Driving, and Learning to Drive

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What I meant was it's one of the sparsest areas in England.

It took me a greater deal of time to learn how to drive and though I don't drive at this point in time, I still did a fairly good job at it.

I got my license years ago, but don't drive. I'm thinking of starting to practice though! My dad who also has asd on the other hand is a really good driver despite his age.

At first, the thought of driving was scary. But my first car was a gigantic Oldsmobile 98 (also referred to as a "Land Yacht") so I felt very safe because it was a big metal tank-like vehicle. I soon found out just how safe I truly was driving this car... I had someone in a small station wagon hit my Oldsmobile's back end once going 30-35mph and my car received no damage. His car, however, was completely caved in on the right front end.
After many years of driving and several cars later, I now actually feel like I drive much more gracefully than I move on my feet. I am beyond clumsy when I walk around. I am almost always dotted with purple and brown bruises on my legs in various stages of healing. I fall and trip over my feet regularly. A year ago, I tripped and fell and broke a toe.
But put me in a car and suddenly I move like a ballerina. I feel natural on wheels, like I was actually meant to roll instead of walk. I can sense how much space is around me in my car, I can zip around and I feel confident in my movements. That is, until I have to get out and walk again, and then I'm teetering and stumbling into things, getting more bruises and scrapes. I should have been born with wheels instead of feet

Procrastinated driving permit until 17

Procrastinated driver license until 20

36 now

Granted I am bad at driving

But I am bad at everything

Plenty of driver's are much worse than me

You can't measure driving skill


Anxiety

Visual spatial processing dysfunction

Fine and gross motor skill

Pay attention


Car repair

when everyone else started to their license at 16, i tried getting mine because i wanted to be like them and in a way i felt pressured into getting my learners, but once i thought about it, i realize that i just wasn't ready to get it at that age. i finally got it after 8 years and lots of drivers tests.

if you feel like you don't want to drive then you don't have to. don't feel like just because everyone else has a license, you have to have one. your just not ready.

Something I will say is that you do not really learn how to drive until after you've passed your test. Before this, your concentration is all on doing what the driving instructor says. After you have passed, it is then when you really start learning how to drive.

I was one of the oldest people here to get my first driver's license, at 48 years of age. I never thought I would ever get it and believed certain factors would prevent me from ever getting one. My driving is still mainly in my own town, but I have managed to go to a lot of activities over the past six years.

I found it pretty easy to learn. I was forced to wait until 30 to actually try and get my licence. I live in Ohio, where if you fail your first attempt and are over 18 you have to take something called an "abbreviated course" and 4 hours of practice (if you take the course in person) or 24 hours practice (if you take it online) before they let you try again. Apparently, after all that, it's just a one time thing.

So why don't they make you take it anyway? I failed my first attempt but I don't think the fact I'm autistic had anything, to do with it. I think it had to do with the fact it was later in the day, I was tired, stressed and the guy giving the test was SCREAMING at me before he had even got in the car.

I had a driving instructor who would get a nasty tone with me if I did the most trivial thing such as accidentally turn off the headlights when putting on the turn signal.

When people scream at me or get a tone, I tend to "dissociate". I tried to explain this to my driving instructor...it's from when I was a child and my school teachers and parents would scream at me for the most trivial things...sometimes even hurt me afterward. My father would literally throw me into the wall. When I tried to tell the driving instructor about why, hoping it would give her the idea to think about her tone. I would get so nervous after the lesson, I would throw up after it was over. Thankfully, I was able to control it until I was inside my apartment.

I always thought it was possible for a person to control their tone of voice because I would get yelled at for my tone even though I didn't mean to sound "disrespectful". If I got yelled at by my parents for it, surely it's something anyone can do something about? When I told her, she got all hostile and antagonistic that I would "accuse her of assaulting me".

No, I was asking her to control her tone so I don't dissociate and drive into an oncoming car. I asked my case worker if she can talk to my next driving instructor because I try and they just accuse me of accusing them of hurting me. She doesn't get it that it's only people talking to ME that causes that. She thinks I'll witness someone's road-rage and shut down. No, because the person road raging isn't in a position of authority and I could honk my horn back and shout explosives back at them.

I'm now so nervous about my new driving instructor pulling the "tone" crap with me that I get panic attacks that make me sick. I've been throwing up at least once every night. My mother always blames my crappy diet and the fact I had my gall bladder removed. Stress is NEVER a factor for her in why I get so sick.

I must be in the minority in that I found it extremely easy to get my license. I even remember the guy who did my test was a jaded, cynical old man who walked with a cane and I had to help in the car. In short, I am sure he has a lifetime of bad driver stories. I will never forget he pulled aside my mother privately to talk to and she thought I wrecked her car! He actually told her I was the best driver he had ever seen in all his years of testing and how proud she should be.

It probably helped that I was quite late getting my license (18 for permit, 19 for full) and had a LOT more maturity that anyone else in the class. I still remember that none of the boys in my driver's ed (all were 16) could grasp the fact that as a driver, you are responsible for ensuring children's safety on residential streets!

The purpose of a driving test is to test your ability to drive in real life traffic. This includes the ability of the driver to keep their cool while driving. In other words if you have a melt down when you are taking a drivers test, how safe are you to drive if stress can produce this effect? So I would not in any way recommend asking for some special accomodations. It is like telling the inspector that you are unfit to drive. Rather be cool and learn means to reduce your stress loads naturally and do your best under the circumstances.

Another word of advice is to practice identical to the real thing. By that I mean you need to practice in the vehicle you will use in your test. Otherwise if you are unfamiliar with the vehicle that you will be tested in, you are almost guaranteed to make mistakes. As I recall when my wife took her drivers test, the Department of Motor Vehicle tester entered the car and sat down and waited for a few moments and then told her you can go now. She started the car and stepped on the gas and the car wouldn't go. The emergency brake was on and she didn't know where it was because it was a different model car than the one she practiced on. She kept her cool and looked around, figured out what the problem was, located the emergency brake and released it and the inspector was none the less wiser.

As others have said, most of your experience in driving will come after you get your license. Sure you will mistakes at the beginning, but most drivers NTs and AS alike do. That is why you buy auto insurance. But hopefully you will learn from your mistakes and your driving will improve over time. Driving will become an automatic function.