Aspergers and Driving

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i have trouble driving i know all the road rules where all the gears and other parts of the car are but i have trouble focusing when i'm behind the wheel
does anyone else have this problem?
and if so is there medication to help me?

You might be better in an automatic.
I really struggled to learn in a manual because I got confused over the gears, but as soon as I switched to an automatic I was fine.

i do drive automatic

I always have trouble with the blind spots.

I have trouble focusing on my speed as well as where I'm going at the same time. Changing lanes is pretty confusing too because of the blind spots. I just stick to public transport.

Yes, I totally had problems with manual, when I got my first car a Volks Jetta - my peers around my age at the time (26-27) laughed at me for it, so I sold it and got an automatic, no problems there. I realized after my diagnosis at 27 that it was ostensibly due to motor coordination & multitasking issues. One of my acquaintances at the time, who was NT all the way, said that he regularly talked on his cell phone while driving manual - I couldn't even IMAGINE doing that...! !! That was years before the ban and crackdown on cell phone distracted driving.

However, one thing I HAVE been criticized on is sometimes driving too slow...not way too slow, but accused of "senior speeds". Which led to some mild peer ridicule. However, that's not a symptom or manifestation of Aspergers per se, IMO - I see it as more of coping mechanism, I mean, if you don't have the same processing speed for multiple stimuli, wouldn't YOU tend to drive a bit slower than others?? But others saw this as a "weird behaviour", not a coping mechanism for self-preservation. Sigh

For me, driving, like some math courses, requires an awkward level of concentration and I can find my mind wandering.

I try to look two or even three levels of cars ahead and gently scan from side to side.

I try and be vaguely aware of my mirrors, especially if a car is moving forward as if they might pass me and then seems to disappear (this car might be in my blind spot). And I try and be aware and not stay in another driver's blind spot.

I try and go with the flow of traffic, or maybe slightly slower in the right-most lane.

I might be an exception. I have no problem driving. (Now parking lots are a different story.) I constantly speed and verbally criticize people going slower than me for blocking my way and I find I can do it all very well.

My mind wanders when I drive, as well, but I can always snap back into focus when something unusual's happening, like if someone pulls out in front of me or the person in front of me suddenly brakes.

I also like to wander in my car, where I'll jump in and not drive anywhere in particular, but just to look at cool anomalous roads, like the crowded, highly built up local boulevard with a 50 mph (80 km/h) speed limit called Germantown Parkway, or a road that is called Sam Cooper Boulevard, part of which is a freeway (motorway), but then turns into an ordinary street.

I had slow processing speed at age 15 at last test (and going back to an early age), and I suspect I still do, but driving for some reason is one of those few weird tasks where I can get into a flow and always know exactly what I should be doing. How can someone with slow proecssing speed drive like I do?

EDIT: I guess one explanation is that I love driving. Ever since I was 5 I wanted to drive. In fact, when I was 5, at night I took my parents' car out of the driveway and accidently crashed into our next door neighbor's house. This was after observing my mum's driving for a while.

We have more difficult time because we process more information, however you get used to it and learn to filter out non-essential visual and tactile information while driving.

Driving is also useful in developing fluidity. When I started, I had trouble adapting to various situations (bus blocking the road, etc) on the fly. But fluidity eventually gets developed, which can also aid in some other areas such as being social. A little bit.

Freeways usually stress me out, but other than that I've got no issues with driving.

the actual freeway is not a problem for me its the entry and exiting of the freeway that stresses me, if you miss your exit its not like a surface street where you can just turn around where ever is most convenient

No problems with driving here really. If I'm anxious already for some other reason (I have OCD as well as AS so this is most of the time) then my driving can suffer but not usually. Most of the time I'm a confident driver. I drive defensively more often than not but can also drive aggressively when required.

I drive automatic. It's best for easily distracted drivers.

I have over attn to too many details, the limitless input makes me edgy. The limitless stoopidity of other drivers makes me shout.

I recommend OP you just keep practising, I have dyspraxia as well as AS and so it took me close to two years and seven driving tests to get my proper driving licence but got there in the end, practise makes perfect. I don't think medication is a long term solution.