KidsNeedMums » Fitness to drive

Road Rage – A typical "Bipolar reaction"?

Marie — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:09:12 +0000

10 years ago, I crashed into a 50 foot scaffold which landed onto the top of my car, having swerved round a corner too fast just shortly after passing my driving test. I had got angry at a traffic warden, drove off in anger and put my foot on the accelerator instead of the brake by accident. The result: my car was written off, the ambulance people were astounded that I wasn’t hurt and I was thanking God that I hadn’t injured anyone in the blind moment….

This incident occurred prior to my diagnosis of Bipolar and prior to me being on a stable medication regime. It has not happened since.

What has happened to me however, is me being the victim of other people’s road rage: I have had 3 people drive into the back of me, one causing wiplash to me whilst I was 7 months pregnant. None of them had Bipolar.

I have also been in a car crash whilst not driving: my boyfriend many moons ago was driving our car when he went onto the wrong side of the road and caused a head on collision. We both suffered minor injuries. He didn’t have Bipolar.

My ex-husband reversed the wrong way up a motorway to get onto a slip road. He crashed into another car crossing a junction. He didn’t have Bipolar.

Yet there is somehow an attitude towards people with Bipolar that they are somehow “unsafe” to drive, “unpredictable” “risky” etc. I came across this very attitude on a site recently:

“My husband is bipolar and for almost all of our married life he has shown severe aggression whilst driving. The slightest irritation on the road would cause him to exhibit road rage. He would most often tailgate and show aggressive signs to other drivers. I have known him to get out of his vehicle to remonstrate with other motorists, without fear of his life or the safety of others, including my own or our young family. The slightest intake of breath on my part would make him angrier, and he would be even more reckless. I often felt as though a gun was being held to my head, except that the weapon was the motor vehicle. Other than not to travel with him for months on end, I felt trapped. I had thoughts of going to the Metro Police to report him, but feared repercussions. What steps I should have taken? Due to illness he no longer drives.”

This was my reply:

Anyone can experience “road rage” – its not just people with Bipolar. I have Bipolar and have only had one episode of “road rage” in 10 years and that was prior to my diagnosis and prior to being stable on my medication.

The DVLA (driving licence authority) in England does medical checks on all people with Bipolar with their treating psychiatrist to determine whether or not they are fit to drive. If they are, they have their driving licence renewed.

I drive around 360 miles a week. I come across countless of angry, rude, aggressive and downright unkind drivers daily. Are you saying that they are all Bipolar? Or are you saying that those with Bipolar also, at times, exhibit these kinds of characteristics along with the general population?

Blaming “normal” unhealthy human behaviour on Bipolar is not helpful to either you or the Bipolar sufferer. The person with Bipolar has to learn to recognise what makes them feel angry in the first place. If their spouse/employee/family always blames anger/frustration/rage/annoyance/irritation on “Bipolar” that is a sure fire way to make the Bipolar sufferer feel anger/frustration/rage/annyance/irritation. They, like everyone else on the planet, feel these normal emotions from time to time. To attribute it to Bipolar and to not to normal human feelings, is to undermine that person further and to invalidate their feelings thereby leading to further depression. In my view, this is a discriminatory and prejudiced attitude ie that Bipolar people are not “the norm” in terms of their feelings when it comes to driving.
Look at your own self and your own negative emotions and behaviour and see if you come up smelling of roses!

Meanwhile, I’ll just stick to driving safely and awake…..Seems to do the trick…

Driving you mad? Bipolar drivers tell their stories….

Marie — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:12:27 +0000

I have decided that I can’t be alone in fretting about whether or not the DVLA are going to renew my driving licence so I’ve been looking at what other Bipolarites have said about their experiences with the DVLA. Interestingly, there are others who think that the DVLA’s rules about Bipolarites driving around in their cars minding their own business is probably Mental Health Discrimination. I’m not saying whether it does or doesn’t amount to discrimination at this stage as I am still researching it, but in the meantime this is what some others have to say. I have quoted them and then given you the link to their blog……

{I am hoping that the authors won’t mind me quoting them, but if any of you authors object please do let me know: I really don’t mean to offend anyone……..}.

“As far as I know highly qualified UK Government Medical Officers are paid a mint to read these things and make arbitrary decisions when it might as well all be keyed into a computer system by a monkey and scored to give a standard answer. DVLA says NO.

I believe that this is simply due to lack of research on this subject due to lack of funding, plus and unwillingness on the part of the DVLA to accept testimonies from mental health professionals such as CPNs and Occupational Therapists that are involved in aftercare and monitoring during the first 3 months.

Bipolar disorder is a very individual illness and recouperation rates can vary from person to person. An Occupational Therapist once told me that she could see no reason for this strict arbitary ruling, as in her experience some patients can be well and stable within a few weeks of leaving hospital (otherwise why would they be out?!). Being unable to drive interfered with their integration back into the community and in some cases lost them their jobs.

Personally, I have NEVER relapsed in the first 3 months after a hospital admission. I have NEVER even relapsed in the first 3 years after a hospital admission. Why can’t the DVLA accept a more detailed report from my consultant or another mental health professional explaining this?

I believe that this is disability discrimination in that the DVLA is making generalisations based on statistics, rather than assessing the individual case.”

Bipolar Works: http://bipolarworks.wordpress.com/2007/02/02/bipolar-disorder-and-driving-or-dealing-with-the-devil/

I found this question and answer on the Netdoctor site: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/depression/204078.html

“My psychiatrist has prescribed me Ozyprexa 10mg to help me with a psychotic disorder.The drug has very bad side effects such as shortened memory and poor co-ordination. These effects make me even more depressed and I stopped taking the pills.Unfortunately my psychiatrist also revoked my driving license and is refusing to return it unless I take the pills.I feel fine when not on medication and still argue that there is nothing wrong with me.If I was to take the pills I would feel less confident driving as I think I am more likely to have an accident due to the side effects.This seems very un-ethical to me, is there anything I can do about it?AnswerDavid writes:I’m very sorry you’ve had such a rotten time recently. However, it is vitally important not to do anything that might put your life (and the lives of other road users) at risk.The situation at the moment seems to be that you’re in dispute with your specialist about your driving licence.You could ask for a second opinion from another specialist. But the final decision rests with the DVLA at Swansea and if you feel you have been treated unfairly you can appeal to them.Christine replies:I too am very sorry you’re going through such a difficult time. Unfortunately it is often very difficult for people who need medication to understand just how important that medication is and to comply with the doctor by taking it.Having said that, there are a wide variety of anti-psychotic drugs available and I do feel that some sort of compromise should be reached where you would agree to try another drug.Ideally this should be one that is equally effective but which doesn’t knock you for six like the stuff you’ve been prescribed in the past.As David says, you can always ask to see another specialist.

My other suggestion is that you contact Mind. They are very helpful on subjects like changing specialists and also on what specific drugs are supposed to do.I do hope this information will help you and I wish you the best of luck in getting this whole business sorted out. Yours sincerelyDavid Delvin, GP and Christine Webber, psychotherapist”Here is an extract from a discussion forum about Effexor, the drug, and how it may affect your ability to get a licence:http://www.depressionforums.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=1788“Other effects from this was I had to take other medication to heal my stomach, since I was in so much pain and my GP banned me from driving. Still waiting to hear if my licence is going to be taken away from me.
[DVLA eventually put me on a 3 year licence and then after another OD and seizure was given a 1 year licence. This was after months of waiting for them to review my GP and Psychiatrist report.]”

Oh, and how about this: a piece of research on whether Canadian psychiatrists feel able to determine someone’s fitness to drive. Although the research is written about Canadian psychiatrists, it is based on research on British psychiatrists and their attitutes, knowledge and experience in determining “fitness to drive” in their patients:

Canadian Psychiatrists’ Current Attitudes, Practices,and Knowledge Regarding Fitness to Drive in Individuals With Mental Illness: A Cross-Canada Survey

http://publications.cpa-apc.org/media.php?mid=302

Oh my gosh! This is an unbelievable story that I found: a man shot himself and the inquest learned that whilst the DVLA had taken his licence away, he was still licensed to hold guns. The moral is: you can’t drive if you have a mental illness, but you’re allowed to keep a gun…………The poor bloke…..

http://www.markwalton.net/1/archives/2006_04.asp

‘Licensed to kill himself’

“THE SON of a wealthy retired businessman who died after sustaining three massive shotgun wounds said last night: “This tragedy could have been avoided.”

Company director Angus Ashton, 56, claimed that although his elderly father, Philip, who suffered from dementia, had his driving licence taken off him by the DVLA on advice from a doctor he still held a licence for THREE shotguns.

“The bottom line was that my father could not legally drive a car but he could own and shoot a gun.

“I pointed this out to a senior firearms officer and nothing was done about it,” he said. “The police deny the conversation ever took place.

“I have to accept part responsibility for what happened because I should have followed it through instead of leaving the situation to drift on.”

But last week at an inquest in Warrington, Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg said he was concerned at the lack of co-operation between the DVLA and the police firearms licensing authorities and said he would investigate further.

Angus, who lives in Sutton with wife Nicola, is still shocked by the shooting incident almost exactly a year ago, April 14, 2005, when the well-known retired quarry merchant of Swanscoe Cottage, Rainow, was found with three gunshot wounds – two through his chin and one through his chest.

He died in hospital almost two weeks later.

Father-of-two Angus sincerely believes that his father accidentally shot himself after slipping on grass on his estate while taking a “pot shot” at Canadian geese which had been bothering him – and then realising the extent of his injury turned the gun on himself.

“There were four shots,” he said. “The first was at the geese, the second was through his chest and the third and the fourth were through the mouth.

“I believe he had an accident and realising he was done for he decided to finish himself off.

“His background was in breeding Aberdeen Angus cattle and he had the attitude of a ruthless farmer or sympathetic one, whichever way you look at it. He couldn’t bear to see anything suffer.”

Astonishingly, Mr Ashton, father-of-three and grandfather-of-five, would have had to have broken the single-barrelled Penderetti and reloaded it each time he took a shot.

Police ruled out foul play after forensic found bruising on his right hand which established he had fired the shots himself.

Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg recorded an open verdict on Mr Ashton, whose death, he said, was “something of a mystery”.

But he took the view that he slipped on wet grass and that the gun had discharged accidentally causing a serious injury.

“It is possible he was in pain and decided his injury was so serious that it would be better to finish it off,” he speculated.

He pointed out that some years earlier Mr Ashton had made what was known as a “living will” – a direction that in the event of him becoming so physically or mentally ill that the quality of his life would be seriously affected, no attempt should be made to revive him.

Philip Ashton, who was chairman of builders merchants Ashton Vernon and originally lived at Swanscoe Hall, struck an imposing figure at 6ft 4in and enjoyed the outdoors and a typical hunting, fishing and shooting lifestyle.

During the later part of his life he loved to wander over his sprawling land and perch on a log or a bench to admire the countryside.

But Mr Ashton, who never got over the death of his second wife, Liz, had been suffering from dementia, resulting in short-term memory loss, diabetes and heart disease.

“He remarried in 1974 and they were supremely happy,” Angus said later. “He doted on her and it hit him hard when she died of cancer in 1988. He never really got over that.”

And he added: “He was a good father to myself and my sister Grahame and his adopted son John Davies.

“He was a hard man, but he had successfully built up a company with the help of myself and John.

“In the last part of his life he was lonely. It was difficult to communicate with him – very frustrating.”

At the inquest Philip’s housekeeper, Mrs Peta Massey, said she found him lying conscious, but unable to speak, near a pond where the geese were annoying him. He was flown to hospital by air ambulance.

While in hospital he couldn’t talk but indicated both to members of his family and to nursing staff on several occasions that his wounds were due to an accident. He shook his head when asked if he had shot himself deliberately.

He died as a result of bronchial-pneumonia and shotgun wounds, with heart disease as a contributory factor.

Consultant forensic pathologist Dr Charles Wilson said it was remarkable that Mr Ashton had survived as long as he did after sustaining the injuries. But he said he was a strong man for his age.”

Do tell me any of your own stories. I’m going to keep a look out for any more on the web but do share yours be they tragic, funny, unbelievable, outrageous or just interesting.

Thanks and happy driving to those who have still got their licences…..For those who haven’t – sod the DVLA and appeal if you can…..