Can you still drive with dementia?

Dementia and driving

When a person is diagnosed with dementia, it will be life changing for them, particularly the knowledge that they will have to stop driving at an earlier time in their lives. We all have to stop driving at some point in the aging journey, regardless of a dementia diagnosis.

For many drivers this represents a loss of their independence, freedom, social connections, and sense of identity. The loss of social connection loss is especially important if the person with dementia has reduced mobility, lives alone or lives rurally.

Dementia is a progressive illness, not one specific disease. So symptoms will become more noticeable over time. Symptoms include:

• memory loss
• confusion/disorientation with time/place
• difficulty finding right words
• reduced concentration, judgement and decision making.

Dementia also interferes with our ability to respond to changes and problem solve. This interferes with normal daily life as familiar and routine tasks become more challenging.

How can dementia affect driving?

Driving is very complex task. It involves making snap decisions in milliseconds. A driver’s actions and reactions can be the difference between life and death. Driving is the most dangerous activity we do each day.

Driving involves visual-spatial skills, memory, fast reactions, judgement, attention, coordination. The driver needs to be alert and watching traffic in front and behind, aware of road hazards and pedestrians, staying in the lane, changing lane, traffic passing, sounds and sirens, adjusting speed, adjusting to weather conditions and responding in an emergency. Over time the dementia disease will affect all these driving skills including the driver with dementia being aware they are no longer safe to drive.

In the early stages of diagnosis of dementia the driver may not have issues with driving, but they will need to stop at some point so it is best to have conversations and have a plan to stop driving as early as possible once diagnosed with dementia. Discussion with a family GP or a Specialist are important. Discuss no driving options available in your area, including home delivery services, shuttle services, bus and taxi services, volunteer schemes, and Total Mobility schemes.

Is it safe to drive with dementia?

All drivers have a responsibility to ensure they are medically fit to drive. Dementia is a medical condition which affects driving. In the early stages you may want to consider the following questions like – am I still safe to drive?, when will I know when I am no longer safe to drive?, has anyone commented on my driving?, when should I stop driving?

Consider when driving do you:

• Need direction?
• Become lost in familiar areas?
• Confuse left and right?
• Make slower decisions at traffic lights, intersections or when changing lanes?
• Have difficulty interpreting traffic signs?
• Drive more slowly?
• Take longer to react?
• Have difficulty responding to the unfamiliar?
• Drive on the wrong side of the road?
• Change lanes inappropriately?
• Violate traffic laws?
• Cause damage to the car which you are unable to explain
• Use the accelerator and the brake at the same time?
• Brake at the wrong time on main roads?

Keep in mind, a perfect driving record does not minimize new risks now that the person has a dementia diagnosis. Changes in the brain once a person has a dementia diagnosis are unpredictable. We cannot see what brain changes are occurring once a person has dementia diagnosis. The person with dementia may not be aware they are driving unsafely.

What to talk to about driving with dementia

The person with dementia may lose insight or awareness. They may never agree that they are no longer safe to drive. You may need to involve the GP in the decision of their medical fitness to drive. Coming to terms with giving up a driver’s license may take time. The transition to being a non-driver: can bring a sense of loss in independence. When we are no longer able to change the situation-we are challenged to change ourselves.
 
Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency) provides an excellent resource for senior drivers, this is attached below.

More information about Dementia Waikato

Dementia Waikato is a charitable trust providing free services to support individuals with a dementia diagnosis, their families and care partners.
 
To contact the Coromandel Peninsula Dementia Advisor and for more information about Dementia Waikato see the related link below.