Autism and driving

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I'm usually a good driver, but I do have the occasional loss of concentration. I've been driving for about 4 years and so far I've never been at fault for an accident, picked up a speeding or parking fine or even been pulled over.

My navigation skills are awful though.

I can't parallel park my "boat", far too hard. I usually look for 2 open spots and just pull right through..

I don't drive yet (i'm 15), and quite frankly I am scared to start driving. What with all the maniac-drivers out there, it's hard to ever feel comfortable. Legally I can get my drivers permit, if enrolled in driver's ed, but I'm not to crazy about that either.

I'm quite aggressive behind the wheel. Especially since all/most of those idiots on the road are NT's

Judging by my video, how good/bad of a driver am I? I'd rather have other opinions.

I'm good driver too.Actually driving is one of my top interest .I like driving.specially night or long journey and I have british licence and turkish too.left trafic or right doesnt matter

I'm learning.

I do love night driving.. I do need to get my headlights fixed, both are getting dim, especially when defrosters are on..

Hakemon, that's either an alternator problem or a battery problem. You should get that checked out fast before you wind up stranded. I had my battery take a dump on me on the highway. My lights started fading in and out and my engine died, and I had to be towed.

I normally consider myself a good driver. I do have "off" days, though; everyone does, and when that happens I either avoid driving or apply extra care and discipline. I can be defensive or aggressive as needed. I can drive conservatively or like a bat out of hell.

Alternator is new 140amp, belts are good, battery is only 5 years old, and never been deep cycled. I can't see how they are already failing.

I think I am a good driver, others would disagree, but I have never received a ticket (been pulled over 3-4 times for speeding) and have only been in one accident (other guys fault, pulled out of an alley right in front of me. Didn't have time to stop).

People point out that my driving is irratic and I drive all over my lane, but I am usually more aware of other cars than the people I know. I can read car "body language" better than most people I know, I can tell what a driver intends to do.

I have never feared driving, in fact I usually find it comforting. A few months ago I went on a road trip with my sister and ending up driving the entire 4400 miles myself (she took over after the first 4 hours, lasted only 30 minutes before she was too tired to go on. She suggested we pull over for a rest but that would totally ruin my plan and I couldn't deal with that).

PS I really enjoyed driving in Wyoming/S. Dakota/Montana because their speed limit is 75 which allowed me to get close to 100 without drawing too much attention to myself. I enjoyed that!v

To assess your driving, I would have to feel it. I see there could be improvements. Crossing your arms over with a steering wheel that has an air bag (I can't tell if yours does or not) can be bad. If you cross your arms over the steering wheel and the air bag deploys, it could do extreme damage.

With the school buses. From what I saw, you passed on the right, which is a bad thing to do. Overtaking on the left should be preferable, especially with larger vehicles such as a bus of any sort.

Your attempt to save gas has been negated out as you have parked driving straight in. It takes more to reverse out on a cold engine than it does on a warm engine.

As to the problems you have described and with backfiring; I am sure you have a timing issue. I don't know the type of engine you have or the type of timing it uses. Electrical, mechanical, etc. It could be that your rotor arm is a fraction out. OR your timing on the pulleys could be slightly out. This would usually cause premature detonation - hence backfire

Terrible. You were courteous, obeyed speed limits, stopped at red lights, and then waitied until they turned green again before proceeding.

You didn't play the stereo at 140dB, although it appears that you wanted to at one point in the video, so bonus points for that.

You didn't flip anyone the bird, and didn't blow the horn once, not even at those school buses ("road wasps") blocking both lanes. And didn't I see you using directional signals? Why on earth would you want to telegraph your intent to other drivers? Let 'em guess.

No, sir, you'd never cut it in New England.

(Although it does look like you have plenty of experience with rotary intersections already. )

As for the "backfires", it's kind of hard to hear them in the video (and backfires are *loud*)--is it possible they're just "misfires" instead? Anyway, this is undoubtedly why your "check engine" light is on--there are one or more fault codes saved by the engine computer related to this problem, and these should allow a decent mechanic to troubleshoot and repair the problem with relative ease. If I remember correctly, once misfires have been detected, the light must remain on until the codes are cleared explicitly (in U.S. vehicles, anyway).

Cars: You can't live with them; you can't drive without them.

Good luck!

Actually my backfiring is a failing injector on cylinder 7.. I have a scantool for the computer in the car. Knock sensor is fine but the electrical harness is getting interference from a spark plug wire as the wires shielding has frailed over the years.

My car doesn't have an adjustable timing, it's all computer controlled. Distributor on mine is at the front of the engine at the bottom, and uses a metal pitted disc like a CD, and a laser to detect crank position. Highly accurate, yet very easy to destroy the cap and rotor due to placement. However this cap and rotor is brand new..

PS: I'm FROM Massachusetts. I never drove there, learned in Florida, but I do have the offensive driving required for New England use. In Florida, it's all defensive..

RE: engine problem

Thanks for the feedback! It sounds like you have a good handle on your situation, just need to find the time and $$$ to fix it.

I have an F-O-R-D (I don't speak Its name) with 4.6L V8 which has blown 4 out of the 8 original ignition coils now, #5 through #8, so I'm no stranger to misfires. (It has coil-on-plug design, so no distributor or secondary wiring.)

The worst was when two, #6 and #8, went simultaneously on I-80 in Pennsylvania during a road trip under high acceleration while passing a semi. I managed to go about another 50 miles, but finally had to pull over and limp in the breakdown lane to the nearest exit in a somewhat civilized place (Hazleton), and call AAA for tow from there. The computer was a mess from all the false signals (including engine overheat) that it was getting from the two failed coils arcing over into primary wiring sense lines, and just kept giving up and going into shutdown (stall).

Being an engineer who has dealt extensively with cabling and noise issues, I was not impressed by Ford's engineering at that point.

Good thing--we don't haz so many old people (read, "defensive drivers") up here.

Last edited by CTBill on 04 Oct 2009, 8:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Driving is generally fine, but I will get bored on long boring stretches of road and become very sleepy. Also, I don't like talking when I'm driving. I find it hard to focus on the road and focus on a conversation. Sometimes saying "turn down the heat" is enough to get me distracted.