5 replies to this topic

[pow76]

Hi, guys ive finally got my drivers liscense and have 1 more driving evaluation to do. Im on baclofin, my question is what do u do if u have spasm while driving, im a quad and will be driving from my chair, if my foot jump off my footplate druring a spasm im not able to pick it up. Im real excited about driving but this is a major concern. Please give me some suggestions

[pistol_pete]

My spasms don't interfere too badly with my driving, unless I've been behind the wheel for a couple of hours, then the legs get a bit restless.
I do find though that it helps to have some kind of footwear on for grip etc. On the occasions that I have jumped in the car to do a quick run and haven't botherede with shoes, my legs jump around quite a lot.
They haven't jumped up onto the accelerator yet though, cross fingers. My left leg is the worst so it would only hit the brake, being that we drive right hand drive cars down under.

[Tinbasher]

You can get a sort of hinged guard that goes over the pedals when you drive but can be folded down when non disabled drivers use it. Alternativly strap your feet down if its a big worry.

Tin

[Steviewo]

I was once driving up north on a 5 hour journey and as I wass going up the M1 at about 85mph in the middle lane, I had a spasm and my foot landed on the brake halting me to about 30mph before I could do anything about it - very scary.

Luckily it was late at night without much traffic about.

I thought about maybe in future trying to hook up a small bungee rope or something around the front of my ankles to the underside of the car seat.

As pistol pete said - it only happens to me after a couple of hours in the car too.

[Denny]

While driving I keep left leg straight where clutch would have been, and right leg folded under left leg (close to seat) and knee resting on the door. This way even if I have spasms feet does not go touch the pedals. However have to be careful about the position of your right knee, if not in right place spasm could cause it to lift the hand control acceleration.

[Quad65]

I once had two similar experiences to Steviewo. I drove a full-size conversion van and did so from a six-way power seat, not my chair. Once, my right leg spazzed and came down hard on the brake pedal and I almost got rear-ended and another time, my foot slipped under the brake pedal and, unable to stop fully at a red light, I rear-ended another car. No one was hurt or no real damage resulted.

I fixed the problem with a low-tech solution. I used a cloth belt from an old bath-robe. Here's how: At home, I transferred into the driver's seat and assumed my normal driving position; left leg extended to the firewall and right leg slightly bent, foot on the floor. Then, I had my wife loop the belt through the frame of the driver's seat and around my right foot, then tie a permanent knot in the belt. I now had a generous loop I could easily slide my right foot into before I started off and out of after I arrived at my destination. At the same time, it was short and secure enough that it wouldn't fall off my foot while driving and it kept my foot away from and out from under or on top of the brake and gas pedals.

I never had another mishap regardless of spasms.