Does Your ADHD impact your driving abilities?

Before we discuss the answer to the question "does your ADHD impact your driving abilities?", we must first explore ADHD itself. ADHD is the acronym for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which is a disorder that affects behaviour. There are three classifications of the disorder, which used to be known simply as ADD. In "93, it was renamed to encompass common hyperactivity symptoms.

Type 1: Innattentive

The common signs that someone has the inattentive type are: inability to remain focused on activities, problems with attention to detail, distractibility, avoidance of tasks that need mental effort and forgetfulness.

Type 2: Hyperactive

The common signs that someone has the hyperactive type are: difficulty waiting, fidgeting, talking excessively and not listening to full questions before answering, being constantly active.

The third type is the combined type. The combined type will exhibit symptoms of both the hyperactive type and the inattentive disorder type. When reading the above signs of ADHD, you will probably not that several of them i.e. inability to focus/remain focused and impatience aren"t qualities that you expect drivers/learner drivers to exhibit.

How does your ADHD impact your driving abilities?

Research over the last few years has discovered several things regarding ADHD and the impact on driving abilities. Russell Barkley, in a 2005 study, noted the following:

- People with ADHD had a higher collision rate.
- People with ADHD were caught speeding on more occasions.
- People with ADHD exhibited less safe driving behaviour than other people in the study.
- Adults with ADHD did not rate their standard of driving as any lower than that of other study participants.

While research suggests that people with ADHD exhibit a poorer performance in a controlled setting, this doesn"t necessarily mean that people with ADHD are all poor drivers. There are plenty of people who don"t have this disorder who are poor drivers, ADHD is not always going to be the reason why.

Does your ADHD impact your driving abilities so much that you shouldn"t be learning to drive/driving?

In the U.K., the DVLA provides information for those with psychiatric disorders (including ADHD). There are regulations in place to make sure that those with ADHD pose as small a risk as possible while driving. Doctors must agree that you"re safe enough to drive, in order for you to legally do so. If you have been recently diagnosed with ADHD and already hold a full licence, you should talk to your doctor about your driving abilities.

Learning to drive is an activity that is normally controlled by a qualified driver instructor. Although it may take longer to master the skill because of an inattentiveness/ability to not focus as effectively as other people, I"d like to think that perhaps the excess training/experience will ultimately help those with ADHD to learn to be good drivers and successfully pass their test.

How does your ADHD impact your driving abilities? What signs while driving should you look out for?

The severity of the ADHD disorder will determine whether it is safe to be driving. The following signs should help determine whether it"s safe for the person in question with ADHD to be on the road: drifting across the road while driving, slow hand/foot/eye co-ordination, excessive or innapropriate speed levels, not yielding to others with the right of way, ignoring signs/other car signals.

How to determine the true answer to "does your ADHD impact your driving abilities?"

Driving assessments can be completed by medical experts with knowledge about driving. Comprehensive evaluations can be obtained, so if you/someone you know is worried about the effect that ADHD has on driving ability, contact the DVLA and enquire about this service.