Autism and driving!

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Sometimes when I pull up to a busy intersection it takes me a while to figure out what all is going on and what I need to do. Other than that, I don't really have any more of a problem with driving than most people.

I don't know why, but I really do actually enjoy driving, especially in the morning. It's just so relaxing being on the highway at 7:30AM with hardly anybody around.

ya i love an empty road =)

with nobody on it you own the road! ha....

I think part of the reason that so many have problems with learning to drive is that they are trying to lean everything at one time - and there's a lot to learn. Where all the controls are, how to watch traffic, how to stay in your lane, how to pick the right lane to turn into, when to turn on your blinker to signal a turn, how to merge . . . it's easy to get confused. Ideally, you should break it down to baby steps and not take the next step until you've mastered the one you're on.

I've gone into absurd detail about how far you can break it down below, but just remember - baby steps.

For example: first, learn the location and function of the controls/instruments in the car. All of them, even the ones you don't expect to use. You NEED to be able to put your hand on the radio control (if just to shut it off if a passenger turns it on), the window crank/buttons, the climate control system, the wipers, the headlights - without looking - every time. Do you turn the headlight switch left or right, or push/pull it to turn them on/off? How about the wipers? You don't want to try to figure this out at 45 miles an hour in heavy traffic!

If you already know these things, you won't be distracted by learning them at the same time you work on learning step two: controlling the car.

Have someone take you to a big, empty parking lot - or a field, if one is available - and practice simply driving in a straight line while staying in your lane. Uh, do this at pretty low speeds, ok? Have someone along to watch for other cars and tell you to stop if you have to - you want to be able, at this point, to simply look straight ahead and pay attention to where the car is in the lane. Once you're pretty good at this, add in left (or right) turns - still concentrating on being in the proper lane. Then add turns in the opposite direction. Once you're comfortable with all of this, work on backing up in a straight line.

Next step: learn to monitor your environment. This is where it may get tricky for a lot of people. You have to develop a habit of glancing at the instruments - after all, you need to know how fast you're going, how much gas you have left, and if any warning lights have come on. IF you mastered step one thoroughly, this shouldn't be too hard. You already know where all the gauges and warning lights are and what they mean, so you know if something is "wrong." You just need to learn to recognize the information at a quick glance, because you also need to look around for other traffic. You probably shouldn't look at any one thing for more than a second. Work on developing a pattern to how you look around. Something like: look forward for one second, look at the instruments for 1/2 a second, look forward for one second, look 45 degrees left for 1/2 second, look forward for one second, look 45* right for 1/2 second, forward one second, inside mirror 1/2 second, forward one second, left mirror 1/2 second, forward one second, 45* left 1/2 second, forward one second, 45* right 1/2 second, forward again, right mirror 1/2 second, repeat. That's an 11 1/2 second pattern, and you looked where you are going 8 seconds of that time. You also checked your instruments for speed and warnings, looked left and right twice each, and checked behind you 3 times. Of course, if you notice someone on a cross road coming your way when you look left or right, you're going to pay more attention to that direction. If you have a habit of checking other directions, though, you're less likely to fixate on that one direction and forget to check the others.

Then you work on building up speed. After that, you leave your empty corner of the parking lot and drive in areas with other cars, but still in the parking lot. And so on.

ya the big empty parking lot is always great idea, get a feel for driving without the risk.

I am struggling to learn. My biggest issues are judging distances and my confidence. I'm a nervous passenger too

I recently discovered that I relate very strongly to the symptoms of Irlen Syndrome/Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome. One of the features is poor judgement of distance and constantly bumping into things like doorways. It is said to be very common in people on the spectrum. Got me thinking if this is my issue with driving.

"Irlen syndrome is sometimes categorised as a form of dyslexia. However, bestselling autistic author, Donna Williams, in her book Like Colour To The Blind wrote about her experience of tinted lenses (Irlen filters) after being diagnosed with scotopic sensitivity. In this book she described the lenses as enabling her to have cohesive, unfragmented vision, able to see faces, bodies and objects as a whole for the first time and reducing the extremity of experiences such as meaning-blindness, face blindness, inability to learn to read facial expression and body language and the social consequences of these impairments. This led to a worldwide raised awareness of scotopic sensitivity as a sensory perceptual problem common in many (but not all) people with autism and expanded awareness of the potential effects of Scotopic Sensitivity far beyond that of reading disability, also leading to awareness of the effects of fluorescent lighting on those with this perceptual disorder."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irlen_Syndrome

Have you tried getting some kind of special glasses? (dunno if they make them where you are or if they are even produced.

Learned to drive when I was 19, it took close to a year of lessons, but then I passed second time, failed the first time due to a silly error. Hardest things were judging the distance and speed of other vehicles, and general information overload.

Haven't driven since passing the test and have no intention to in the near future. Simply isn't any need, its easier to get around Shrewsbury on a bicycle anyway