Is this a sensory issue?

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I have problems judging distance. I might think an object is closer to me than it really is or its further away than it really is. When I'm even driving I might even think I'm going to hit something so I refuse to back up any further or keep on turning without backing up some more to get out of a parking space. On the bus I have even thought the bus drive was going to hit a car in front of us while she was turning. I know I’ll never be a truck driver or a bus driver because of my problems judging distance. If I were driving a city bus and I was turning and I thought I was about to hit the car in front of me, I probably would have panic thinking if I keep turning, I will hit the side of the car and I can’t back up because there are cars behind me turning also. I even refuse to drive my parents RV because I’m afraid of hitting something because the vehicle is so big. I will drive it on long roads like freeways but I will not drive it through towns or cities or even want to turn where there are cars around me. I’d have to have someone with me telling me when to turn how far to turn and all that.
When I was with my boyfriend I have thought a few times the side of his car was going to hit a mailbox or a road sign (while we were delivering papers) because he was so close to the edge of the road. A couple times he would deliberately drive close to an object seeing if I’d think he was going to hit it or not. He told me it was a sensory issue. Is it?

I don't know what it is, I get that sometimes though, I can never tell when it's safe to cross the road unless there are no cars at all, because I can't tell how far away they are.
I would have thought it was something different though, I never thought of it as a sensory issue... Yours could be different though

I am not familiar with what qualifies as a sensory issue.

Tim

Ha, me too. I don't have the best depth perception.

I had a hard time when learning to drive, bc whoever was in the car with me would fuss at me for not turning during an open space in traffic, and we'd end up having to sit there for awhile. Still happens, but I don't have many passengers, so I just take my time.

I'm not sure if it's a sensory thing, but it does seem to be an Aspie thing - there's a section of the "You might be an Aspie if..." thread where they talk about taking forever to judge if it's safe to go at an intersection, needing a football field sized area to feel safe reverse a car and the like.

Yea, driving. My delays drive my dad crazy.

I can still drive because the cars are a lot smallar than big vehicles such as RV's and comemrical vehicles and buses. I have done minor errors in driving due to it. I'm even sure I leave lot of space between me and the car in front of me while diriving and I'm sitting in a red light or traffic jam. I just don't want to hit anybody in front of me.

It took me three years to learn to drive a car. During that time I learned that I have no depth perception what so ever, but somehow managed to compensate for it. How do I know this - I can drive just fine with one eye shut.

It's bad at night becasue that's when I can't tell how far away an on coming car is and how fast it's closing in.

I don't consider that a sensory issue, but it IS an ASPIE issue, and ANOTHER problem I have! Just last sunday I argued for like 5 minutes with a person offering me a FREE UPGRADE on my rental car! Want to guess why??????? Because I have the SAME problem you do, and find a smaller car easier to drive on the freeway with my self imposed buffer.

Steve

This is one of the reasons I don't drive at all.

I think it's probably more likely a problem with visuo-spatial processing. I actually have a nonverbal learning disability (not AS, but many Aspie traits so I tend to get along with Aspies), and one of my major problems has to do with visuo-spatial processing, organization, memory, etc. Everything visuo-spatial! And that's what I think the problem with depth perception/judging distances is caused by. I definitely struggle with that, too. It drives my brother crazy to drive with me because of how cautious I am, so I always let him drive, even in my car (it's just easier and I don't like driving anyway).
Scoots- don't feel bad, it took me three years to get my license, too. My younger brother got his before me- just like he predicted he would. It took me failing the test the first time for my parents to realize that I had no conception of how intersections worked. They'd always told me when I could or couldn't go at an intersection, so my lack of understanding had never become obvious. I guess they'd just assumed that I knew that when you're going straight at a green light you don't need to look out for oncoming traffic, but when you're making a left hand turn you do. Afterwards my mom sat down with me and explained intersections step by step. I can't learn spatial information implicitly- everything needs to be spelled out verbally and then I have to memorize it that way.

I've never thought of researching this as a sensory issue, just figured I had lousy depth perception-although my opthamalogist tells me my vision is now corrected. They did do a test to see how well I perceived points of light at increasing distance from the center of my visual field, to determine my range of visual field. Interesting result. I have a complete field of vision-but not on the first pass. I have to "learn" how to find the area being stimulated quickly enough to report with confidence that i saw it. There's a time lag. A small one-but enough to be dangerous. I do not drive.
Actually, there's more than one reason I don't drive, and they may be relevant to what you're talking about. Number one, I get lost. Not on foot or on a bike, or almost never. And even when I do I don't panic. But in a car-too fast, too much stimulation...turns out I was never really paying attention when I was riding by in a car...or maybe I can't, not on the highway. I used to think I just had lousy spatial relations skills-after all, I failed college algebra. Then my brother reminded me I probably failed college algebra because one: my instructor didn't speak english two: I didn't go to class three: one reason I was missing class was I was meeting with the cops and getting medical tests and treatment after being raped at the beginning of that semester. So. Scratch
college algebra as an evidentiary link. After all, I did fine in algebra, geometry, algebra II, and trig in high school. Did great with the math in chemistry in physics-I love math with an actual point.
So maybe it's a combination of factors. It's the sensory thing-as in too much stimulation. It's the fact that I, at least, seem to find processing unpredictable visual stimuli somewhat difficult. Finding the edges of things and such...I don't think these are depth perception so much as boundary perception issues. Sometimes it's hard to focus because there are too many edges...am I making sense?
Later

It's definitely a depth-perception problem. While this falls under the sensory umbrella, I hadn't thought of it as possibly part of a sensory integration problem. Old people have it and that's why they end up driving so slow and reckless. Yes, it's possible to drive slow and reckless at the same time. Drive around retirement communites, if you don't believe me!

I don't have it, I have really good but fading eyesight. My husband has the problem of getting lost. He can't understand and look for road signs quick enough to drive in unfamiliar places. If he "misses" the sign, he could just drive in the same direction for 30 miles, instead of guessing where it should be and turning around until finding the sign/turnoff. He can't read maps either.

This is me. It's horrible. I can't cross busy roads because if there's a car there, no matter how far away, I won't be able to judge the distance or speed. But being 15, it's only annoying. Nothing much else.