Driving & ADHD

Saturday, October 4, 2008

People with ADD or ADHD are four times more likely to speed and two to three times more likely to be in an auto accident. Watch the story Watch Video

Learning to drive can be a challenge, especially for teens like Tosha Mulligan, who has attention deficit disorder.

She says her mind often wonders while she's driving.

People with ADD or ADHD are four times more likely to speed and two to three times more likely to be in an auto accident. Chris Zeigler Dendy is the author of "Teenagers with ADD and ADHD."

She says these teens are likely to be inattentive, impulsive and easily distracted.

Proper medication can help a teen driver focus and concentrate better on the road. Dendy offers these tips for teens:

Don't use your cell phone
Wear your seat belt
Don't have other teens in the car with you when you start driving

Keeping everything quiet inside the car also helps tasha.

Teen drivers, especially those with adhd, often overestimate their driving ability, and underestimate risk.

Because they tend to multi-task, they may carry this habit on to the road, which greatly increases the chance of an accident. If your ADHD teen takes driving seriously, that's a good sign that he or she may be ready for the road.

Source: CNN