An interesting American story about special needs and learner drivers. It says that young drivers with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) are between two and four times more likely to have a crash than those without the condition – which makes them more likely to crash than an adult who is legally drunk.
Researchers say that many teenagers with attention or other learning problems can become good drivers, but not easily or quickly, and that some will be better off not driving till they are older — or not at all.
It makes you wonder why they are allowed to drive at all, doesn’t it, with comments like that? And I don’t just mean American learners.
I agree with the article that inattention is an absolute major problem for this group. I’m teaching several at the moment, and the other day one of them kept looking down at the gearstick when changing up or down (something that had just cropped up on this particular lesson – he hadn’t done it before). I’d addressed it as far as I could at that point – driving at 50mph on a winding rural road – but then he did it again just as he was going into a bend. I had to bark “Dave! Mind the kerb”, to which he replied “I see what you mean” (referring to my earlier explanation of why it was important to stay alert).
The thing is, we would have hit the kerb and gone into a ditch – possibly rolling – if I hadn’t intervened. He admitted the same himself.
Imagine that (if he was a full licence holder) and did this on his own, or with friends in the car: 18 years old, rural road, on a bend, roll the car off the road, no other vehicle involved.
Does that script sound familiar? My blood runs cold at what might happen to people who can pass the test, but over whom inattention hangs as a Sword of Damocles!
American statistics suggest that ADHD affects at least 3-5% of the young population, though some studies suggest much higher figures. ADHD is apparently on the increase, and the American Society of Pediatrics says 12% of children are affected.
As that original quote suggests, those with ADHD can learn to handle it with time – sometimes. But as juveniles it is not easy to overcome.
It makes you wonder if the problem with young drivers having such a high accident rate might be something more to do with ADHD than it is to do with the instruction they received, or just their “inexperience” – as is usually trotted out. Perhaps those things exacerbate the problem, but what matters is the underlying cause and not just the easy targets.