Prescription medications are a part of everyday life for many Americans. Whether they take them to relieve pain, help healing, prevent allergies or something else entirely, they can do a lot to improve their life.
What many people do not realize, or fail to pay sufficient heed to, is that some prescription meds can affect a person’s ability to drive. It’s not just prescription meds either, as some over-the-counter drugs can also do this.
How do medications affect driving?
Negative effects of certain drugs include affecting a person’s ability to see, concentrate, coordinate their movement or stay awake. They can also make people feel sick, excitable, dizzy or even pass out altogether.
None of these things are conducive to safe driving and it’s easy to see how a crash could result if one of these side effects happens while someone is in charge of a vehicle.
Which drugs can do this?
A wide variety of drugs could cause these negative effects. They include antidepressants, sleeping pills, cold remedies, antihistamines, diet pills and medicines for anxiety among others. A particular drug might not affect every person who takes it. However, any driver taking meds must read the label carefully, talk to their doctor if they are unsure and make appropriate decisions on whether it is safe to drive or not.
In addition, drivers aren’t always conscious of the fact that combinations of drugs can have unusual effects. One drug alone might not affect their ability to drive — until it is combined with another drug.
Getting help to examine all possible contributing factors, such as whether prescription meds affected the other driver can increase your chance of getting the compensation you need if injured in a crash.