Driveing & talking to a passenger at the same time

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Does anyone else find this a tad difficult ?

I suppose it amounts to the inablity to do 2 things at the same time - which I've learned is a typical aspergers trait.

How do you cope ? Just not respond to the conversation ?, - but that would seem rather ignorant, but I don't like admitting to the person this may be down to my aspergers.

Last edited by modelmaker on 27 Feb 2012, 7:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don't know, I've never driven a motor vehicle in my life!

Err well, in that case, you need not have responded to this thread ...

Last edited by modelmaker on 27 Feb 2012, 7:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I used to have a big problem with it, and still do sometimes. Eventually I learned that I had to either not respond, or ask people not to talk to me because it was distracting. The fact that I rarely have any one in the car with me other than family makes it easier. They also had a desire to live, and could tell I was distracted by their talking, so they pretty much stopped on their own!

Need, no. Wanted, yes!

I haven't found it too much of a problem with just 1 passenger. With a car full it's harder, but I just concentrate on the road. BTW. There is nothing abnormal about a driver being more focused on the road than interacting with passengers, so don't stress yourself out about it.

Jason.

Whenever it's calm on the road around me, it goes fine. When I have to pay attention to the traffic (which is quite often) I'm focused on that, and I just stop talking, even in the middle of a sentence. I don't listen to whatever someone is saying to me at that time.

Afterwards I usually say something along the lines of "Sorry about that, I had to pay attention to the road".

Yeah I have a hard enough time driving by myself the way it is, much less with other people in the car trying to talk to me. I always wondered if my poor concentration behind the wheel was due to my AS, I can't think of any other reasons why I have trouble concentrating. That's why I refuse to drive other people in my car anymore.

I could kinda-sorta manage it when I was younger, but I flatly can't do it and drive safely anymore. It's like when I engage the part of my rain that turns thoughts into words I stop seeing what's in front of me. I almost never have people in the car with me so it doesn't come up much, though. I have no idea if it's a common ASD thing.

If it did come up I imagine that I'd say that I have a brain injury^* and can't talk and drive at the same time. And explain that I can usually hear and give "yes" or "no" answers. And if I wanted to be a smart-ass I could say that I can speak and drive at the same time, but only if you want to die.


^*I have a diagnosis to back that up, but it's not what people would normally think of as a brain injury (is not a tbi).

Interesting replies , thanks

I'm sort of more confident/at ease about driving & talking depending who I'm with & what the conversation is about.
so maybe its a self esteem issue which I suppose is aspergers related.

Reason I ask is, whilst giving my neighbour a lift, she asked me how long I had been driveing for, I reckon it was because I was making little mistakes & she could see that my attention was deflected slightly when I was driveing & talking to her simultaneusly.

& another friend of mine , whilst in my car, always checks his mirror nervously to see whats behind if I'm changeing lanes.
Once, he subtly reminded me that the traffic lights ahead were actually on green , (as I was absent mindedly slowing down towards the traffic lights on green).

Thanks for the imput, as, as I'm recently diagnosed aspergers I feel its good to talk about these sort of things.

I don't have a problem if it's a family member but other than that I tend to miss turns etc. when I try to listen to someone talk and drive at the same time.

Yes, I find talking to a passenger while I am driving to be distracting. I am okay with singing or humming along to the radio, as it apparently requires a slightly different brain track. I also can handle talking to myself to help me think things throug, while driving, but talking that requires interaction with others is more complex. The other side of the conversation comes from someone else's brain, so it takes more processes resources to focus on, absorb, and respond to such conversations. This takes away resources being used to safely navigate the road, and deal with driving hazards. Fortunately, I rarely have passengers.

This is something with which I have difficulty. It used to be that I couldn't be talked to at all while driving. Now, with much practice, I can have people talk to me, but I very very often am barely listening. It also changes depending on how demanding the road is on my attention.

Depends. If it's a difficult or in-depth conversation, I might find it slightly difficult to keep my mind on the road.
If it's general banter about the weather, complaining about fuel prices and shows I didn't watch last night, I'm fine.

Then again, I once drove for half a mile over a motorway's shoulder because I was looking intensively at a previously-unnoticed detail in the navigation system.

I haven't tried but I do have fear to be in that situation.

I've always want to drive and I imagine myself driving. But everytime my imagination takes me to that situation of driving-and-conversation, things get really… I don't know the word for it - chaotic? I just can't imagine myself doing those two at the same time - when there's a conversation, I tend to focus on it because I know it's hard for me to do so.

Heck, walking and texting is already hard for me. Walking and talking to the phone, the same thing. So if ever the time comes that I'll learn to drive, I think my answer to your question will be: very difficult. Unless I find a way to absorb the conversation without the need to focus on it.

The upside is that this person is in the same car and generally sees the same traffic situation as you, so they'll stop talking when there's danger present. This makes a conversation with a person in the car very much less dangerous than talking on the phone while driving, as research shows.