Are aspies generally bad drivers?

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I didn't get my license until I was about 22 years old, I had trouble with it at first. I'm not the best driver, but I haven't been in any accidents that were my fault yet (one dude totally smashed into me at an intersection I was parked at, one young teen just drove into the side of my car in a parking lot, and once an old lady backed into my door from a parking space, there was a car in front of me and one behind me and I couldn't move.)

I think I am good at driving.

The only things that cause me problems when driving is if there is a passenger causing a lot of commotion. Like if they keep changing the radio station, or are fidgeting with all sorts of dashboard controls, or trying to get me to read things while driving, things of that nature.

I'm a very good driver.

I'm not too bad. Still drive a high performance sports car (not just for the young!) and have been driving for nearly 50 years. Driving skills good, but my vision is deteriorating (can only drive during the day now) and my navigation skills are fairly poor outside of areas I know well.

Hi guys, glanced through the thread but couldn't see anyone with driving as their "obsession" - or more politely and less psychologically their "area of professional expertise".

I learnt to drive a tractor aged 9, first full days work at 10 (7 til 7 dawn to dusk all illegal before 13)
Passed Tractor Test age 16
Next motorbike 30 000 miles inc passed bike test.
Failed car test after only 8 hours behind car wheel passed after 22 hours total inc 4 driving lessons
Passed PSV (PCV nowadays?) double deck crash box test with clean sheet

As an Aspie I have been in meltdown with tears streaming down my face at 80mph driving with passengers
(when 70mph in fast lane was legal UK and no different than when grinning joyfully) in "my" 14.75 litre V8 Mercedes 53 seater coach. (55mph max in USA?).
I did not know how I did it then. Now I know that my (apparent) ability to process unfiltered sensory input certainly helped. I am glad I did not know then about information overload.

I was blessed by a very well maintained vehicle with as near a perfect driving position as ever I drove and a fair capacity to stop. I can remember thinking "God, MY passengers would be horrified if they knew how I felt".

I did not know I was Aspie then and had no real idea everyone else wasn't in some way the same.
Anyway I was out of focus but seeing screen and mirrors simultaneously and reacting automatically.
This happened as opposed to concentrating ahead and remembering mirrors for independent checking
and could happen in any mood.

Nowadays most people get a reduction in their insurance if I am added as a named driver and I am on three
policies trusted with vehicles, kids, others credit cards and pins (borrow the car) etc when a designated driver is required, despite the fact that my own life is obviously a mess - I haven't owned my own car for 15 years+, driven a bus for 30 years and get benefits for severe mental disability.

I am still a very new driver (five years experience for a 53 year old person is still pretty new). I did something really stupid last year and had to work to get my license back. Thankfully, I got past the anniversary of that stupid incident without any problems and am now doing okay. I am still reluctant to go far out of my own town. I sometimes wonder what I might have been able to accomplish with more real world experience.

I used to love driving! I’d cruise around for hours for fun down the highway or backroads, and I had a few jobs with hour commutes I didn’t mind. I don’t like it so much anymore. I don’t know if this is really because I got older and burned out, but it seems to me like the general quality of drivers out there has dropped dramatically. Now I stick to daytime driving in familar areas.

I came close years ago to getting my private pilots license. I loved flying, I soloed a few times, but av gas and plane rental grew too expensive for my budget, and I had a hard time understanding the voices coming over the radio system. I would have been terrified of flying into a large airport.

Shutting the car door when inside on your own is one of the best sounds. Thunk! Then the noise of the day is all gone, I have 45 minutes slowly driving home listening to a podcast or music.

I am very confident driving where I already know, but I won't drive to new towns or cities, I get list easily and am not good at reading all the road signs. I drove into Heathrow airport once and had to abandon it in a few minutes, I got out and my passenger had to take over. There are just a huge amount of signs everywhere, the traffic flows pretty quickly and you have no time to see where you are going and what lane you should be in.

I'm a good driver, and learning to enjoy going slow.
Pretty good with anything that moves, really. Learning to ride a motorcycle took a few tries, but everything else (bicycles, skateboards, rollerblades, cars, archery...) came pretty naturally. Kind of seems to run in my family. I'd love to learn to fly, just haven't had the opportunity.
Worried that my eyes seem to be starting to go already.

I wouldn't know since I've never learned to drive and couldn't afford to buy and take care of a car even if I could drive. I can understand the challenges that might make it harder for an autistic person to drive, but I've seen enough people who seriously shouldn't be driving that I'm sure are not on the spectrum.

I pretty much hate being on or in almost anything that moves, but maybe it's different when you're the one in control.

I started driving at 16 and also got a motorcycle license when I was young and really stupid. A miracle I survived. I was trying to prove how tough I was.

I've had a pretty good driving record. I prefer country roads and road with less traffic, but I used to be able to negotiate serious traffic. But that was before serious traffic was as bad as it is today. However, I never did figure out how to drive through Montreal. Enter at one end of town and circle around endlessly until it spits you out. I also don't like to drive at night much anymore due to worsening night vision.

I drive a lot in my work and the more I drive, the better I get at it - in terms of paying attention over long periods of time. So it is a skill like any other. Judging from the various replies, I'd say it driving skill is not linked directly to being aspergian.

I think I'm generally a pretty good driver...but...inability to multitask is certainly something I need to be careful of. I can more or less speak French, but I do very dangerous things if I try to speak french while driving!

My driving was definitely worse when my symptoms were stronger, that's for sure. Coordination, focus, attention, and even impulsivity and improper risk assessment all resulted in my driving being worse at times.. even making mistakes that total cars. Oops. Live and learn.

I'm not a perfect driver, but I drive 25-35k kms/year in a 6 speed manual no problem. Besides having my symptoms under control, 19 years of driving experience helps.

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