Driving (and Autism/Asperger's)

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I never had a problem learning to drive an automatic transmission. However, I had a much more difficult time learning to drive a manual transmission (having to coordinate both feet and both hands simultaneously).

As a note, even though I learned how to drive an automatic transmission fairly easily, I had great difficulties judging distances (perhaps this has something with depth perception?). In my first year of driving, I hit stationary objects (on both the right and left side of the car) while parking. To this day, I still have difficulty judging distances.

Personally, if I never drove again, it would be just fine with me. I got into two wrecks in one week, and after that, I just said "Nope...not doing it again."

I started driving at 16 too but I thought my symptoms would get in the way so I put it off until I was 21. Every time I would get in the car I was nervous, especially since my first driving instructor was hyper critical and made me tense (making my driving even worse). But honestly, my friends and my stepdad were the ones who showed me how fun it was to drive. Now I can drive both auto and manual as well as several different models of forklifts. I still panic sometimes when merging or when I'm in traffic but I kinda regret not driving earlier. Just keep practicing and have fun with it. You might not do great the first time, but no one does. Just keep calm and you'll do fine.