Driving and perception

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Anyone else have major issues with visual perception when it comes to driving?

I still haven't got a driver's license yet, because I'm literally afraid to drive on my own. I've got the actual *maneuvers* down, and that's not a problem; however, my visual processing still leaves quite a bit to be desired.

For one thing, trying to keep track of everything going on around me is a bit overwhelming. There's so much going on that I can't make sense of it all, and I lose track of some of what's going on around me. Sometimes it ends up being unimportant details that my brain drops... but then other times, it's something like a stop sign, an important intersection, or even another car. Needless to say, this is not a good thing.

The sheer amount of visual input also causes me to have a bit of a processing delay... by the time I realize that the thing in front of me is a stop light, I may have already gone through it.

On top of that, I have *major* problems with spatial perception and depth perception. I can't easily judge whether a car is in the lane right next to me or on the one farthest away. I can't tell how close I am to the car in front of me, or how far away the intersection I see ahead actually is. And of course, these issues can easily be combined; on a few occasions, I've nearly sideswiped a car in the neighboring lane because I thought it was far enough away that I could change lanes. >_<

So... anyone else have similar problems? Suggestions on how to deal with them?

I have the same exact problem. I also do not yet have a driver's liscence, and I am 21 years old. I took driver's ed in high school, and did not do well, but did well enough to pass the course. I didn't get enough driving hours in outside of the course, though. Since then, I've been practicing every summer with my parents with the intent of getting my liscence, and every summer, it doesn't happen .

I get very confused when cars drive past me, especially on the highway, it is disorienting. I also miss stop signs and can be oblivious to the lights if there are other things going on around me. I also tend to panic (which isn't helped by my father's yelling and grabbing the wheel from me ), and do stupid things, like once I stopped right in the middle of the road, because I missed a turn and did not know what to do. Luckily, there were no cars behind me.

Another very odd thing sometimes happens to me when I'm driving, and I'm not sure how to describe it. It may relate to the depersonalization/derealization thread, though. Sometimes I feel like I can not see what I'm looking at, as though everything is very washed out and too bright and foggy. It is very difficult to focus when this happens.

I'm sorry, but I don't really know how to overcome these issues, as I have the same problems, but I would greatly appreciate it if someone else had any suggestions.

Yeah... I'm 22 and still only have my learner's permit. I managed to pass driver's ed in high school, but that class was so badly taught that I barely learned anything in it anyway.


I've done every single one of those things. And my dad is the same way yours is... he has this way of yelling at and belittling me when I'm behind the wheel, and when I'm visibly getting stressed, he just yells at me more. Yeah, nice way to relieve the stress there.


Oh, this happens to me as well! Usually when I'm a bit tired or stressed, or when I haven't had enough to eat (I seem to have issues with my blood sugar levels as well). Everything's all garbled and weird, and it's very frustrating!

It took me three years for me to get my drivers license. The biggest hang-up for me was of course, keeping track of everything going on around me. The longer I kept my learners permit, the better I was able to deal with what was going on around me.

I tend to be very cautious when I drive. I do have visual processing problems, mainly I always percieve other vehicles as approaching faster and closer than they really are, which in a way is a good thing as it keeps me on the safe side when I do things such as making turns or changing lanes on the highway.

I've been lucky so far not to have any accidents, however, during my three year long "learning process", I once missed by inches side swiping and expen$ive yacht that was parked on the side of the street hooked up to someone's truck.

My son does not wish to drive for these same reasons. He is 26 years old and has had experience driving (learners permits) but just doesn't want to drive at this time. I will never pressure him to do this because I have trouble driving, too and it took me awhile to get my license. I'm sure if he ever wishes to pursue this he will. It is inconvenient for him sometimes to not have a license, but I think the stress of driving still far outweighs all. I wish we didn't need to drive a car at all, to be honest.

I can understand the visual perception problem very well. I grew up operating old farm machinery that would either maim or kill you if you were not paying attention. I never got hurt but I can recall one incident that I do not ever care to go through again and it was caused by me not paying attention. There is a lot of truth in the old saying "What does not kill you makes you stronger" I tend to be over cautious now and I try to plot out what I will do ahead of time in certain situations.
I aced the written exam. To my continuing embarrassment it took me three attempts at the driving part to get my license and I had been driving farm equipment since I was eight.
If at all possible practice driving by yourself on lonely country roads or streets in citys that are not too busy. Noisy passengers especially those that try to tell you how to drive distract me to the point where I make mistakes but not with the frequency that I used to.
I hated driving at first... I love it now. I would be lost without my drivers license.
People with aspergers can drive but it takes us more practice than it does other people. Oh yeah, by the way, if you keep trying you CAN become a better than average driver. I do not tailgate because I know that I may not react in time. I try not to drive when I am tired because I know that my reaction time will be slower. The list goes on.

The heck of it is I will soon have a kid that will be driving age. If I am not careful I will repeat the same mistakes that my own parents made with me such as expecting perfection from the get go. If I live through this experience, and he becomes a sucessful driver, I will cheerfully come back to this board and tell you how I did it.

I wish I could find someone other than my... rather temperamental dad to supervise me while driving. Let's just say that definitely doesn't make things any more comfortable for me behind the wheel... -_-

My parents had different styles of driving, both radically different. Dad expected me to drive as if I had a wagon full of hay behind me. He drove like that and nearly got himself killed in an accident. Anything less than what he perceived as perfection would send him into a cussing fit.
Mom did not cuss but was even bossier than dad. To her credit she was the first to discover that less hell raising equaled better driving on my part.
Now I have made them sound like ogres here. They were not. They were decent people. The problem was that no one knew of Aspergers when I was a kid. Things would have been different had they known.

I'd be worried about an aspie with spatial distortions driving and I'd think carefully about it, maybe some irlen lenses or something that would help with the visual problems, other than that I'd have to say, you may be a danger to yourself or others on the roads and might be better off using public transport or taxis, particularly if you qualify for some type of transport subsidy due to some degree of 'blindness'.

I certainly felt overwhelmed and nervous as a learner, much moreso than the average NT, but I went on to become a better than average driver due to 'over alertness' and probably some type of ESP. But then, I don't have any visual distortions, and have good peripheral vision (an aspie characteristic, I believe). I got my license at 17 which is the usual age here. My brother was a good teacher but did stir me a bit, most family members do.

Anyway, maybe approach it as a long term thing but certainly only practice will help. You can get a better sense of the car's dimensions and its position in space if you go somewhere isolated and practice... say parking, or practice your positioning of the car relative to a line or an object, then get out of the car and actually look at how close or far you are. I agree with the other poster about not ever driving with a carload full of loud peers, that was my biggest problem as a young driver - 'friends' (ha) who used me as a taxi service and joyride driver.

PP

Good peripheral vision is an Aspie characteristic? I must be some sort of anomaly, then!

And yeah, I'm looking into getting an Irlen evaluation... maybe it'll help, maybe not, but it's worth trying, anyhow. And I'm having a regular eye exam this Friday; I'll see if they can do anything about testing depth perception and peripheral vision just to prove that I'm not just imagining things...

it's classic that family members are not the ideal people to teach you to drive - very well-known. get a professional.

and i have FABULOUS peripheral vision, even though my eyesight isn't great (useful in the classroom...).

i've been driving for about 17 years, and i know my driving has improved. it gets better when i don't think too hard about it. i wouldn't say i'm a great driver, but i can parallel park like a demon! (so there, to all the blokes who say women can't park).

I've never been able to work up the courage to learn to drive- it just seems like such a big thing to me and I would be terrified of crashing the car. I keep getting nagged to learn to drive, I've even gone as far as getting an application form but in the end I just couldn't do it.

Mel

I can't drive at night. I also have an astigmatism, but I also know it's the AS, b/c my depth perception is horrible, especially at night.

I also walk into walls (the edges of doorways), trip, bump my legs into everything, and constantly injure myself.

Tallgirl

I know how you feel. Originally, my mom was helping me, but she kept doing that weird thing she does- saying one thing and meaning another, or changing her mind without telling me. She first wanted me to go driving with her whenever she felt like it. Then, without saying anything, she decided she wanted me to tell her when I wanted to go driving . You can see how this would cause problems- I was waiting for her to say something, and she was waiting for me to say something. Both of us thought the other did not want to drive. Then, she started working full time, and there wasn't any time to practice anyway.

My father... ugh. He is the worst person to drive with. He screams and shouts, he grabs the wheel from me, smacks my leg, and he flails his arms around while I'm driving. Instead of saying "turn right" he points his finger in front of my face and says "go that way," utterly obscuring my vision. Once, he became so frustrated he literally leapt on top of my back and took the wheel from me. I think I must have blocked this out, because my little brother told me it happened, and that he was terrified (he was in the back seat at the time, and refuses to ever go driving with the two of us again). After I complained about his "methods" of teaching, my father decided that instead of helping, he'd just sit in the seat and wait for me to screw up. When I asked him what to do, he wouldn't answer me, and when I did the wrong thing, he flipped out .

This summer, I plan to enroll in a driving class for adults..

Sad to say, between my auditory processing issues and my confusion with left and right, I think that might actually be a preferable way of indicating it for me. Well, except for the whole bit about obscuring the line of sight. But I think I respond to hand signals more readily than I do to speech a lot of the time, when the meaning of those signals is already agreed upon.

And that doesn't excuse the rest. I still can't stand the yelling and screaming... do people realize how nervous that makes me? Not to mention that I have a harder time processing what people are saying when they're yelling, especially when there's a certain number of random expletives thrown in to further distract me... >_<

Okay, I need some advice.

I'm 17, and I don't have my learner's permit or my license yet. I have never taken a driver's ed class. Me having to learn how to drive is one of our constant discussions at home. I need to learn how to drive because this June I will be graduating from high school, and I will be attending college in September.

The problem is my parents don't want to drive me to school anymore. If I take the bus it will take me over two hours to get there (and over two hours to get back). On the other hand, if I were to drive myself it would take about fifteen to twenty minutes.

I have never driven a car before, and I am scared to death to do so. I have had people who are very calm and who know me really well (and who are not my parents) offer to teach me how, I almost everyone I know tell me that I who probably be a very good driver, but I'm not so sure (mostly for the reasons other people have already mentioned).

I'm terrified to drive, but I don't want to waste almost five hours of my day getting to and from college. What do you think I should do?