A University
at Buffalo researcher’s work with a state-of-the-art
driving simulator is making better drivers among those considered
to be the most risky motorists on the road: teens with Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Gregory A. Fabiano, UB associate professor of counseling, school
and educational psychology, has already established a therapeutic
program that not only helps these teens become better drivers but
also builds better relationship with their parents.
Now, thanks to a $2.8 million grant from the National Institute of
Health’s National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, Fabiano will extend his program to other teens and
their families, therapy that includes dramatic demonstrations of
the unforgiving and often dramatic dangers of texting while
driving.
ADHD and driving
Fabiano, a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, said he and his team had worked with children with ADHD for a long time at the university and as those kids grew up, the researchers heard concerns from parents about the transition to independent driving.
“So we did some research" he says, "and found out results
not surprising to anybody: teen drivers are the worst on the road.
And some recent research has shown that compared to that worst
group of drivers, teen drivers with ADHD were significantly more at
risk for everything.”
Fabiano’s grant-funded project -- a joint effort between a
Graduate School of Education research team and UB’s New York
State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation --
also has found stark results when it comes to teens texting while
driving: texting while driving can be just as deadly as driving
while drunk. Or worse.
“It’s hard to turn on the TV or open a newspaper or
magazine without seeing something about the risks of texting and
driving,” Fabiano says.
He chalks this up to the fact that cell phones have only recently
gone from being something novel to something everyone has.
Impossible task
Fabiano said, in all his research, he has yet to find a person
who is successful at texting while driving.
“Texting while driving impairs driving to the extent where
there are deviations in the lane, on the shoulder, people spinning
out, they lose control, and it’s not hard to extrapolate that
if that sort of thing happened on a real road, you could have hit a
pedestrian, another car, a bad accident,” he points
out.
Fabiano says the significant conclusion of this part of his
research is how the teenagers who lose control of the simulated
vehicle while texting often do not realize their ability to drive
was severely compromised.
“We have found teens with ADHD are like children with ADHD in
that they have poor insight on the impact of their behavior on
others,” Fabiano says. “So most of the teens we work
with think they can easily text while driving without any poor
consequences.”
Fabiano’s five-year NIH study began in April. It focuses on
ADHD teenage drivers with learner's permits. The teens practice on
the driving simulator and are given an onboard driving monitor to
track driving behaviors, giving parents and teens the chance to
review their driving performance and interactions.
The goal of the study is develop a driver education program
targeted to ADHD teens and their parents.
