Driving While ADHD (teaching teen son to drive) (schools, treatment, functioning)

[ERH]

My 18yo ADHD son (attentive type) is only recently learning to drive, and we've had some pretty scary near-misses. The latest was today, when he seemingly did not see a stop sign and nearly careened into someone's back-end at 40 mph. I was screaming at him to stop, but it took him several long (agonizing) seconds to react and apply the brakes.

This is the 3rd time in about a week that this kind of thing has happened. Aside from these events, he seems to be making the normal mistakes we all make while learning to handle ourselves on the road. My husband and I have been pleased with his progress and felt, until today, that he was ready to take the road test and secure his license.

To be perfectly honest, it never occurred to me that his ADHD would impact his driving abilities -- until he mentioned it today, and then tonight I googled it, and yes, apparently it is indeed a thing. When discussing it with him and trying to understand what's going through his head in the moments these incidents are occurring, he says that he's zoning out, just like he does in the classroom.

From Distracted Driving Dangers:

"The group with ADHD was significantly more likely to be convicted for speeding, not obeying signs and signals, following too closely, improper passing, and not following road markings. In every other category measured — including reckless driving, drunk driving, and lane placement — the ADHD drivers were at least somewhat more likely to have committed infractions."

I found the tips in this article helpful (especially about turning off the music), but I'm hoping to hear from others who either have ADHD and drive or those who have been in a similar position teaching an ADHD child to drive.

[Tallie225]

Why are you pressuring him to drive? Maybe lay off a few years. 18 is so young. I have ADD and I didn't get my licence until I was 27. Yup. Is he showing intrest? Zoning out and not focusing are huge issues...maybe time to let it be....why did you think ADD wouldn't hurt his driving? It certainly can and obviously your seeing it first hand. Has he been to a driving school? Try that. I had to go to driving school twice!

[ERH]

Originally Posted by Tallie225

Why are you pressuring him to drive? Maybe lay off a few years. 18 is so young. I have ADD and I didn't get my licence until I was 27. Yup. Is he showing intrest? Zoning out and not focusing are huge issues...maybe time to let it be....why did you think ADD wouldn't hurt his driving? It certainly can and obviously your seeing it first hand. Has he been to a driving school? Try that. I had to go to driving school twice!

1. I'm not forcing him to drive. This is all him.
2. I don't know.
3. Yes, he's completed driving school.

Thanks for the helpful post!

[Spazkat9696]

Just out of curiosity does medication seem to impact his driving? My son has high functioning ASD/ADHD and I’m worried about his driving. We haven’t allowed him to get his permit yet.

[ERH]

Originally Posted by Spazkat9696

Just out of curiosity does medication seem to impact his driving? My son has high functioning ASD/ADHD and I’m worried about his driving. We haven’t allowed him to get his permit yet.

I have not noticed any negative impacts. My son takes Adderall.

[townshend]

There are longitudinal studies that show that untreated adult ADHD patients are less safe as drivers.

Here is an article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4195639/

And I cite one sentence from the result: "Effective treatment of adults’ ADHD improves symptoms, emotional lability, and patient functioning, often leading to favorable outcomes (eg, safer driving, reduced criminality)." (No, the article is not saying that ADHD = criminality.)

I had done hours of CME (continued medical education on ADHD), and the psychiatry professors (from medical schools) who lecture cite these longitudinal studies, which indicate that untreated ADHD patients have more auto accidents, more job turnover, less educational achievement, more divorces, etc.

I don't have these articles "on the tip of my tongue," but such results would be consistent with the condition. It has nothing to do with IQ, it only has to do with maintaining focus and attention. Even non-ADHD drivers are subject to lapses in concentration, and we must be careful and attentive when we drive. How much more so for the ADHD patient.

The point here is that ADHD is not "environment specific" -- it isn't just a problem functioning at school, but it affects other environments as well -- work (esp. in adults with ADHD), home life, driving, participation in sports (see more on this last item below).

Generally speaking, is he on his medications when he is driving? I have parents who take their kids off for the entire weekend, every single weekend. I tell them that is their choice, but usually point out that the child may benefit from being on the medication on the weekends.

Finally, I have a psychiatrist I worked for who is a consultant for major sports teams in Dallas. He started first with the Texas Rangers, and he is an expert at ADHD and makes sure that baseball players are 1) on the best medication for them (two classes of stimulants, and varieties within each class); and 2) the dose is optimized (not too low, and not too high). The answer is yes: baseball players with ADHD will make more "errors" (pun intended) in playing baseball.

So your post is in target, and what you are noticing is real. In addition to medication, yes, do use other strategies to aid your son in becoming a safe driver.

Edit: If you look at the article cited, in the back under references, you will see that 75, 76, 78, 79 are all articles on the topic of ADHD and driving.