An examination of driving records in a dementia clinic

The driving records of 249 persons referred to an outpatient dementia clinic were examined retrospectively to assess the specificity of the association between diagnosed dementia and increased traffic accidents. The clinic patients were divided into two groups: those who met criteria for dementia and those who did not. For each group, control subjects matched on age, gender, and location of residence were randomly selected from the records of all drivers in the province. The dementia sample had approximately 2.5 times the traffic crash rate of their matched control sample. The not-demented sample had approximately 2.2 times the traffic crash rate of their matched control sample. These individuals exhibited a variety of psychiatric, neurological, and medical conditions which could have affected their driving, and multiple medical problems were often present. Further clarification of the characteristics of "high risk" drivers is required if effective strategies for maximizing independence while minimizing the risk of traffic crashes are to be realized.