The objective of this paper is to review the literature on the ability of individuals having some kind of cerebral disease to drive, especially while being distracted. Driver distraction, defined as the diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving toward a competing activity, is found to be an important cause of road accidents. Driver distraction effects may interfere with several cerebral diseases with high prevalence in the general population, such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Mild Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment. These diseases affect driver’s attention and other cognitive functions and cause degradation in driving performance, which might in turn translate into increased accident risk, especially at the presence of additional (external) distractors. Overall, the literature review suggests that the interaction between driver distraction and cerebral diseases further downgrades the driving performance. The degree to which these clinical conditions affect driving behaviour and accident risk need further investigation. (Author/publisher)
Abstract