Aspies and/or Auties and driving

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Do any of you with Autism/Asperger's/Giftedness have issues driving?

I am almost 25 and still cannot pass the theory test. I did a few times in my teenage years, but I failed that more than oassed it. I tried a month or two ago to take the theory test and failed it after reading the manual and knowing the relevant information. They ask irrelevant information and that is the kind of information I completely disregard. I also have significant issues understanding the questions and which answer to pick because they are not specific enough.

I can drive two blocks away with my partner in the car to the grocery store, but I have to ask constant questions and get assurance I am meant to do/not do something or if it is ok to pull out into the intersecting road. Sometimes I hyperventilate because I have panic disorder and panic attacks come truly when there is no reason for them. I cannot deviate from the one route to the store that I know. Every single road and intersection is different and nobody else understands that. They can take general rules of driving and figure it all out. I can't seem to do that. I also have to go through a checklist of things to do when I get in and out of the car. Open door, sit down, shut door. Put on seatbelt. Adjust seat. Put foot on break. Put key in, turn. Think if I need headlights. Figure out which ones by trial and error. Adjust air con/heat and vents. Release parking break. Look in mirrors and out windows to look for cars. Put car in reverse. Go slowly, constantly checking for cars... And when I get out, I repeat this backwards. I have to have what I call my "pre-flight" checks or I am lost before I set out. It is so embarrassing.

Just driving two blocks to the store and back is mentally exhausting. (I now have an automatic car. I used to have a manual but that was way too much to deal with).

I have to be able to drive to get a job, a real one, where I can support myself. I am terrified that I will never be able to do it. Does anyone else have this or a similar problem? Did anyone overcome it? Is there a special way I need to be taught, other than with someone extremely patient?

Some do, some don't. While I am not 100% certain I have AS, I do drive. In fact, I do it for a living. However, many people with the condition can't drive. It's actually one of the reasons some people think Einstein may well have been on the spectrum because of his inability to learn how to operate a car.

I can definitely relate to this. I do drive but not very well, and it is very exhausting for me.

I have dyscalculia and related to that (or to asperger or a mixture ) I am not able to find my way around. I can get lost in my own garden (maybe a slight exaggeration). I am easy to confuse when driving and I am not able to talk to passengers. I try to drive very carefully (to the annoyance of the people behind me) but I have to be careful, and slow when driving.

It was a great help for me to get a GPS in the car, it makes it possible for me to go places

Helle

I've been driving for about 20 years.
I don't have any issues with driving itself ; having driven in various cities that many consider scary, such as Rome,NYC,London,Amsterdam,Paris, and it certainly keeps me awake ; but I do have anger management issues.

Basically as soon as I am behind the wheel, it is a feeling of "get out of my way, get out of my way" to the person infront of me ; especially if they are in the wrong lane. I've also been tempted to offer to park other people's cars for them because they are taking so long to park, even with a tiny car some people try to park like they are driving a limo.

I do... but I am that meandering and frequently lost person that NTs always complain about.

I use my GPS to go pretty much everywhere except the places I go every day because otherwise I get confused or lost.

I get very distracted while driving and look at things I shouldnt. I also have to use the visor on cloudy days because I find all the white fluffy clouds to be too much.

I'm 33 and have never been able to pass the driving test. I get very anxious while driving (and often as a passenger, especially if I'm not familiar with the driver), I'm overly "defensive" and expect every other driver on the road to do the worst possible thing, plus I just have difficulty keeping track of several unpredictably moving things at once (like people in a crowd) and despite the seeming patterns, traffic is unpredictable. I also don't really have depth perception because my vision is much worse in one eye, and that makes it hard to figure out how fast other cars are approaching.
My dad, who I suspect might also be on the spectrum, didn't get his own driver's license until he was in his 30's.

I passed my driving-test without any problems.

Examiner told me that it was most perfect exam he ever had in his career, he even asked me am I some kind of robot
(I have to say that a lot of people thinks that I'm a robot)

Driving is one issue I never had. While I was late getting my license (18) I got a perfect score. I had a jaded old guy who looked 70 do my evaluation. Apparently he pulled my mother aside after the very brief road test and while she was expecting him to tell her I crashed the car, he told her I was the best driver he ever saw. It's probably because streets and maps are one of my special interests so I know of all the anomalies ahead of time. Couldn't fool me up with those weird intersections!

I have no problems driving. One thing that really makes me nervous is driving in the city. (Especially cities that I've never been in) I was driving in Georgia once and went the wrong way around Atlanta. got lost in the city and was freaking out the whole time. This was before I had GPS. An hour and a half later I finally found my way out of the city and onto the highway I needed to be on.
I'm not going on another road trip without GPS!

I can drive fine. I prefer to be the one driving because other people "do it wrong."

I didn't have the desire to drive until I had to when moving out at 18, so that's when I got my license.

I also do not understand "going for a drive." Cars are for going places, not going in circles. If going for a drive meant a scenic route or something, maybe, but it's just driving around. I do not understand the appeal.

I have no problems driving either. Sometimes when there is too much traffic, I prefer to turn right on the road when I want to go left and then turn off the road and then get back on the road so I am going the direction I want to go. I also prefer to go the same routes so I won't get lost and I am familiar with it. But yet when I am not the one driving, I have no problems what route the person takes to get there.

It took me five tries to pass the driving test. I had to do the written test again when I moved because the state requires everyone to take the written test but not the driving. So it took me two tries and most of the questions were based on common sense. So I felt that reading the DMV driver's manual was a waste of my time because lot of the questions it asked were not on the test. If I knew that ahead of time, I would have just skipped the manual and go and take the test and get my license sooner.

If I need to go somewhere new and I am unfamiliar with the route, I go on Google maps and look. I get the directions, see the route and write it down and I see the street views. So in a way I do need the internet and it's not just a luxury or I would have to go to a library or something or go to my aunt and uncles and use their internet connection there.

It's possible you may be unable to drive.

I love driving. It's like zipping around in my own bubble of protected personal space. I have a great sense of direction and almost never get lost. But even if I do get lost I don't mind, because I know I'll find my way eventually and in the meantime I'm comfortable and no one can bother me or try to engage me in conversation.

I’m almost 25 and I’ve never even attempted to drive. It’d be a recipe for disaster. Here are some reasons that my driving would be a danger to myself and others:

1. I have trouble switching my attention

2. I zone out a lot

3. I’m very mono-focused and often absorbed in one thing

4. I’m oblivious to a lot that goes around me as my brain tunes out a ton of data in order to function or it would get overwhelmed with all the input.

5. I get lost very easily

6. I still don’t have a good sense of my own body and am forever running into things and falling and so on(How bad is it? I’ve attempted to close doors while still being in the door frame and thus hitting myself in the face! ) , let alone getting a feel for a vehicle

7. I have slow reflexes/reactions plus what feels like a general input processing delay

Now that doesn’t mean I’d be incapable of driving altogether, but the mental exhaustion I’d get trying to compensate for all that just to drive in a populated area, would probably lead into a meltdown, which is just as bad and not worth it so long as there’s public transportation or someone who can give me a lift.

I love biking, but I can’t do that either on city streets with traffic, because the data becomes just too much!

I have been driving for 27yrs since I was 15 and never had a problem.
I like driving on the highway more than in the city (usually less traffic and stop & go)
My only problem is heavy traffic or getting lost either of which will stress me out to near meltdown.
I hate traffic congestion so much I try to avoid it at all costs and if where I want to go is not that important
I will stay home to avoid it.

I do drive and just got my license back after having it medically suspended for nearly a year. I don't think anybody has any clue what a wrench that threw into my routines but they say I handled it pretty gracefully. I've driven for about 26 years now, because the state I originally came from was very rural and offered learner's permits at age 14, and license at 15. When I was little (living in suburbs) I used to say I wasn't going to learn to drive because it was too complicated. I was going to ride a horse everywhere. My mom still laughs about that.

You could say that driving is nearly a special interest with me. I think traffic patterns are one of the few ways NT's learn a pattern that is similar to the natural patterns I see in things. I had to look at driving as a study of the laws behind this pattern, and physics, in order to pass the test, and drive well. (And some of the test is just irrelevant stuff you must learn to get a license and who knows maybe it will come in handy some day?) This just happens to be a seriously interactive pattern with a lot of random factors, and a lot of multi-tasking to do that can't ever become habit/routine if you don't get the practice due to being overwhelmed.

I think 2 keys were being patient/repetitious and learning things in steps, rather than trying to learn it all at once which would've overwhelmed me. Like I spent a lot of time getting used to the routine of just getting used to the car and thinking of it kind of like an extension of myself (just drove around rural block) so the car itself wasn't a distraction while focusing on traffic later on. Plus I was educated about driving in special conditions, which has come in very handy and really helped my driving confidence and safety...people let me drive when conditions are bad because I am good at that. I am grateful now that my family wasn't impatient or overly pushy about the speed at which I had to learn to drive, so I learned well. It was something they did right.
Just like the rest of my life, my driving is a little quirky too. I don't usually drive with passengers, or with the radio on in busy traffic (rural areas it's okay), or parallel park except under ideal circumstances, and I avoid making unprotected lefts across moderate to busy traffic...will go all the way around a block to avoid that, lol. I miss living out in the country, and driving cross country. I do get anxious still in traffic, even after all these years driving.

i have trouble with the written tests, doing about 70-80% on the latest motorcycle test I took.
Bear in mind that I write motorcycling articles for a living.

The road tests are better.

Driving, I have no problems if I leave the radio off and don't have a car full of people chattering. My brain starts trying to track conversations, weigh speech tones, and plot where the conversation will likely lead. And then I miss a stop sign or something.