Citation

Williamson A, Smyth T, Sheehan M, Siskind V. Proc. Australas. Road Safety Res. Policing Educ. Conf. 2011; 15.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, copyright holder varies, Publisher Monash University)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There is increasing awareness of the potential for any medication that acts on the central nervous system to impair judgement and motor functioning, including driving performance. This paper reports community knowledge, perceptions and experience in relation to driving while taking medications. A community-based survey (n=316) revealed that of those who had taken any type of medication in the last 7 days (n=193), a quarter (24 per cent) had driven while taking a medication that they thought could affect them. Of those who drove for work, a quarter (26 per cent) of the respondents reported that they had changed or stopped their work-related driving because they were taking a medication that displayed a warning label about driving. Outside of work, a third (35 per cent) of the total number of respondents reported that they had done so. Of those who had taken any type of medication in the last 7 days, 62 were taking on a daily basis one or more medications classified as being likely to have a warning label about driving, such as sedatives, tranquilizers, antidepressants, analgesics and anticonvulsives. This paper will examine community knowledge, perceptions and experience surrounding medications and driving with particular reference to those persons who were taking drugs with a warning label, and the barriers to following such warnings.