWN!”. Its an absolute mess.
Oh and I loved the cartoon. Thanks for sharing!
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I never even considered the possibility my son was ADD until he turned 16 and I was trying to teach him how to drive. It only took a couple of trips to make me realize something was up.
This turned out to be a good thing. He was diagnosed and treated. Not only did his driving improve, so did his grades. And he’s now doing very well in college too.
- M
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Very interesting, Merrill. Lots of studies have been done on ADHD and driving; the effects of untreated ADHD are apparently easy to measure.
Good for you and your son. I’m glad he’s doing well (and driving safely!).
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What was his treatment?
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Hi Val,
Whose treatment?
g
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I sortof wonder if I have ADD, too. I’ve ALWAYS had trouble focusing and paying attention. I was tested for it as a kid but it came back negative. It’s never really been a HUGE (Read: Life-threatening) problem until I started driving. I DON’T even take my cell out of my purse, which sits in the BACK seat, I don’t mess with the radio and AC, make sure everything is in place before leaving my parking spot, and know all the rules because I went to Driver’s Ed. It doesn’t stop me from losing focus and running stop signs, or being late or slow on turns or getting into the right lane, or being able to focus on everything. I do everything I’m supposed to to keep my distractions at a minimum, I know all the rules and try to follow them exactly, but I still make huge mistakes every time I get into a car. It’s been a huge source of frustration for me and I really don’t know what to do.
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Hi Reia,
Sounds like it’s time to stop wondering if you have ADHD and start investigating the possibility in earnest. Truly, before you suffer an injury.
While some people with ADHD are of course good drivers, even without medication, many suffer serious impairments.
In fact, a huge amount of research focuses on ADHD-related driving impairments. They are real and quantifiable. Despite trying to do everything by the rules, drivers with untreated ADHD can still pose a risk to themselves (and others) once they get behind the wheel. For these drivers, medication can make a huge difference in driving safety.
I devote a chapter to this in my book, which addresses treatment strategies in full (therapy and medication). I encourage you to read it. It just could safe your life. No kidding.
take care,
Gina
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This may explain why some weird sort of stuff happen on the road with so many drivers. Not to be taken wrong hopefully, the thing is there is something that can be done about the condition if only people would be aware.
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