Article: kids and teens with ADHD are more likely to have car accidents.

[sarahsweets]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/health...udy/index.html
Well duh. But I'm very glad they mentioned the importance of medication.

[sarahsweets]

Besides informing adolescents with ADHD about the seriousness of operating a vehicle, Hinshaw said, it is important to make sure they have a treatment plan in place. It can be medical or therapeutic, depending on the youth's needs.
In May, a study published in JAMA Psychiatry said that drivers with ADHD who are medicated have a dramatically lower rate of car accidents.

I love it when mainstream media acknowledges the importance of treatment, especially medication!

a new study found that out of the 2,479 adolescents with ADHD, only 12% were medicated in the 30 days before they received their license. That's a similar percentage to the overall amount of adolescents with ADHD who take medication, Hinshaw said.
Power wrote in an email that researchers were surprised that such a low percentage of young people with ADHD were prescribed medication by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia system doctors at the time they received their driver's licenses.
"This suggests that a high percentage of novice drivers with ADHD are not taking medication when they drive," he said.

Some of this could be as a result of misinformation about stimulants, poor press or maybe even different standards of care because of the abuse potential for the medication.

Power said this finding raises questions that warrant more research. "Why are adolescents not being prescribed medication? And why are they not using medication?" he asked. "Because there clearly is evidence that using medication can reduce crash risk."

Awesome and I agree. As an adult, I am a hazard without medication so I cant imagine what a new adhd driver must feel like.

[Lunacie]

Seems to counter the old argument that ADHD is "overdiagnosed" because Big
Pharma is pushing pills.

I was so scared when my oldest granddaughter with ADHD chose to move to the
BIG city (Kansas City) as she is unmedicated. She left a month after graduating
high school so was only 18, but has been there a year now and has not had any
accidents. WooHoo!

[Cyllya]

People with ADHD are particularly at risk for driving while distracted, during long-distance of highway driving, the nonprofit said.

The highway part of this is surprising, since highway driving seems a lot less risky to me. Non-ADHD people statistically have less accidents on highways, if I'm not mistaken. (Accidents that do happen are often worse because of high speeds, but they're less likely to happen in the first place.) No intersections, no stop lights, no stop signs, no pedestrians, no bicyclists, fewer speed changes, fewer distracting advertisements cluttering the sides of the road, opposite-direction traffic separated by a concrete barrier, those little reflective doohickies set into the lane markings, the option of using cruise control so you don't waste brain power on monitoring and correcting your speed.... The biggest thing to worry about is making sure you don't bump into the car in front of you.

Actually, maybe this sentence from the article means that ADHDers' risk on highways is relatively higher than non-ADHDers' risks on highways (compared to the relative risk on non-highways), but for highways are still less risky for ADHDers than non-highways are to ADHDers.

[Fuzzy12]

I think for me highways or motorways are probably more risky. In towns there is enough going on to keep me focused on driving. Yes there's a lot to take in but it's all got to do with driving. I'm naturally more alert during city driving.

On motorways my mind tends to drift much more. There isn't so much to keep my mind anchored.

[aeon]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy12

I think for me highways or motorways are probably more risky. In towns there is enough going on to keep me focused on driving. Yes there's a lot to take in but it's all got to do with driving. I'm naturally more alert during city driving.

On motorways my mind tends to drift much more. There isn't so much to keep my mind anchored.

You said it so I didn't have to.


Exactly,
Ian

[Lunacie]

Originally Posted by Cyllya

The highway part of this is surprising, since highway driving seems a lot less risky to me. Non-ADHD people statistically have less accidents on highways, if I'm not mistaken. (Accidents that do happen are often worse because of high speeds, but they're less likely to happen in the first place.) No intersections, no stop lights, no stop signs, no pedestrians, no bicyclists, fewer speed changes, fewer distracting advertisements cluttering the sides of the road, opposite-direction traffic separated by a concrete barrier, those little reflective doohickies set into the lane markings, the option of using cruise control so you don't waste brain power on monitoring and correcting your speed.... The biggest thing to worry about is making sure you don't bump into the car in front of you.

Actually, maybe this sentence from the article means that ADHDers' risk on highways is relatively higher than non-ADHDers' risks on highways (compared to the relative risk on non-highways), but for highways are still less risky for ADHDers than non-highways are to ADHDers.

You're describing a freeway or a toll road. A highway can and does many of
those distractions, there are no dividers. Not to mention deer jumping out of
the ditch and smashing into your windshield or fender. Pretty common here.

[Greyhound1]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy12

I think for me highways or motorways are probably more risky. In towns there is enough going on to keep me focused on driving. Yes there's a lot to take in but it's all got to do with driving. I'm naturally more alert during city driving.

On motorways my mind tends to drift much more. There isn't so much to keep my mind anchored.

That's the total opposite for me. I can focus or hyper focus on driving on an interstate or freeway. The less vehicles the better.

I just got home tonight from Baltimore and Washington D.C. about 2 hours ago and had to drive in both cities. All the monuments, architecture, and historic landmarks to look at coupled with tons of traffic and me trying to navigate everywhere having to use gps on phone. Roads aren't marketed well, people all over the place crossing the street while I am looking up for street signs. I am dangerous in the city.

I saw the Washington monument from a distance and forgot all about driving. Having OCD, anxiety and ADHD makes me an irritable, worn out and dangerous driver in big cities. When I was younger and just had ADHD driving in the city was very enjoyable and I could manage much much better. NY city and Boston driving was fun. Now, I am a basket case. I always take a Zanax now before driving in Miami.

I can drive 12-18 hours on the interstate with no problem at all, day or night. 30 minutes driving in a big crowded city and my brain, nerves and patience are shot. It physically exhausts me.

[Greyhound1]

Originally Posted by Lunacie

You're describing a freeway or a toll road. A highway can and does many of
those distractions, there are no dividers. Not to mention deer jumping out of
the ditch and smashing into your windshield or fender. Pretty common here.

Reminds me of a caller I heard who called into a radio talk show here in S. Florida.

She honestly called the station to complain about a caution deer crossing sign on a busy road. She thought it was totally idiotic to allow the deer to cross there and was just going off.

Only in Florida and she was dead serious.

[Lunacie]

Originally Posted by Greyhound1

Reminds me of a caller I heard who called into a radio talk show here in S. Florida.

She honestly called the station to complain about a caution deer crossing sign on a busy road. She thought it was totally idiotic to allow the deer to cross there and was just going off.

Only in Florida and she was dead serious.

I remember that. Woman was quite serious, how dare the powers that be allow
deer to cross a busy highway.

There are fences to keep deer from crossing the interstate or freeway, but
nothing to prevent them from crossing a highway. Two very different roads.
No dividers, sometimes no road markings if the road has been resurfaced or
the markings have worn off.

Along the four-lane highway I take several times a week there is a large sign
laying in the ditch, been there three weeks, probably tells how far to the next
towns along the road so no rush to get it fixed. Don't know if it was plowed
into by a semi-truck or knocked over by strong winds.

[Greyhound1]

What's scary it that a lot of I-95 has no fence especially in the central FL. and more rural areas. I have seen hundreds of deer over the years grazing just 10-20 feet from the interstate at night.

I remember seeing and counting over 50 during one particular night trip.

[TheGreatKing]

Originally Posted by Greyhound1

What's scary it that a lot of I-95 has no fence especially in the central FL. and more rural areas. I have seen hundreds of deer over the years grazing just 10-20 feet from the interstate at night.

I remember seeing and counting over 50 during one particular night trip.

I live will in Canada and there so many deer's crossing the roads you have to be quite aware of your surroundings

[Little Missy]

Originally Posted by TheGreatKing

I live will in Canada and there so many deer's crossing the roads you have to be quite aware of your surroundings

here too, they hang out in gangs and defy vehicles. buncha insubordinates. turkeys too. slow, messy and they yell at you in that gobble-gobble voice pecking at your car tires.