Do you have trouble driving?

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I still don't have my license, just a learners permit. I think it's for a few different reasons.

-I never had a burning desire to learn how to drive. It would make my life easier in some circumstances, but for the most part, it just doesn't feel necessary to me.

-I've got a horrible sense of direction. What's the point of having a license when I only know how to get to a couple of places and would be hopelessly lost if I deviated from those places?

-It's cheaper not to have a car and use public transport. Being a recent college graduate whose unemployed, cost is something I do have to keep in mind.

-I feel like driving demands too much concentration from the driver and it makes my uncomfortable. My favourite thing about public transport is getting to use my travel time for fun stuff like reading a book or listening to music rather than concentrating hard on the road. You also see / meet some interesting characters which can be fun or make for a good story later on.

Maybe someday I'll go for it but I don't think it's especially likely.

I hate driving. I hate it. I actually live in a city with public transport, but we live in the 'burbs, so I have a two-hour commute each day. On the freeway. I hate driving on the freeway. Just thinking about it gives me anxiety. What's worse, I now have a one-year-old whom I drive to nursery school each day. On the freeway. The anxiety that causes verges on outright panic twice a day, five days a week. Other than allowing myself up to five mph over the limit, I stick pretty well to the rules. Occasionally I pass on the right, but only because I have no business in the fast lane. Besides, if I'm passing you, you really shouldn't even be on the freeway.
I also hate driving in the 'burbs. I suppose it's all in my head, but drivers in the suburbs seem to have this hateful, aggressive attitude. Driving to the big box store, the filling station, the supermarket, the library...it causes me severe anxiety, even though they're all within five miles of our house. I'm sure city drivers have their own attitude, but I grew up (and learned to drive) in the city, so I feel most comfortable driving there.
I think I need to go sit in a dark room now. Just typing about driving has made my pulse race.

That's NOT strange in NYC.

What I say:

If you don't like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk.

I'm a good driver. I just tend to get lost more easily than most people, I think.

I've worked for too many years delivering pizza, as well as driving to work in Filthydelphia, Sh!tcago, Warshington, and Bawlmer. I really don't enjoy driving any more, ESPECIALLY at night or in bad weather.

I find driving easy and relaxing. I passed first time when I was 17 and later got my full motocycle entitlement too. I also took some advanced riding lessons - just for pleasure of riding as well as I could. Although the advanced stuff was for the motocycle it improved my car driving too as a lot of it is about training your attention to notice potential hazards.

That said I know other people with Aspergers who find driving difficult and feel a lot of anxiety about it. I guess we are all different.

I am a fairly good driver but cautious. I don't mind a radio in the background but I can't stand anything that would mess up my visuals--i.e.-- if it is dark and a kid is reading in the backseat with a flashlight. My husband doesn't like to ride with me as he says I drive him crazy by not being aggressive enough--I don't take openings in traffic as quickly as he would, things like that. Not safety issues, just not fast or aggressive enough. But he drives me crazy at times when he is driving--sometimes I don't watch the road while he's driving, because he scares me with his driving for the opposite reasons that I annoy him with mine. Lol.

I don't like to "ride shotgun" if the driver expects me to check road for oncoming traffic--I will always err on the side of "wait for this car to pass before you pull out!" After all, my side would take the impact...Hubby will say, "you know, we could have easily made that." But I think my processing must be slower than his, because by the time I make that judgment call as to whether he can make the opening, and the words get from my brain to my mouth...I need to say "wait!" because I am no longer sure there is time to pull out into traffic. I have too much trouble being understood in the best of times--I don't do double-team driving. I am a capable driver, but not in tandem with anyone else. If I truly need help backing a vehicle or something like that, I will ask. I just don't like volunteered information by the peanut gallery in the passenger seat or back seat--I find it too distracting.

It takes me longer to learn to drive in an unfamiliar city, and I can't stand not having good directions to somewhere. If I don't know where I am going, I do get very anxious. I love maps and will study them to figure out where i'm going. I use a gps at times, but have a hard time trusting it unless I have a map to back it up.

I sound like a ditz on the road, I guess; but most people I drive with find me a careful and capable driver--except someone who drives like my husband. And with him, it is not a capability issue, I am just too cautious for his taste. Driving is not my favorite thing to do, but I don't mind it.

I don't like driving in the dark when it's raining/snowing.

I don't mind driving in the dark alone, or when it's raining during the day.

I don't like driving on snowy or (especially) icy roads.

Similar to ProblyAnAspie, my wife doesn't believe I take advantage of "openings" quick enough; I'm too cautious for her tastes; she's very impatient on the roads. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I didn't learn to drive until age 37--partially because I'm in NYC--but partially because I have visual-spatial problems. And problems controlling the intensity of the gas pedal (until I got used to it).

My mother thought I would never learn to drive. I surprised her!

I managed to pass my driving test on the third attempt at trying. On the first test, I failed after a few hundred yards as I completely misjudged the width of a road. On my second try, I was flawless until right at the very end where I somehow managed to misinterpret the examiner's instructions which resulted in an instant failure.

Although I have a licence, I don't like driving and apart of me is thankful that I don't have a car as I can't afford to operate a vehicle at present. I was always fearful that I would end up killing someone by either being too cautious or by being too reckless. There were many occasions where I wasn't vigilant enough on the road.

I wouldn't be able to drive in London; the roads are so darn narrow!

And I'd have to learn how to drive a manual transmission.

I also managed to drive down a one-way street in the wrong direction. The majority of the time, I am not the most observant of my surroundings, and on that day I overlooked the one-way sign. Thankfully no one was harmed; I was just looked and beeped at in sheer disgust by other motorists. One particularly courteous chap even 'flipped me the bird' for my driving incompetence.

I was raised around farming--the first thing I learned to drive was my grandfather's old John deere tractor with a hand clutch. It helped a lot with my confidence level when driving on the road (I was able to operate farm vehicles at a younger age than 16, which is the youngest age I could get a license on the road, so by the time I could get a license, I already knew how to drive something.) If you can drive a hand clutch tractor, a car seems pretty simple.) I was also able to take my parent's manual transmission car on back roads before trying to drive on main roads.

But I flunked my driving test the 1st time for my license, as I was poor at road cues though I was fine at operating the vehicle. If I had not had prior experience operating vehicles, I would have had a much harder time learning to drive.

@Jake ASD--I think with time and practice you may get better. Sometimes I shake my head at some of the stuff I did when I was a new driver. With time and learning roads, it helps I think. I also drive down a one-way street the wrong way once, back in the early days.

@Kraftiekortie--my dad (also likely an aspie) is one of those mechanical aspies who knows everything there is to know about a pre-1990 engine in a vehicle or tractor. (Or if he doesn't know it, it isn't worth knowing. Lol.) He is not big on computers, and once the engines became computerized, he got lost. I think he could have learned that too, but he always did small engine and car repair as only a side business after he got a full time job in another field in the early 1980's and did not keep up all his skills. Small engines and antique engines have always been his area of special interest and he really enjoyed teaching my brother and me to drive when the time came. Not road skills, but vehicle operation skills. Dad has trouble processing with driving--can't stand distractions, etc.

Here is his method for teaching us a manual clutch:

let the clutch pedal out very slowly and listen to the engine for the point when the clutch started to "take hold." The engine will slow down and you will feel the clutch begin to take hold. Then s-l-o-w-l-y give the engine some gas till the car begins to move. But don't take off yet--push the clutch in and do it again. Over and over several times till you know exactly when the clutch begins to take hold and how much gas will get the car to move without putting it in what he called "jackrabbit" gear. Once you get it out of first gear, the next gears are much easier to shift into. Let off the gas, push in the clutch, change gears, pop clutch and keep moving. Give it gas as needed to keep up your speed. Then, when you need to slow down, downshift through the gears until you stop. (If you just push your clutch in and hold your brakes without downshifting, it puts the entire stopping power on your brakes which will add up to more wear and tear on them.) It is important to let off the gas when changing gears! as I found out the hard way at first.

If I had not spent a little extra time on learning how the clutch feels, I would not be comfortable driving manual transmissions. But that seems to be the key to driving them smoothly, in my experience.

From vehicle to vehicle, each clutch will feel slightly different but the principle is the same. I have no trouble driving a manual transmission now--even an unfamiliar one is not too hard to figure out if you use this method--and actually prefer a manual to an automatic if given a choice.

I don't drive, it is pretty sad, at this point I feel like I have too much anxiety to learn.

I can not drive. Not because I do not have my driver's licence or that I am bad at driving, but because I drive very well ; I mean, I know the rules perfectly. Hence, I am afraid of the other drivers who do not use them properly !

Thanks, Prbly Aspie!

You're welcome! Hope you get a chance to try sometime. Start out on level ground too--it is hard to pull into traffic up a hill without stalling or letting your car drift backward till you get some practice. good luck!