anyone else have trouble driving?

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Wow, I share the same sentiments as you. Although I'm not great with maths (I used to be a lot better in high school five years ago, but I've been out of practice since then), I excel in music theory and aural skills, and I learned Spanish in middle school/high school and Russian in college. I never really understood why these so-called "normal" people couldn't understand music or Spanish/Russian the way I do, but I guess some people (most, really) just aren't so blessed - and yet the status quo is still in their favor. FML

I also think that most of them listen to watered-down, over-commercialized pop crap that's easily digestible for them, so focusing on that while driving must not be much of a chore; I know that if I were to listen to music I would have to crank out some denser material - King Crimson, Dream Theater, hell even Stravinsky, you name it! And I would get so lost in that stuff that I would probably crash, because it's not just basic four-chord s***.

Also, when I finally get my license (which hopefully will be before I'm 25, or 30, or 60, or dead), I'm going to establish with my passengers from the get-go that I will NOT tolerate conversation or music in the vehicle...at least until I become more comfortable with driving and more confident in my concentration/multi-tasking skills.

+1 for the King Crimson reference. Fripp is a freakin' genius. Long live prog rock.

And I hate driving as well. Unless I have an empty, straight road. Then it's heaven.

I started driving at a normal age (16) and I have never had any real problems with driving.

I have a problem with people (usually my mother) repeating herself, and basically insisting that I have to respond to something she said. RIGHT NOW. I can't do that. If I'm driving, I might not be available for any other task. She's just going to accept that. Or not. But she'll have to deal with it.

If you have a choice, you might want to drive a manual gearbox. I do, and it makes me plan 5-10 seconds into the future at all times. Try driving in low-stress rural areas if you can, to build up confidence. If you wish to avoid high-traffic high-stress driving when you first start driving, you should. If you want to avoid high-traffic high-stress driving forever, you should.

Take it easy. Best of luck to you !

I love driving my car, but I loathe being stopped by traffic lights or heavy congestion or driving around a full parking lot looking for an empty space - or waiting until somebody has finished their business and drives out...I am a very, very 'impatient driver'...which leads my family to always say to me 'why bother driving at all if it stresses you out like that?'

This as well. I cannot reverse park for the life of me.

I have a permit and have been practicing a lot, although I don't like it at all. There's so much going on and so many things to pay attention to; one mistake could be fatal. Due to nervousness and anxiety, I barely breathe while driving, which I never notice until my mom tells me to breathe.

I also don't understand NTs behind the wheel, especially other teenagers. So many of them don't wear seatbelts, they drink and drive, text and drive, or speed. I just got out of my last driver's ed class yesterday, and about two-thirds of class was video after video after video of people that texted/drank/didn't wear a seatbelt, and I thought to myself, "These videos are pointless; the NTs are just going to do them anyway." If there's one thing I want to know about NTs, it's why they're so willing to endanger their own lives behind the wheel. I don't even go one mile per hour over the speed limit.

Unfortunately, it's not just their own lives that they endanger, but the lives of their passengers (if any) as well. Jackson Pollock, a "brilliant" painter from the former half of the twentieth century, got wasted at a party one evening and drove his wife and her friend home. Needless to say, they got into a head-on collision with another vehicle, and I believe the friend was the only person to survive that accident. Even the best and brightest of us make these kinds of costly mistakes from which we cannot learn.

Honestly, though, I don't see the drinkers-and-drivers as NTs at all (come to think of it, given my therapist's lessons lately, I don't think anyone even can be neuro-typical). Study Millon's personality types/disorders and the DSM-V's classifications of personality, and you'll see what I mean. Everyone has their quirks - there's a personality disorder for everyone. For example: in addition to being autistic, I'm also obsessive compulsive (behavioral more than personality-wise, because there's a difference), avoidant/anxious, dependent, paranoid, schizotypal, and possibly borderline (Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD, involves a lot of black & white/rigid thinking, as I understand it, a long with a bit of irritability and mood issues as a result). Drinkers-and-drivers, I would guess, would mostly be B Cluster/C Cluster personality types, either anti-social/histrionic, narcissistic, etc. or avoidant/anxious, dependent, etc. A lot are probably depressed, too. Plus, alcohol impairs your judgement anyways, so drinking with your car easily accessible to you is NOT a good idea, no matter what type of person you are - if you've had a few too many, and there's no one stopping you, you're going to get behind that wheel. Nothing to get anxious about, just to be wary of.

i can drive well

High five! Long live prog indeed. It's also a strange coincidence, but I'm a musician (and even a guitarist) and I look a little bit like Fripp.
It's as if I'm really his grandson, or something.

I find it near impossible to drive with people in the car because they'll talk and distract me - dangerous in a moving vehicle. The couple of times I've had people in my car, they were talking and I ended up driving down the wrong street, making illegal turns, etc. As it is I don't listen to the radio while I drive.

Driving isn't a problem but affording to drive is. On disability I simply can't afford insurance, a car and repairs.

I'll admit that, I'm not the greatest when it comes to driving though, I'm not fond of driving over long distances as, I start to feel that I'm getting a headache as well, I sometimes have to take intermittent breaks so, I can maintain my sensory system if this makes sense? Currrently, I'm not driving at this time in that I had a bad accident 7 years ago however, there was no physical damage just it made me psychologically feel less wanting to drive in general. Yes, I'll eventually return to driving again but, I'm hoping to purchase a reasonable fuel efficient car..

I do, oh yes. I have never had a license and never had a car. The anxiety is much too great. I've learned to get around quite well and have a couple close people who will take me where I want or need to be. I miss living in a place where PT is reliable and actually preferable....

I definately had trouble driving at first and I still don't like driving on unfamiliar roads when there is a lot of traffic but it does get easier with practice except that I still get slightly lost quite a lot. You don't have to drive especially considering the problematic nature of so much traffic but if you really want to maybe try practicing when there isn't muct traffic because getting the feel of a car makes driving much easier which is why I keep the same car for as long as possible.

Just got my new permit today, and the first thing that my mom asked me immediately afterward when we got into the car to go get groceries was "Do you want to drive?" And I just tensed up like a mother****** and said "No...I don't think I'm ready yet..." The anxiety's still there, even after five years of not driving...fml.