Are Aspies obsessed with following rules?

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18 Feb 2012, 12:28 pm

I don't drive but if I did I think I would be following the road rules more because I could not afford to get pulled over and ticketed and because I don't want to die in a automobile accident. But I don't think I'd be 'obsessed.' as that to me implies I'm following the rules just to follow the rules which is not usually in my nature.

Basically if the rule makes sense and I feel it would be in my best interest to follow it then I will, if it makes no sense and is not in my best interest then no.

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League_Girl
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18 Feb 2012, 1:20 pm

What if a traffic law out there didn't make sense? Would you guys still break that rule or would you still follow it just to not get a ticket?

I think there are some out there that do not make sense but I insist on following that rule still or be a bad driver or get a ticket. But most traffic laws make sense because it's about safety and they don't want roads to be backed up so I can see why they would not allow turns on some roads. Plus is avoids accidents too, especially if that road is dangerous.

Let's see what rules I break, I don't use my turn signal when I switch lanes when there are no cars on the road or hardly any because if a car is way way behind me, I don't need to use a turn signal because I am way up ahead. I don't always use my signal in a turn only lane because why should I if everyone knows I am turning? So those are the traffic laws I break in those cases. When I see people gripe about people not using their signals I assume that is when there are lot of cars on the road, I do use my signal then.

Sweetleaf
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18 Feb 2012, 1:25 pm

League_Girl wrote:

Well I don't drive but i think most traffic laws have some logical basis.........rules in general though some of them don't make a lot of sense or simply should not be so those are meant to be broken.

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18 Feb 2012, 1:28 pm

OliveOilMom wrote:

Joe90 wrote:

NTs are obsessed with following social and conformity rules.

Please stop putting all NT's into one catagory and villifying them for it. Not every NT cares anything at all about social rules and conformity. Lots and lots of NT's do their own thing and don't care what anyone else does.

Oh....that's the first time I heard somebody say that on WP. Usually it's always ''NTs are the same, Aspies are different''.

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CyclopsSummers
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18 Feb 2012, 1:32 pm

I think Joe was just making a joke. Usually she's the first to express her annoyance at anti-NT posts.

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AnOldHFA
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18 Feb 2012, 2:19 pm

I am obessesed with following laws.
I tend to do my best to follow traffic laws (the writen laws, not the ones people think).
It may have a lot to do with that in first grade (in New Jersey) we had traffic class where we were told about the laws and why they matter. Then at 15 (In North Carolina) we had a very good drivers ed where I learned more about traffic laws, then at 16 I took a school bus drivers course (from the state of North Carolina) that tought me even more about traffic laws.
Every time I move to a new state, I look up the traffic laws (they are mostly the same) and follow them to the letter as best I can. I haven't meet many people that are like me...

I have had lots of encouters with police that did not know the writen laws.

As ohters have said. I have known Autistics that did not care about laws. It may have a lot to do with how a person is raised.

When I was younger and laws prevented me from reaching goals. I would have public meetings with politicians, law offiecers and gerneral public. If I was given permission from each and every person it could effeect, then I would carefully break those laws. I will say eveyone will see that differently.

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18 Feb 2012, 2:20 pm

League_Girl wrote:

What if a traffic law out there didn't make sense? Would you guys still break that rule or would you still follow it just to not get a ticket?

I have yet to judge a single traffic law to not make sense, but something like a speed limit I know is arbitrarily set*, and so I'm more prone to break it so long as I am still being a safe driver. I will not contest a speeding ticket, since a law is a law and my agreement with the state for securing a driver's license is that I will follow the law or face penalties for breaking the law, but that doesn't mean that I won't still break the law. However, my agreement with myself and others on the road is that I will be a very careful and safe driver, and speeding alone does not break this rule (and in fact helps this rule if I'm driving with the flow of traffic rather than with the required limits imposed by a sign on the side of the road).

*One freeway here used to be 55mph when I was young, later went up to 60mph, and is now 65mph, despite increased traffic on that freeway and no changes in the number of lanes or entrances/exits in the 30+ years I've gone down that road either by my driving or by being a passenger in another vehicle. Another freeway went from 60mh to 70mph. Some roads will change speed limits within a certain jurisdiction and then return to it's previous limit upon exiting that jurisdiction (like a road that passes through multiple cities, and usually with less traffic in the smaller city that has the lowered speed limit simply because that city wants to impose different rules and/or gain more money from issuing speeding tickets).

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18 Feb 2012, 2:26 pm

AnOldHFA wrote:

Every time I move to a new state, I look up the traffic laws (they are mostly the same)

Three laws I always look up when driving in another state:
1) Is turning right on red permissible, and are there instances when turning left on red is permissible? (In Texas, you can turn left on red if you are going from a one-way street onto another one-way street, unless otherwise posted.)
2) Are u-turns legal? Are 3-point turns legal?
3) When must headlights be turned on? (In one of the southern states, either LA or MS as I can't remember now, drivers are required to have headlights on if it is raining. In Texas headlights are only required between 30min after sunset and 30min before sunrise.)

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18 Feb 2012, 2:45 pm

dr01dguy wrote:

IMHO, there's a gigantic misunderstanding among both NTs and Aspies about what's meant by the stereotype "likes rules". This is a big issue for me, because it's why I slipped through the cracks and defied classification as "Aspie" for more that 10 years.

"rules" are how we learn to feign NT-ness. We observe others, note their behaviory responses, and come up with internalized flowcharts, scripts, and UML-like diagrams to plan our future social interactions.

As children, we "like" rules, because they clarify what's expected of us. Eventually, we notice that others routinely break those rules & get away with it. Then, the Big Divergence begins:

Some Aspies get paralyzed by anxiety, feel singled-out for persecution, and become neurotic about following rules to the letter -- even when it results in absurd outcomes & they *know* it will. In a way, they rebel through passive-aggressive martyrdom.

Others (particularly, those at the "ADD" end of the spectrum) go into open rebellion against externally-imposed rules and become reflexively defiant, even when they agree with the rule. They have the same anxiety about being singled out for selective enforcement, but are equally incapable of figuring out the "unwritten" rules, so THEY indiscriminately rebel against everything.

Of course, adults are more complicated than kids. For the most part, I fall into the "defiant" group, but in situations with asymmetric balance of power that's overwhelmingly against me, I become a passive-aggressive rule-following martyr instead... hating & despising them for putting me in that position of indignity, and endlessly plotting my future escape from their grasp.

On the other hand, the "rules" (script, flowcharts, etc) that we make for ourselves are inviolate and sacred, as long as we want them to be. The fastest way to make any Aspie "go nuclear" is to force him to violate internal rules he holds sacred & watch him throw a RuleViolationException (a subclass of human.aspie.MeltdownableException ;-)

One of the best posts I've read on this forum.

I'll tell you a short story about rules. About 20 years ago some people were hitting my garbage cans with their car every week when I put them out. I didn't really think about the "rules" of society the only thing that mattered to me was that my moral code was violated, I have a very strong respect for other peoples property rights and the right not to be f***** with. One night instead of putting garbage in the 'can' I filled it with 50 gallons of water. For those that don't know a gallon of water weighs aprox. 8lb, you can do the math. Anywho..... the car was totaled when they hit it. I'm guessing what I did was against the rules but I still smile every time I think of it

I tend to follow most of the rules because they conform my moral code. The rules that don't, well, I just have no use for them. I would be very interested to see a study of HFA/AS people to see where they fall on Kholberg's morality scale compared to a control group. I'm guessing the ASD people will be higher on the scale.

Last edited by Rascal77s on 18 Feb 2012, 3:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Cultus_Diabolus
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18 Feb 2012, 2:48 pm

i drive safely, but i also drive fast, if im not speeding its because some one in front of me is a slow f****r and i have no way to past them safely.

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MrXxx
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18 Feb 2012, 2:49 pm

OliveOilMom wrote:

Joe90 wrote:

NTs are obsessed with following social and conformity rules.

Good golly no! If anything, I would say the exact opposite! If I were to generalize that is.

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18 Feb 2012, 2:51 pm

OliveOilMom wrote:

CyclopsSummers wrote:

I can't help you with the case, unfortunately... but I'm one of those people described, who (used to) obsess about traffic lasws. I STILL get unusually upset when a car runs a red light in front of me (when I need to cross the zebra), and whenever I encounter a cyclist on the sidewalk, I pretty much freeze, because my brain tells me 'This does not compute. Cyclists shouldn't be on the sidewalk. Ergo, current situation is impossible'. I softened up a little, but these things still annoy me.

But I wish you good luck with your case. I'd advice you chase down all the evidence/witnesses that may prove you're innocent.

I try to always ride on the sidewalk if there is one. I'm in a small town and most people don't walk so there's not a lot of chances of me inconveniencing someone. I do it because I'm not very confident on a bike right now, as it's been years since I've ridden one much at all. Our roads are just two lane roads with a turn lane sometimes. Only one is a four lane but it has a sidewalk. We don't have sidewalks in very many places, but they are putting more in because a lot of the old people have gotten power chairs and they go all over town in them. They go in groups, like motorcycle gangs lol. In fact thats a running joke around here. .

I feel that bikes should be on the sidewalk, not on the road. It actually infuriates me when a bike is in the road, because I'm terrified that I'll hit them. It doesn't make any sense to ride on the road instead of the sidewalk. An avid cyclist tried to tell me it's because 'unexpected things happen on the sidewalk, like someone stepping in front of you.' Ummm, what?! Nothing unexpected happens on a roadway with giant machines on wheels? What if the cyclist hits a pebble on the side of the road and loses control of the bike? Hits a pothole or ditch? If something like that happens on the sidewalk, your chances of survival or scraping by with a minor injury are infinitely higher than on the road.

Sorry, not to sidetrack, but that's one of those things in life that drives me insane.

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CyclopsSummers
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18 Feb 2012, 3:44 pm

fragileclover wrote:

In most Dutch cities, and in the villages I've visited as well, cyclists have their own strip of road to travel on, bordering the sidewalk. Theoretically, if they keep to that strip, accidents are less likely to happen.

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18 Feb 2012, 4:22 pm

CyclopsSummers wrote:

fragileclover wrote:

I wish we had those! Around here, cyclists will be in the road when the roadway is barely wide enough to fit two cars passing on another. There is literally no shoulder at all. You basically have no choice but to go into the other lane to go around them, or drive super slowly behind them. Totally rude and idiotic.

CrazyCatLord
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18 Feb 2012, 4:40 pm

I'm obsessed with following my own rules. I don't particularly care about other people's rules.

League_Girl
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18 Feb 2012, 5:29 pm

fragileclover wrote:

OliveOilMom wrote:

CyclopsSummers wrote:

It's actually illegal for them to ride on the sidewalk. Luckily my area has bike lanes so it makes it easy for the drivers and the bicyclist. They are not allowed to ride on the sidewalks here. They are to go the same direction as traffic, they are to not slow down traffic. Because of these laws here, I have no problems with them at all, it was only that one time I did which was in 2007. Most of them are courteous here and share the road. My city is green so they have installed bike lanes and light rails and made reliable transportation. Even buses have bike racks and trains have a place for them to put their bikes.

I can imagine it must be annoying elsewhere. In Montana it was no problem because we lived in a small town so it was easy for drivers and bicyclist and you could easily go around them.

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