Masha Frank is late for work. Hugging a mug of black tea between her knees, she throws her car into drive and starts buckling her seatbelt. She is listening to Carte Blanche Volume 1 and it’s getting boring fast. As she merges onto I-35W, she momentarily compromises her view of the road to stretch her fingertips in the direction of a new CD, stashed in the door pocket on the passenger side of her Hyundai. Driving is tedious, Frank says. She craves something to occupy her racing mind. So music and speed are her distractions. She turns up the volume as she darts through traffic on the busy freeway. It is, she says, like choreography.
“Lots of times I imagine being in a race, like I weave in and out of cars. I don’t always use my signal,” she says. “I always wear a seatbelt, but I don’t even put it on right away before I start. I do that as I’m pulling out of the block, with one hand, and one hand holding my mug, and my knee…driving. It’s pretty crazy.”
The only possible explanation for Frank’s unashamed confession is that someone or something else is to blame. Caffeine? Techno? It is adult Attention Deficit Disorder, a condition that affects her and thousands of other adults. As a recent TV campaign makes clear, ADD and its cousin, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), used to be considered kids’ diseases. Only recently have psychologists found that ADD is a highly genetic disorder—more inheritable than, say, height—that persists into adulthood. Those same kids who wiggled in their seats and threw spitballs while your math teacher lectured on obtuse triangles? They’re all grown up now, and they’ve gotten behind the wheel. ADD adults are characterized as being impulsive, easily distracted, and unable to stay focused. This doesn’t bode well for their insurance premiums.
Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina are using a high-tech driving simulator to study ADD drivers. Their research proves what is probably obvious to the rest of us: These drivers are at a greater risk for automobile accidents, speeding tickets, and even road rage than their calmer, less impulsive counterparts.
“If there’s an obstacle in the distance, a non-ADD adult will slow down, check what it is, and make a decision whether they need to pull over to the side of road, stop completely, or keep going,” says Dr. Deborah Anderson. She is a licensed psychologist using the driving simulator to research the effect of ADD on driving. Conversely, she says, drivers with ADD tend to speed up and go around the obstacle before they even know what it is.
Many adults may secretly envy those with attention disorders. It’s an open secret that functional ADD folks can be astonishingly productive. In other words, hyperactivity can sometimes lead to over-achievement. One Minneapolis woman I know spent a recent Sunday running thirteen miles, working a part-time job, keeping two business appointments, going grocery shopping, completing a school assignment, calling her mother, and finishing the day with a beer. She described it as a “restful day.”
Still, this kind of nervous energy has its downside, especially when you try to contain it in an automobile. Back on the roads, Frank recently backed into a parked car and got speeding tickets on two consecutive days. Professor Anderson says Masha and others with ADD are not willfully negligent while driving. Rather, their brains do not have the capability “to naturally consider the consequences of various actions, and choose the one with the most favorable outcome.” Meanwhile, Frank safely makes it to work, even if she occasionally steers with her left knee.—Christy DeSmith
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