Can You Drive With Parkinson’s?

I recently posted a sonnet that I wrote after I passed my annual driving test.  One of my blog’s frequent viewers, Beverly, asked the following:

Is the driving test required by NY, or something you do on your own?

Short answer:  Something I do on my own.

Long answer:

After I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, I kept reading up on the disease at online sites such as The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and the National Parkinson Foundation.  At some point I read that I’d eventually have to (should really) give up driving.  This was not an early concern of mine, as when I was diagnosed and visited three different PD specialists, none of them seemed concerned about my driving.  In fact, at least two were impressed that I drove stick shift.  I remember one saying, “You drive stick shift on the streets of New York?  That’s more than I could do!”

Nonetheless, after a few years I finally asked my regular neurologist whether she thought it was still safe for me to drive.  She didn’t seem worried, but she said I’d have to go elsewhere for an official evaluation.  So that started “the process.”

“The process” is a three-step procedure.  I’ve always passed all three steps, but if I were to fail at any of them, the NY Dept. of Motor Vehicles would be informed and my driving privileges would be revoked.

1. Visit a neurologist at NYU Langone Rusk Rehabilitation Center. She gives me a general physical and neurological examination and decides whether I can continue to Step 2.  (Every year she’s said I’m in tip-top shape.)

2. Return to NYU Langone Rusk Rehabilitation Center to be further evaluated by a driving therapist. This time there are lots of eye exams and mental games, and at the end of the visit I sit at the wheel of a fake lab car and maneuver the car while looking at three large computer monitors.

3. If I pass this (and I always have), make an appointment for a road test in a real car. There are only a few driving instructors who are certified to give this evaluation in New York State.  I’ve done this twice now (2014 and 2015) and I passed both times.  I believe I’ll have to do this again every year going forward.

However, I don’t want to continue driving more than I need to.  Right now I live in the suburbs, and the only reasonable way I can get to work is by driving.  It’s a 40-minute commute by car, but a 2-and-a-half hour commute by public transportation.  Spending five hours a day going to and from work would be unreasonable and would take a serious toll on my health.  My husband and I plan to sell our house in a year and move back into New York City, where neither of us will need a car and I can take the city’s subway to my job.

I know I listed three steps above, but this year I added a fourth and a fifth:

4. Take a 90 minute driving lesson with a trained instructor.
5. Take an online driver safety course.

I had a driving instructor watch me drive for a 90-minute session.  He said my driving was fine.

I took an online course this October for two reasons.  First, I wanted to become more aware of how I can drive safely as I get older.  Second, my car insurance will be cheaper because I passed the course.

I learned lots of useful information from the online course (and scored 100% on the final exam).  Here are some highlights (with lots of copy-and-paste in italics from the online lectures):

• The course is all about changing drivers’ attitudes. We believe that if we can change drivers’ negative attitudes towards driving (justifying their wrong behaviors, not feeling responsible for their actions, and shifting the blame onto other drivers), we can change the way they drive.

• Skills are important, too.  Professional drivers, truck drivers, highway patrol, etc., drive two or three times more miles than the average driver, and yet they are less likely to get into a crash.  Why?  Because of their attitude:  they believe that there is hardly an accident you can’t avoid if you’re competent.

•  Crash factors fall into three categories: (1) environmental factors (bad weather, unusual traffic patterns, unexpected curve in the road); (2) vehicle factors (a vehicle’s blind spots; driving too fast for conditions); (3) driver factors (fatigue, distractions, not paying attention)

• One person in the USA dies every forty minutes because of drunk driving.

• Driving with your headlights on during the day is a smart idea.  (OK, pun:  a bright idea.)

• Staring into an oncoming car’s high beams at night takes longer to recover from when you are older. If you are approaching a vehicle that has the high beams on, you should communicate with the other driver by flashing the other driver with high beams very quickly. If the other driver doesn’t switch to low beams, you should NOT retaliate with high beams. Instead, you should look to the right edge of the road at the white line and slow down. Looking into the high beams would literally make you see stars for 4 to 7 seconds after being blinded by the bright lights before your normal vision returned. This period of waiting is called “glare recovery time.” Average glare recovery time increases as drivers get older and can last up to 12 to 15 seconds.

• The most common crash in a highway work zone is a rear-end collision.

• Hands-free cell phones are just as dangerous as hand-held.  A recent study done at the University of Utah has found that a cell phone conversation does significantly distract a driver from identifying simulated traffic signals. The study examined drivers using both hand-held and hands-free cell phones. Both groups showed approximately the same level of distraction and inattention.

• Even short cell phone calls are dangerous.  According to the New England Journal of Medicine (February 13, 1997), “the use of cellular phones in motor vehicles is associated with a quadrupling of the risk of a collision during the brief period of a call.” A follow-up editorial stated, “the risk more than doubled within five minutes after the start of the call.”

• If a police officer suspects you are drunk and/or high while driving, you can be taken to the police station where you must submit not only to a breath test but a blood test.  By driving in the state of New York, you are consenting to take alcohol and/or drug tests if an officer suspects that you are driving under the influence. You can be tested on the spot if an officer stops you. Physical testing may be done again while in jail and an official BAC drug test will be performed. A chemical test of breath or blood will be made. A person certified in drawing blood samples is required for all blood testing. All test results can be used as evidence in court. A driver who refuses to take a drug test under the Implied Consent Law will probably still be tried for drunk driving, and will also have his/her license automatically revoked for one year.

Phew!

Here are some more links pertaining to driving while intoxicated if you have Parkinson’s:

• Driving When You Have Parkinson’s Disease
• Driving With PD
• Parkinson’s Disease:  Driving a Car
• How States Are Dealing With Older Drivers