Brasure Law Firm, PLLC

By: Chris Brasure

Can Brain Injury Victims Ever Drive Again?

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Studies show that even mild thinking difficulties, which may not be recognized by the injured person, may add and increase the risk to the driver or to other people around while the traumatic brain injury victim is driving. The last thing that you or your family may need is a loved one driving a car and crashing into someone potentially injuring themselves and others.

A few years ago, we had a client who returned to driving before he came to see us for help. In fact, his family didn’t really know that he had a traumatic brain injury.

Unfortunately, the client was driving somewhere he was unfamiliar with and because he was lost, he ended up getting into a crash and totaling his truck. After the family came to us, we were able to get him properly diagnosed, get him the proper therapy he needed, and eventually, he was driving again. He had no incidents afterwards and in fact, he went on to drive for a living, so there is hope for all.

Talk With A Doctor

Approximately, 40% to 60% of traumatic brain injury victims will return to driving in their lives. What is the number one way to help them? The first way is to discuss the ability to drive with your doctor or the TBI victim’s medical team. You want to get a sense of what exactly might be the problems that the TBI victim has, especially when it is related to memory, confusion, or slow thinking.

Get An Evaluation

The second important step is to get a professional evaluation to find out the driving ability of the traumatic brain injury victim because it often changes after the incident

Training & Modification

The third step is to get the necessary training or vehicle modification to make sure that the traumatic brain injury victim can return to safe driving. One example is the Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists (www.aded.net).

By Brasure Law Firm, PLLC