Parkinson's Disease And Driving Risk

Driving is a complex task that requires both physical and mental skills to accomplish. Unfortunately, problems with vision, reaction time, and coordination are symptoms of Parkinson's disease – a progressive movement disorder – that can affect your ability to drive safely. Normally, as long as medication controls your symptoms, and you show no signs of cognitive impairment, you can continue to drive until your symptoms get worse.

But what about the effect the disease may have on your auto insurance? While your insurance company needs a valid reason to cancel your auto insurance, the insurer can cancel your policy if it finds out that you have a medical condition that puts you at a higher risk of accidents. Therefore, it's important to know how Parkinson's disease can affect your driving, as well as what you can do to reduce the chances that you will be involved in a crash.

Ways Parkinson's Disease Can Affect Your Driving

1. Even if you show no cognitive symptoms, such as confusion, short-term memory loss, disorientation, or decreased attention span or processing speed, tremor or slowness of movement symptoms can make it difficult to turn the steering wheel or push down on the gas pedal and brake.

2. Medications to treat your Parkinson's disease can cause side effects such as blurred vision, dizziness, sleepiness, and involuntary movements or tics. Asking your doctor to adjust the dosage amount or timing may be enough to decrease the adverse side effects that can impact your driving.

Signs That You May No Longer Be Able to Drive Safely

• Problems judging distance and space when turning and merging in traffic

• Inability to measure space, making it difficult to park your vehicle

• Feeling sleepy while you are driving – often a side effect of medication

• Drifting into other lanes or onto the shoulder of the road

• Driving too slowly

• Becoming disoriented while driving

• Trouble negotiating turns

• Receiving traffic violations or having near-miss accidents

Steps You Can Take to Improve Your Driving Safety

1. Avoid driving at night and in bad weather, particularly if Parkinson's or the medications you take have affected your vision. Drive only during the daylight hours when the weather is good.

2. Avoid driving on busy highways and in morning or evening rush-hour traffic when there are more drivers on the road, which increases your risk of being in an accident. Driving in heavy traffic requires being more aware of what's happening around you. If anxiety is a clinical symptom of your Parkinson's disease, you may feel overwhelmed, which can interfere with your ability to drive in heavy traffic.

3. Reduce distractions by turning down the radio or not talking on a cell phone – either of which can interfere with your concentration while you are driving.

4. Take a defensive driving course. Some auto insurers offer a discount on insurance premiums for completing a driver safety course to refresh your driving skills.

5. Get assessed by a driving rehabilitation specialist or occupational therapist who can provide an objective assessment of your competence to drive. While an occupational therapist may provide a clinical evaluation of your ability to drive, a driving rehabilitation specialist can conduct both off- and on-the- road driving tests. Your state's department of motor vehicles also may offer an at-risk driver re-evaluation program for individuals who have medical problems that may impact their ability to drive.