It is well known that those presenting to doctors with ADHD symptoms are frequently diagnosed when they present both inattentivenessand hyperactivity. When you think about ADHD sufferers and driving then, it’s easy to see how neither of these two symptom categories inspire much confidence. People behind the wheel should certainly not be hyperactive, inattentive, or impulsive when driving.In fact, this sounds like a recipe for disaster.
But do people with ADHD drive? Yes! Millions, in fact, do it every day. To do it successfully, an ADHD sufferer just needs to keep a few extra things in mind and learn over time to cope with their condition. So much of living with ADHD is learning how to manage it, say Next Level Daily, a company producing a high-performance planner for those with ADHD. They say that the slack cannot be picked up by medication.
Yes, medication is important for managing ADHD, but it is not more important than learning how to manage the condition and adopting good habits. This is one of the reasons why it’s so important that ADHD is identified early, as the sooner a person starts learning to live with ADHD, the better.
A childhood diagnosis – a time in life when responsibilities are at a minimum and parental care is there to help – is ideal for developing a different approach to life. For those who make it into adulthood without a diagnosis, it can be harder to adjust.
And all of this has particularly important implications for driving. This is a skill normally learned in the teenage years, and this is indeed a good time to learn to manage ADHD. You are not yet totally on your own, but there are now responsibilities in life, not least the education that sets up your future – and driving is just another one of them. Seen like this, it’s easy to see how driving can become just another skill that ADHD sufferers have to approach a little differently.
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What are the Risks?
So, what are you trying to overcome when you learn to drive with ADHD? Or, in other words, what are the risks and hazards ADHD drivers need to tackle? Here follows a few, as well as how to deal with them:
Impulsive Movements
The skills that are affected by ADHD include planning ahead, which is turn means that ADHD sufferers are more impulsive. This is a risk when driving. The way to deal with this is simply to be aware that extra concentration is needed when behind the wheel and consider this before you even turn the ignition.
Hyperactivity
On the road, hyperactivity is certainly no good thing. The symptoms of ADHD typically manifest behind the wheel in drivers who are more likely to speed or make dangerous maneuvers, often finding a certain delight in doing so. The solution is to read the language of the road, including the speeding signs, and consider these a guide leading you through the task.
Distraction
Nevertheless, reading too much of the road can also be a problem. Getting easily distracted is one of the symptoms of ADHD, and it can manifest in driving when you pay attention to something outside of the vehicle but completely irrelevant to the task at hand – driving. You should always keep an eye out for the stop signs and lane markings but try to avoid staring at that flock of birds or that other driver’s silly license plate.
People with ADHD are statistically more likely to cause traffic accidents. But then, there are millions who do no such thing. It is always just a matter of overcoming.