[The neurologist and patients driving motor vehicles]

Driving motor vehicles is a complex visuomotor task that challenges normal nervous system functioning. Indemnity of sensory organs and intact alertness are essential. In addition, safe driving is extremely sensitive to disturbances of attention as well as to some forms of cortical dysfunction. Epilepsy, cognitive impairment, Parkinson's disease, stroke and sleep disorders, among other conditions, may interfere with driving through different mechanisms. The individual rights to maintain important privileges such as having a driver's license may enter in conflict with a society demanding safer regulations. Current trends favor more liberal restrictions and may provide specific limits on an individual basis to patients with impairments caused by neurological diseases. So far, there is no information on the consequences in terms of rate of accidents following newly introduced changes in driver license regulations for neurological patients.