10/28/2026
🚗 Driving Under the Influence of Dementia: Recognizing Changes and Planning Ahead.
Driving requires more than remembering the route. It involves attention, judgment, visual processing, and quick decisions. Dementia can affect these skills, even when someone still feels confident behind the wheel.
🧠 What is MCI?
MCI stands for Mild Cognitive Impairment—changes in memory or thinking that are greater than expected for someone’s age, while everyday independence remains largely intact. MCI is different from dementia and does not always progress to dementia. A diagnosis alone does not determine driving safety; individual abilities and observed changes matter.
📅 Could we outlive our driving ability?
Many of us will need transportation support later in life. The frequently quoted “7–10 years” comes from a 2002 study estimating that drivers ages 70–74 would live approximately seven years for men and ten years for women after stopping driving. It is a planning estimate, rather than a prediction for everyone.
⚠️ What are the risks to ourselves and others?
*Getting lost or disoriented, even on familiar roads.
*Missing signs, signals, or hazards, or reacting too slowly to sudden changes.
*Misjudging speed and distance, leading to unsafe turns or intersection errors.
*Confusing the gas and brake pedals or drifting out of the lane.
*Crashes that can injure or kill the driver, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, or other motorists.
📝 Someone with dementia may not recognize changes in their own driving. Document specific incidents, involve the healthcare team, and consider a comprehensive evaluation by an occupational therapy driving rehabilitation specialist. Familiar roads, short trips, and right turns cannot establish that someone is safe to drive.
💬 Start the conversation early:
“Maybe it’s time to consider retiring from driving, let others take the wheel. Let’s make a plan that keeps you connected to the people and places you love.”
