For those of you who drive....can you drive stick?

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Horus
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28 Sep 2010, 8:55 pm

My dad showed me how to drive stick today. I've tried before with my cousin, but it was hard to learn on his expensive sports car and I was very nervous. My dad told me I did great today though. In fact....he said I was the best "student" he ever had and he's taught many people to drive stick. He taught my mother and step-mother, but he said they were awful. They cried the whole time he was trying to teach them and they both felt stupid. Both of them even threatened to divorce him just because they were upset and frustrated trying to learn to drive stick.

They eventually got it though....but he said I got the gist of it much faster. I was worried that he was just patronizing me, but he insisted that he wasn't. I do believe I got the gist of it, but I still didn't feel confident enough to actually drive on the streets. I had a bit of trouble shifting from first to second gear though. I got to the point where I was looking at the tachometer and i'd shift when the rpms reached 3500. Still....I would sometimes either pop the clutch or give the car too much gas when I was shifting into second gear.

Anyway...i've always been nervous about trying to learn to drive stick. I really thought i'd never get it. For one thing....I thought my NLD/AS-related problems with motor skills (especially when psychomotor "multi-tasking" is required) would make it impossible. This was yet another one of the countless things i've been embarassed about all my life. Yet another thing everyone but myself seemed to be able to do. I am 40 years-old and I finally (more or less at least) learned how to drive a stick.

It is a good thing to know too. There still are plenty of jobs (valet, truck driving, etc...) which require you to know how to drive a stick. Thus...I didn't want to learn to do it just for my own self-edification. I will probably need to work (at least part-time) when I go back to college/uni to complete my degree. A job which involves driving might not be a bad option for me.

At any rate....have the rest of you who drive at all had any significant problems learning to drive stick? I'm wondering if this is something people with AS/NVLD often have major problems with.

jmnixon95
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28 Sep 2010, 9:01 pm

My dad taught me to when I was about eleven. :P
I can't legally drive, though.

Pistonhead
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28 Sep 2010, 9:17 pm

I've only driven stick offroad in my dad's Mitsubishi Fuso. I know the theory and stuff behind it and could probably be considered competent at low speeds as is but I wouldn't say I know how to drive stick till I can race it.

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Mdyar
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28 Sep 2010, 9:18 pm

Horus wrote:

They eventually got it though....but he said I got the gist of it much faster. I was worried that he was just patronizing me, but he insisted that he wasn't. I do believe I got the gist of it, but I still didn't feel confident enough to actually drive on the streets. I had a bit of trouble shifting from first to second gear though. I got to the point where I was looking at the tachometer and i'd shift when the rpms reached 3500. Still....I would sometimes either pop the clutch or give the car too much gas when I was shifting into second gear.

Anyway...i've always been nervous about trying to learn to drive stick. I really thought i'd never get it. For one thing....I thought my NLD/AS-related problems with motor skills (especially when psychomotor "multi-tasking" is required) would make it impossible. This was yet another one of the countless things i've been embarassed about all my life. Yet another thing everyone but myself seemed to be able to do. I am 40 years-old and I finally (more or less at least) learned how to drive a stick.

It is a good thing to know too. There still are plenty of jobs (valet, truck driving, etc...) which require you to know how to drive a stick. Thus...I didn't want to learn to do it just for my own self-edification. I will probably need to work (at least part-time) when I go back to college/uni to complete my degree. A job which involves driving might not be a bad option for me.

At any rate....have the rest of you who drive at all had any significant problems learning to drive stick? I'm wondering if this is something people with AS/NVLD often have major problems with.

Yeah, I can Horus and it took some getting used to especially when on a hill because you roll back, and if you're stuck in snow it's also a different M.O.

Now three on' tree,' as the hillbillies call it, was far harder, as you move the shifting lever on the sterring column to change gears, and you have to remember the positions because there is no marks for these positions.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGoG55S5_Fo[/youtube]

menintights
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28 Sep 2010, 9:21 pm

My uncle tried to teach me when I was 11, but I ran his car into a paddy field and he got into so much trouble he refused to give me any more driving lessons ever since. Lately I've been wanting to learn again, if only to prove to myself that I can do it. I think while I may be nervous about driving stick by myself at first, I do have the hand-eye-leg coordination for it and will eventually get used to using it.

DeaconBlues
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28 Sep 2010, 9:23 pm

It's hard for a while, but eventually the coordination becomes, if you'll pardon the expression, automatic. Still prefer driving AT to stick, though - it's a lot easier on my leg in heavy traffic, and on some of the hills around here...

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Meow101
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28 Sep 2010, 9:34 pm

I didn't learn till I was 37 years old...LOL...that's how uncoordinated I am...but I persisted and eventually did learn

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Pamo
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28 Sep 2010, 9:36 pm

I'm 43, NT, still can't drive a stick. I've tried numerous times. No luck. I give up. My son is getting his driver's license tomorrow. I'm hoping I won't have to drive as much anymore. i don't like to drive at all.

Horus
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28 Sep 2010, 9:46 pm

jmnixon95 wrote:

My dad taught me to when I was about eleven.

I can't legally drive, though.

Well....that makes feel like a winner :roll:

Better late than never though I guess.

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28 Sep 2010, 9:50 pm

I first learned how to drive on a stick shift (with all the obligatory embarrassing stall outs in traffic). It's been many years since I've driven one though, not since my 12 yo son was a baby.

Horus
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28 Sep 2010, 9:52 pm

Pamo wrote:

I guess alot of people give up. Almost all the women I know have said that trying to learn how to drive stick literally brought them to tears. The same thing happens to me when i'm trying to learn algebra or any math beyond basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

pgd
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28 Sep 2010, 9:59 pm

Horus posted (in part): ...At any rate....have the rest of you who drive at all had any significant problems learning to drive stick? I'm wondering if this is something people with AS/NVLD often have major problems with...
---
Yes, had significant problems learning to drive stick (due to undiagnosed left-side hemiparesis).
- http://www.hemihelp.org.uk/ - Hemiparesis is weakness, not paralysis. Eventually learned to drive stick, however, prefer automatic. - http://www.out-of-sync-child.com/ - http://www.balametrics.com/ - http://www.infinitywalk.org/ - http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/

Horus
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28 Sep 2010, 10:06 pm

Mdyar wrote:

Quote:

Yeah, I can Horus and it took some getting used to especially when on a hill because you roll back, and if you're stuck in snow it's also a different M.O.

I had a problem with the hill too where we were at. I pretty much got the hang of it though. I wouldn't have to worry about snow or hills where I live though, South Florida has neither. Btw....i've decided to stay here in Pittsburgh for another week. I'd like to spend as much time with my family as I can. I may not have chance to come up here again anytime soon. I plan on starting school in January and hopefully i'll be working (part-time at least) again soon. So..instead of flying back home to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow, i'll be leaving next Tuesday.

Quote:

Now three on' tree,' as the hillbillies call it, was far harder, as you move the shifting lever on the sterring column to change gears, and you have to remember the positions because there is no marks for these positions.

Yeah I can imagine....I haven't seen too many of these and I can't imagine i'd ever need to drive one. It sounds somewhat akin to playing a fretless stringed instrument. It would be nice to try one just for the sake of being challenged though. I don't know one person who has a TOT shifter, but maybe I could rent a vehicle which has one. I hardly think i'll be doing that anytime soon though.

Horus
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28 Sep 2010, 10:15 pm

menintights wrote:

I'm pretty sure you can do it. If my supremely anxious a** can do it, almost anyone can. My main reason for wanting to learn how to do it was the same as yours. You probably will be nervous....I was even nervous today with my dad. Still.....my dad was very patient and he is a great teacher when it comes to "hands-on" things like this. Also....his Mazda was a much easier car to deal with than my cousin's sports car. I really don't know and don't care anything about cars, so I can't even tell you what KIND of sports car my cousin has. It's a fast red thing and that's all I know. My crummy motor skills and potential problems with procedural (as well as objectively CONFIRMED problems with visual memory like many other people with NLD/AS) memory made me believe i'd never master stick in a million years. I still haven't "mastered" it really, but I pretty much have the fundamentals down and i'll probably go out and practice again with my dad while i'm still here visiting him.

Horus
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28 Sep 2010, 10:19 pm

DeaconBlues wrote:

Yes....i'm hoping it becomes automatic with me too. Since I don't actually own a vehicle with a standard transmission, I don't know if it ever will. Still....i'd like grasp the essentials of it for both my own self-esteem and in case I ever need to drive a stick for a job or something.

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28 Sep 2010, 10:31 pm

I don't know how, but I should learn.

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