Chronic Neurological Conditions and Driving

Chronic Neurological Conditions and Driving

As people age, their bodies start to break down. People often notice that they may not recover as quickly after a workout and that they still feel sore the next morning. The same is true of the brain. Sometimes, people develop chronic neurological conditions that can impact their reflexes, judgment, and ability to drive.

When people talk about chronic neurological conditions, several examples could have extreme impacts on their ability to not only drive but also to relate to their friends and families. Even though someone may technically still be alive, many people who know someone with a chronic neurological condition liken it to a traumatic brain injury, in that a person's personality and ability to perform executive functions could be completely gone. A few common examples include:

Alzheimer's Disease: This is the most common form of dementia. The symptoms of this disease can be similar to the symptoms of a traumatic brain injury and can include memory loss but also numerous other symptoms, including forgetting the faces of family and friends, the inability to control their emotions, and problems with their sleep schedule. Someone who drives with this disease has the potential to cause serious auto accidents.

Frontotemporal Dementia: This is a chronic neurological condition that might be seen on an MRI, similar to the diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury. However, it can only be confirmed with a biopsy. This form of dementia hits the frontal and temporal lobes. Damage to these lobes removes the ability to perform executive functions, exercise judgment, and can make them prone to dramatic emotional swings. Without the ability to exercise proper judgment, individuals are prone to making rash decisions behind the wheel of a car, possibly leading to traumatic injuries.
These are only a few of the many types of chronic neurological conditions.

An Informative Research Paper and Review

A recent research paper exploring the impacts of these diseases on someone's driving ability was released by a team of medical professionals. The paper starts out by noting that the prevalence of some chronic neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease, is rising rapidly. This is because people are living longer, giving them more time to develop these conditions. There are several problems that these diseases can have on someone's ability to drive, including:

Cognition: People may have trouble reacting quickly to the changing circumstances around them. They may also forget where they are going and have trouble with directions. Rash decisions behind the wheel of a car can place other people at risk.

Visual Disturbances: Depending on where in the brain these diseases hit, they can make it hard for people to see what is going on around them. Reduced ability to see their surroundings can make it hard for people to drive safely on the road.

Motor Function: In particular, Parkinson's Disease impacts someone's motor skills. While driving may seem to be a passive process, people need fast reflexes to react to the changes in the road. If people cannot move their hands and feet quickly, they could have trouble taking evasive action on the road.

The paper discusses that standards need to be set for individuals with chronic neurological conditions to retain their license. As their symptoms worsen, consideration should be given to removing their license for the safety of themselves and others on the road.

What Needs to be Done to Address this Problem

While this sounds like a great idea on the surface, there are some problems that this task presents. First, these conditions are different and can all have different symptoms. Some people may have more severe symptoms than others. The easy solution to this is to quantify the symptoms. However, symptoms can fluctuate even on a day to day basis, and it can be hard to objectively quantify these symptoms. Therefore, more research must be done on the severity of these symptoms and, specifically, the impact that they have on someone's ability to drive. Those who have been injured by someone with a chronic neurological condition should contact a professional legal adviser to discuss the options that they have to pay their medical and repair bills.

Image Attribution: The MRI scan from the top of the page was found first on Wikimedia Commons and has been printed with permission under the CC BY SA License, version 3.0.
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Chronic Medical Conditions are Problematic for Commercial Drivers

Chronic Medical Conditions are Problematic for Commercial Drivers

While every driver should be focused on safety first when they take to the open road, this job is particularly important for commercial drivers. This is because commercial drivers often operate significantly larger vehicles than the average sedan and they are capable of causing some serious damage if involved in an accident. Unfortunately, many commercial drivers carry with them some chronic medical conditions which can make it more difficult to safely and efficiently drive on the road. A recent meta-analysis was conducted to take a look at the specifics on how these medical conditions impact their driving.

Medical Events Behind the Wheel can be Deadly

The reason why medical conditions behind the wheel are important knowledge is that they can impact a person's ability to operate a motor vehicle safely. While it is difficult to regulate private vehicles, there are regulations that exist for commercial drivers. Commercial drivers include anyone who drives for a living, such as those who drive trucks full of inventory from place to place. If someone is prone to falling asleep behind the wheel, they can cause an auto accident or a truck accident that can have serious consequences. The supplies that they are carrying could be damaged in transportation. However, they can impact other people on the road as well. Accidents involving tractor-trailers can lead to catastrophic personal injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries, or even a wrongful death. There are numerous medical conditions that people carry that can adversely affect their driving ability. For example, as obesity continues to increase in society, obstructive sleep apnea will become more common as well. This is a condition where people have trouble breathing comfortably at night, causing them to wake up and gasp for air. If they do not get a good night's sleep, then they wake up tired and fatigued the next day. This means that they could fall asleep while driving and cause traumatic injuries, such as femur fractures. This is only one of the many conditions that commercial drivers may carry. Recently, a team of researchers went through the research databases to study how these conditions specifically impact commercial drivers. Their results carry important implications for future regulations on commercial driving.

An Analysis of Chronic Medical Conditions

The researchers conducted an extensive search of the many electronic research databases to try and find research studies regarding chronic medical conditions and commercial driving. They extracted the data from the studies and combined them into a giant table, leading to statistical analyses looking for significant results. Ultimately, the researchers found 32 research studies which had over 150 thousand commercial drivers involved in the study. About 98 percent of these drivers were men. The researchers found an unusually high prevelance of chronic medical conditions in these commercial drivers. They found that close to twenty percent of the drivers had some sort of sleep disorder. A quarter of them had high blood pressure, termed hypertension. A third of the drivers had diabetes. Close to half of the drivers were obese. In many of the studies they found, obesity and sleep disorders were found to be linked to a higher rate of crashes. The researchers found that the other studies on the other medical conditions mentioned as they related to crashes were particularly sparse and that more was needed. They also recommended that studies be done on the cost of these accidents as they relate to chronic medical issues.

Future Recommendations: Safety First

This study is an important landmark in the research behind commercial driving safety. Medical conditions of individuals behind the wheel should not be overlooked and it needs to be documented which medical conditions impact someone's driving. While this study sheds some important light on medical conditions and safety behind the wheel, more research is necessary to determine what type of regulations are necessary. For example, these conditions all impact different people in different ways. This can make it difficult to standardize how these conditions should be monitored by medical professionals and restricted by the authorities. Perhaps it would be helpful to place objective limits on how bad medical conditions can get before their driving is restricted. However, it can be hard to place objective limitations and standards on these conditions. How can the medical community objectively quantify how bad someone's sleep apnea is? And would all medical providers evaluate this condition the same way? This is one of the many challenges involved in monitoring chronic medical conditions in commercial driving. Regardless, these conditions can lead to deadly accidents that can impact someone for the rest of their life. Anyone who has been injured in a car or truck accident should consult a legal professional regarding their options before making any decisions.

Image Source: This image was released into the public domain by its original author and was originally found on Wikimedia Commons
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