3 ms·

I think they meant "people who didnt die before 25." I don't know much about autism, but I had three friends who died before 30 in accidents that were almost ce

I think they meant "people who didnt die before 25." I don't know much about autism, but I had three friends who died before 30 in accidents that were almost certainly related to ADHD. Two of them were doing behavioral therapy but didn't believe in pharmaceutical treatment. One of them was generally medicated but wasn't taking their medication on the day they died (due to medication shortages for ADHD drugs). That last one rear-ended a semi-truck at high speed. Probably after getting lost in thought after reading a "You shouldn't text and drive. If you text and drive, it may be the last text you ever read. Remember, don't read superfluous text; pay attention to the road, for your own safety and the safety of those around you." Obviously I don't know that last part; I am just bitter.

giantg2 2y ago
I knew someone in high school that had ADHD. He totaled many cars when he wasn't on meds for things like game day for sports (not sure if that's a performance or health thing). What baffles me, is how someone diagnosed with a condition that affects driving is allowed to drive without the condition being treated - especially if they are under a prescription and just not taking it, and also if they have multiple accidents attributed to the condition. We already require this for people with seizures, for people needing glasses to wear them, etc.
- tgaj 2y ago
  I think it's because many important people still think that ADHD is some kind of imaginary disease.
- hirvi74 2y ago
  ADHD doesn't affect everyone the same though. For example, I have ADHD. I learned to drive at 15, got my license at 16, and managed to get my first speeding ticket at the age of 30, and my first car accident at 31 (of which I wasn't at fault). I wasn't diagnosed/medicated until I was almost 23.I do not think I am any better nor worse than the average driver either. Perhaps I have been lucky, but who knows? Also, just because one is medicated does not mean it magically reduces all symptoms. IIRC, I think most adults only get something like 50% reduction in symptoms at best. In my experiences, I find the efficacy of ADHD medication to be vastly overstated. I think this is mainly due to a strong honeymoon period the medication provides in the beginning. What I mean is that, the medications are extremely effective for a certain time period, but the longer one is one the medications the greater the diminishing returns become. There are only so many options/formulations and dosages can only be increased to an extent. Also, euphoria is a very common side-effect when first starting the medications. So, a lot of life-changing anecdotes that people comment on the Internet in the beginning of treatment should be taken with a grain of salt. After a decade of treatment, most people cannot tell if I am medicated or not anymore. As in, most people think I am not medicated despite being so.
  - giantg2 2y ago
    That's mostly the same for seizures - affects people differently (and different effects), medications provide various effectiveness, and individual evaluation is needed.
- AnthonyMouse 2y ago
  > We already require this for people with seizures, for people needing glasses to wear them, etc. But then you have the same problem against something which is much harder to measure. Many people have glasses even though their vision is mostly fine and it's perfectly reasonable to drive without them, the glasses just make things slightly more focused. Other people are effectively blind without corrective lenses. ADHD is the same way only you don't have a nice mathematically precise lens prescription to tell you the degree of it, and with no objective way to measure the severity, just asking people a question that everybody knows can cause you to have a restriction placed on you is pointless and only invites people to lie. Which in turn may make them less likely to seek and receive medical treatment -- the thing you want to happen if they are a hazard without it. This is further complicated by what the treatments for severe ADHD are. Can you imagine the headlines? "Government forces drivers to drive on meth."
  - giantg2 2y ago
    The easy thing to measure with it is how many accidents are attributed to the person in a given time period. If you have 5 accidents including totalling 3 cars in the last 2 years of high school, you shouldn't be driving.
    - AnthonyMouse 2y ago
      That doesn't actually tell you anything. Someone who drives 100,000 miles/year at the same level of safety would have 20 times more accidents in the same period of time than someone who drives 5000 miles/year. Certain areas have more traffic or are otherwise more prone to accidents. 5 is not a large enough statistical sample to know if someone is the cause or just unlucky.
      - giantg2 2y ago
        Yeah yeah, you have to report mileage for insurance and registration so of course that will be taken into account. Even if you drive 100k miles in 5 years, you should not have 5 accidents that were your fault. That's just insanely unsafe. The cause isn't determined by luck or number - it's determined by the facts that show you or the other person was at fault (or that nobody was at fault).

giantg2 2y ago

I knew someone in high school that had ADHD. He totaled many cars when he wasn't on meds for things like game day for sports (not sure if that's a performance or health thing). What baffles me, is how someone diagnosed with a condition that affects driving is allowed to drive without the condition being treated - especially if they are under a prescription and just not taking it, and also if they have multiple accidents attributed to the condition. We already require this for people with seizures, for people needing glasses to wear them, etc.

tgaj 2y ago
I think it's because many important people still think that ADHD is some kind of imaginary disease.
hirvi74 2y ago
ADHD doesn't affect everyone the same though. For example, I have ADHD. I learned to drive at 15, got my license at 16, and managed to get my first speeding ticket at the age of 30, and my first car accident at 31 (of which I wasn't at fault). I wasn't diagnosed/medicated until I was almost 23.I do not think I am any better nor worse than the average driver either. Perhaps I have been lucky, but who knows? Also, just because one is medicated does not mean it magically reduces all symptoms. IIRC, I think most adults only get something like 50% reduction in symptoms at best. In my experiences, I find the efficacy of ADHD medication to be vastly overstated. I think this is mainly due to a strong honeymoon period the medication provides in the beginning. What I mean is that, the medications are extremely effective for a certain time period, but the longer one is one the medications the greater the diminishing returns become. There are only so many options/formulations and dosages can only be increased to an extent. Also, euphoria is a very common side-effect when first starting the medications. So, a lot of life-changing anecdotes that people comment on the Internet in the beginning of treatment should be taken with a grain of salt. After a decade of treatment, most people cannot tell if I am medicated or not anymore. As in, most people think I am not medicated despite being so.
- giantg2 2y ago
  That's mostly the same for seizures - affects people differently (and different effects), medications provide various effectiveness, and individual evaluation is needed.
AnthonyMouse 2y ago
> We already require this for people with seizures, for people needing glasses to wear them, etc. But then you have the same problem against something which is much harder to measure. Many people have glasses even though their vision is mostly fine and it's perfectly reasonable to drive without them, the glasses just make things slightly more focused. Other people are effectively blind without corrective lenses. ADHD is the same way only you don't have a nice mathematically precise lens prescription to tell you the degree of it, and with no objective way to measure the severity, just asking people a question that everybody knows can cause you to have a restriction placed on you is pointless and only invites people to lie. Which in turn may make them less likely to seek and receive medical treatment -- the thing you want to happen if they are a hazard without it. This is further complicated by what the treatments for severe ADHD are. Can you imagine the headlines? "Government forces drivers to drive on meth."
- giantg2 2y ago
  The easy thing to measure with it is how many accidents are attributed to the person in a given time period. If you have 5 accidents including totalling 3 cars in the last 2 years of high school, you shouldn't be driving.
  - AnthonyMouse 2y ago
    That doesn't actually tell you anything. Someone who drives 100,000 miles/year at the same level of safety would have 20 times more accidents in the same period of time than someone who drives 5000 miles/year. Certain areas have more traffic or are otherwise more prone to accidents. 5 is not a large enough statistical sample to know if someone is the cause or just unlucky.
    - giantg2 2y ago
      Yeah yeah, you have to report mileage for insurance and registration so of course that will be taken into account. Even if you drive 100k miles in 5 years, you should not have 5 accidents that were your fault. That's just insanely unsafe. The cause isn't determined by luck or number - it's determined by the facts that show you or the other person was at fault (or that nobody was at fault).