Issue Date: August 19, 2007
Driving while distracted
Cellphones can be dangerous for young drivers, especially those with ADHD.
Teens with ADHD have nearly four times as many car accidents as other teens.
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It has been estimated that 2 million children have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Symptoms vary, but they may include inattentiveness, impulsiveness and hyperactivity. As with many psychological conditions, the diagnosis is made when symptoms are pervasive enough to disrupt a person's life. Nonetheless, becoming easily distracted can have consequences even when a diagnosis of ADHD isn't applicable. To make matters worse, everywhere we go, our brains are stimulated by a barrage of sensory input from TV screens, MP3 players, cellphones and computers. No wonder we're having trouble concentrating.
A dire consequence has occurred as the result of what I call "environmental ADHD." We've taken our tools of distraction from the home, school and office into the automobile. This has become the new drunken driving. A text message distracting a student in class may mean ignoring a teacher's point, but a text message distracting a driver may mean ignoring a red light.
For years, researchers have suspected a link between cellphone usage and auto accidents. One study, published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" in 1997, found that using a cellphone while driving quadrupled the risk of a collision.
At particularly high risk: young drivers who have ADHD. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, "Youths with ADHD, in their first two to five years of driving, have nearly four times as many accidents, are more likely to cause bodily injury in accidents and have three times as many citations for speeding as young drivers without ADHD." It makes sense that when put in situations requiring moment-to-moment concentration, those who tend to be fidgety and easily distracted will have the most difficulty. Unfortunately, we parents can't say that just because our child doesn't have ADHD, he or she will be a responsible driver. People who don't have ADHD exhibit distracted behavior, too, which means that when it comes to driving, any teen can be inattentive.
Many states, in recognition of the dangers teens can pose to themselves and others when they first learn to drive, have implemented graduated driver licensing systems. Next week, I'll talk about how this program uses some of the same principles that help those with ADHD.
Contributing Editor Tedd Mitchell, M.D., president and medical director of Dallas' Cooper Clinic, writes HealthSmart every week.
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