They're Driving Me Crazy

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Does anyone else find autism makes driving an especially frustrating and stressful experience?

I don't mean difficultly in the maneuvering of your vehicle or even in anticipating the actions of other drivers.

Autism causes me to have too much attention to detail and be a perfectionist. That means I notice things most people don't. The cars that speed. That go too slow. That don't use their blinkers to change lanes or turn. The illegally tinted windows and license plate covers, and illegally talking on their cellphone while driving. The cars that leave too large a gap from the car front of them at the turn lane, or stop half a car length back from the line at a light, or stop halfway over the line and into the crosswalk. (I see the latter issue literally almost every time I come home to my apartment complex. It is a long light and I think people worry they're not tripping a sensor.) I wonder what those cryptic customized license plates and vague bumper stickers refer to. I notice the bad parking and the illegal parking (invent your own parking space) and the cars that ignore "No Parking - Fire Lane" because they're "only" picking up their Door Dash order.

I don't know how to not notice all these things. Worse, they are all things that exist because of various degrees of carelessness and/or entitlement (the rules don't apply to me) among the NT population. It seems like for the sake of my sanity I have to find a way to blind myself to part of the reality around, while also reconciling myself with the idea that ignoring reality is in and of itself a grossly offensive concept.

I tend to notice the cars that are going too slow. I only notice people speeding when they're going faster than me.

I notice it when folks tailgate me on the freeway to get me to speed up...when I am going twenty mph over the speed limit myself!

Thats about it.

I couldn't honestly say if it's my ASD, ADHD or something else that makes situations frustrating or stressful. I hate being late so I can be on edge when running late. I can have pretty bad verbal road rage. I think my conditions compete with each other when driving. If I'm by myself I will drive faster but then slow down when I remind myself about the wear and tear I'm doing to the car.

Woe be anyone who moves around a lot inside the car in front of me. I don't get much road rage but if the passengers in front of me start twisting around to talk to other passengers, or moving around bopping to music, I lose my mind. I don't even like it when there are people in the back seat because it's too many ... heads lol. I can't pay attention to the road and the cars and now moving humans when I'm trying to drive as fast as possible to go with my own very loud music.

How dare they interrupt my focus?

Otherwise I'm a good driver. I don't know to what extent my "focus" is abnormal because I've never been anything but me. Normally I crank my tunes and go into a bit of tunnel vision about the road in front of me. Sometimes when I get out the car after a long journey I actually fall on the ground because it's weird reconnecting with reality.

I should note that as a stickler for rules I drive exactly 5 over the posted limit, and only then as a compromise with common traffic flow. I wish everyone on the roads drove exactly the speed limit, except for things like traffic or turning.

The voice in my right ear says when in doubt, flat out.
The voice in my left ear says now, maximum attack!

I can't drive at all (except in places where there is very little traffic) but not because I am distracted by details. I have trouble being able to decide if the oncoming cars are far enough away that I can turn in front of them or change lanes, and I also can't pay attention to two things at once, like my own forward motion plus the motion of other cars I have to avoid.

Yes to all the comments above. I hate driving. I'm very glad to live in a place where I don't need a car.