Mental health services utilization and driving violations

Objective. The objective of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between the past utilization of four mental health services (i.e. ever been seen by a psychiatrist, ever been in a psychiatric hospital, ever been in counseling, ever been on psychotropic medication) and different types of driving citations during one's lifetime. Methods. Using a consecutive, cross-sectional, primary care sample, we surveyed participants about their past use of four mental health services and lifetime incidence of 29 different types of driving citations (charges, not convictions). Results. The total number of different types of moving violations was statistically significantly related to a history of psychiatric hospitalization. The total number of different types of non-moving violations was statistically significantly related to all mental health services variables. Conclusions. In this study, general non-specific queries about the past utilization of mental health services were correlated with both moving violations (past psychiatric hospitalization) and non-moving violations (all mental health services variables). These findings suggest that patients who have received mental health treatment are at a higher risk for being cited for driving violations than those who have not received mental health treatment. However, among the mental health variables under study, only past psychiatric hospitalization was associated with moving violations.