Assessment of car driving skills in brain injured individuals
Vuadens, P.; Comte, P.A.
Revue Medicale de la Suisse Romande 121(6): 453-456
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 0035-3655 PMID: 11490974 Document Number: 535758
Independent driving is considered as very important for a full independence and social integration of disabled people. In these patient with disabilities or handicaps, the driving skills must be carefully assessed, especially in presence of a moderate dysexecutive syndrome. A precise neurological and neuropsychological examination is usually necessary to evaluate aptitudes for driving. Standard neuropsychological tests are often limited to value the brain injury patients. At the moment, assessment on driving simulators really improves the opinion of medical experts, as they give qualitative and quantitative data on reproducible conditions. In fact, in more than 80% of cases, the tests on driving simulators allow to determine if the patient is able to drive or no, with or without a specially adapted vehicle. However, in a small percentage of cases, the evaluation of open-road driving by a driving instructor is necessary, proving that driving simulators will never take over from reality.