Driving after a severe head injury

The driving activities of 50 head-injury survivors were surveyed 6 months or more post-discharge. Of these, 21 (42%) possessed a valid drivers licence, but only 19 (38%) were actually operating motor vehicles at follow-up. Only measures of spatial/perceptual deficits were found to discriminate between groups of drivers and non-drivers. The recommendations of rehabilitation staff did not appear to have much influence on the final decision whether or not the survivor resumed driving activities. Most of the drivers did not report post-injury accidents or traffic violations, perhaps because several participants were restricting their driving activities. The willingness voluntarily to restrict driving behaviours may offer some head-injury survivors the opportunity to continue to enjoy this important daily living activity under selected circumstances.