Asperger's and Driving

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I probably should NOT have been given a drivers license but I have one and I drive.

Before I realized HOW bad my visual spacial impairments, sensory distractions, and reaction times were I caused at least 10 car accidents - several of them serious.

I was undiagnosed until I was almost thirty and everyone just assumed I was a bad driver. Really I just had a VERY had time focusing on the road and processing all of the sensory information that flies at you going 70mph on the highway.

Now I am more cautious - because I KNOW I am impaired I always give myself three times as much time as I actually need to get somewhere and I NEVER drive with other people in the car... because that is a liability and makes focusing on the road impossible for me.

My car is full of dents and dings. My rims are scratched and my poor side view mirror needs to be replaced. Sad thing is I've only had my car for 3 years and it was new when I got it.

Yeah....I know what you mean.

I've had some fender-benders myself. I'm pretty cautious now. I realize my limitations.

If my passengers don't like my caution, they can walk LOL (sorry to sound too blunt).

I hate driving, I will do anything to avoid it but I have kids that need to be picked up from school. Thankfully that is within a 1 mile radius but I still hate it. And I must drive my car, cannot drive anyone else's, I buy the same car every 3 years.

self-driving cars can't come soon enough for me!

It might help to drive something like a Nissan Versa, which is even narrower than a Mini Cooper! Just 67" wide.

I need a car that sits high up, as i'm not as good as bending down and folding my body into a tiny car as I used to be when younger. also has to be compact on the outside and not too wide, as I don't claim parking in tiny spaces to be one of my premium skills.

The written test was actually pretty hard for me. I failed the first time and barely passed the second time. The driving test however was really easy for me and I passed the first time no problem. I enjoy driving a lot actually. I find it relaxing, especially at night when nobody else is around. Though I can't drive manual to save my life, and I hate it. One of my dream cars (Fiesta ST) is manual only and I would love to drive it, but sadly I'm horrible at stick.

I failed my driving test when I was 17, but passed it with flying colors age 31. Something about the years in between increased my ability to connect with what was going on around me.

When I was 17 I felt like there was this weird disconnect with what I saw around me in my environment, and what I would need to do in response. I felt unfocused and helpless and lacking in confidence, and I wasn't surprised when I didn't pass.

Flash forward to age 31; I became very determined and I think something had also changed in my brain; my eye-to-brain perception or whatever the proper name for that is, just got better, I think, by itself, somehow. Right after I found myself alone and in a city where if you don't drive your life is seriously inconvenienced, I booked lessons again, and passed only one point short of a completely clean score, after just six days of lessons, having nvere driven in all the intervening fourteen years since failing. My instructor said I had the highest pass rate of all his students to date.

After that, I grew to LOVE driving. It's mostly very relaxing under the right circumstances. There's something very enjoyable about the controls of a car. I like the feeling of driving smoothly and doing all my steering and pedalwork "just right" -- it's fun.

One other thing about being able to drive, for me, is that the convenience and privacy of driving yourself in a car decreases the sheer volume of time that you are exposed to some of the harsher elements of the world socially and otherwise.

I'm at present stuck in a hellaciously over populated and busy city, as a pedestrian and cyclist --- and I'm in hell. Without the bubble of privacy of my car, I'm now "out there" dealing with random strangers face to face EVERYWHERE, and it's far, far more stressful than driving a car to get from A to B. If you feel stress from walking around a busy place where there are encounters with people and weirdness from people, random sh!t always happening, to be in your own vehicle is bliss. You're in your own bubble for the most part. I seriously miss having that shield from the world. It's like a bigger way of wearing sunglasses or a hat, it removes you from having to deal so directly with others. I miss it bitterly. It really did cut out an enormous amount of spectrum-related stress associated with dealing with lots and lots of strangers in a busy place, for me.

I LOVE driving----passed my test, the first time. I had been driving my uncle's truck, down on the farm, since I was 12; so, I'm sure that helped alot. I'm not real comfortable on the highway, or driving at night----but it's, IMO, because I so rarely drive anymore (don't have a car).

When I tried to get my drivers licence I failed the maneuverability test , which we have here in Ohio . https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4CsY-_2t1QU I think that this is plausibly due to my having a lack of spacial perception http://life-with-aspergers.blogspot.com/2014/02/aspergers-and-bumping-into-things.html?m=1 , http://www.myaspergerschild.com/2010/10/aspergers-teens-and-driving-car.html . Now when my instructor gave me instructions on exactly when to turn relative to the mirrors , in his car , I was able to maneuver with military precision . However each vehicle has different dimensions I have found , and my parents car did not work as well for me .

living where I have lived, there was no public transit to speak of, so it was forced on me to learn one way or another. before that point, I basically was stuck home as everything was too far to walk, and heavy traffic made bicycling impossible.

In addition to the normal problems associated with Asperger's and driving, I also have NLD, which gives me absolutely no sense of direction. I went to a community college for two years that was about ten minutes away from my house, and I never fully remembered how to get there and back home. My mom was shocked by my directional inability. A GPS could solve it, but it needs to be correct; otherwise I'm doomed. I also cannot wait for self-driving cars.

I enjoy driving but it does tire me very quickly... I think living in a small rural community when small certainly helped as my folks had an old mazda that was sitting in the field, so from the age of 10 i started to learn by driving around the field, so got to develop over time the ease of where multitasking, ie gear change, clutch, brake accelerator, steering, mirrors, became something that natural and wasn't much of a thought process, up till that point it was a little hard to get everything to do what it was supposed to! lol, but in time became natural... so when i was 17 i found the transition to learning on the roads much easier, also i think the fact i was always taking in the smaller details when driving with my parents, watching when they pull out, or when to change gears etc... However the learning side of having a teacher was somewhat overwhelming, but luckily i had a teacher i got on very well will, to be honest we would just go out for a lesson and he would be more interested in telling me his life story rather than spending every secong trying to tell me what to do, so in effect i could drive anywhere without having to deal with that extra mental input, only if i made a mistake he would say something... So passed quit quickly.... However i get VERY tired when driving, even an hour and a half trip will leave me feeling like i have been up all night!! ! because im fully concentrated when driving, im taking in everything.... I am also a bad passenger in the fact i get bad motion sickness, i had it so bad as a kid that 5 mins in a car and i was barfing, so driving eliminates that... I have never had an accident as yet ( touch wood!) I have had a few people prang into me when parked, but am generally fully fixated and focused on what i am doing when behind the wheel... Also being a surfer i think has helped i over the years i have had to deal with mentally suppressing the feeling of fear when confronted with very large waves on large days, a form of instant meditation if you will, and this converted over to driving, so i still get nervous but have it very much controlled... However i do HATE the cities and trying to navigate round them.... As far as directions go, im am not too bad their either, also being a surfer, you take into account, winds, weather patters, sun, and even stars, so seems natural to transfer this to driving, so when i feel lost, i will look for suns position during day to ease navigation and use certain star clusters at night... When asking for directions from anyone i ask them to do it differently from the norm, ie i will ask for landmarks, ie is there a tree of a certain shape or colour on that corner im supposed to turn, and ask for types of shops in area im trying to navigate, or a certain color of a house, This helps me better than, ( turn left at grovers road, etc)...