Can an autistic get a driver's license?

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Good one.

When I got my leader's permit years ago, I found it easy because most of it was common sense and what you would notice if you were alert as a passenger. One question stumped me - What's the maximum speed limit you are permitted to drive though a set of traffic lights? But I guessed and got it right - 80kms/h. This is in Western Australia.

I had a lot of trouble driving a manual car, so when I was 19 I got my automatic licence after 5 lessons. I was in a bit of a hurry because I needed to drive to work.

While at that job I learnt to drive various forklifts and got my ticket for anything under 5 tonnes. This was with attachments (double tines) and lift, tilt and side-shift, things most forklifts have. I drove as a major part of my job. When I started, I was slow to learn but eventually I was very good at it.

Also, I learnt to drive a front-end loader as well. Much bigger than the forklifts I drove but also nice because it had heating, air conditioning and a radio. It was pretty cool being isolated in the cab.

So, I reckon most people on the spectrum can learn to get their licence. You may be slow at first (like me) but I think you can do it. Those who don't have issues with spatial awareness, etc. that is. I have no depth perception and still managed it.

The test was on a computer touch screen, which was new to me. I had only done on paper tests before. It actually turned out to be easier. The mistakes I made were dumb ones, but I'm good for another four years-whew!

No. I don't want to sell my car. I drive it once a week. It just might last me the rest of my life & I'm ok with that.

I do my own maintenance, so a car costs me less than $200 pa for parts and depreciation, but the insurance is expensive. Sometimes, I just buy day permits, and usually leave a gap between months when I buy quantity. I wish I could arrange a car-share for something as easy on gas.

I used to watch the show Canada's Worst Drivers, and it looks as if *anyone* can get a license no matter how terrible a driver they are, even though the people on the show have lost theirs. There was at least one driver who got her license because she wore a mini-skirt and her male instructor was too busy paying attention to that instead of her driving. I think the same lady had to be told not to wear high heels when using the pedals in the car. She acted pretty much as if they had told her to walk around on just her knees from now on.

Another driver turned out to be color blind and at least one other guy needed glasses but they didn't know this until their eyes were tested on the show.

What's really disturbing is how people can't seem to read and understand something so simple as a STOP sign. About the only people on the show I felt sorry for at all were the ones who didn't drive well because they were TERRIFIED of driving.

To me it seems you are falling into the pit of over analyzing. I memorized the booklet for the Driver's Permit test and then shut out everything but what the person teaching me was saying and what I was doing in the immediate moment when I was learning to drive.

Don't over think it. Focus on the task at hand.

Real-world road skills are far more important than the rules tests. However the rules are quite important too so that you know what is expected of you and how other drivers are going to react. If you have somebody calm to help you, ask them to take you out to someplace where there are few if any other cars so that you can practice those skills.

I've been driving since age 17, 50 years ago and the main problem I have is to not allow myself to become distracted by my obsession with reading all the text on billboards and the sides of tractor-trailers while rearranging that text into symmetric arrangements of letters in my mind as I tend to do everywhere (subtitles on movies and any text on TV often causes me to miss the real content and I have to back up to watch it again).

The most interesting thing I've noticed about myself as an Aspie driver is that I do not compete like other drivers and all NTs do so commonly, often without realizing it. Once I get out on the expressway between towns, I will very often end up in wide open spaces between groups of cars in a large gap with no cars either a half mile ahead of or behind me. Other drivers unconsciously compete with each other for position while as an Aspie I do not compete at all. Of course this also depends on the behavior of other drivers and level of traffic. This is so predictable that in the past I've been able to point out the results to my mom and sister who were riding along with me.