I'm curious, since I know a lot of us have issues with driving...

[elanivalae]

...How do you all get around most of the time?

Poll TransportationIf you drive, did it take you a long time to learn? Are you a pretty safe driver

Comments

[trenchcoatedson]

I have no idea why autistics are so afraid of driving, to be honest! I was only afraid because when I was little I was almost hit by a car and could have been killed. I found driving it's like... all rules. It's really systematic and I love it. Sometimes people do crazy things, but that's because they're idiots. There's no social conducts, no subtley in driving, you stick to the rules. I think it's great

[codeman38]

Very scary feeling once you've realized what's happened, isn't it? ::shudder::

[sparrowrose]

I was fortunate enough to have two other people in the car (neither of whom was phased by what I'd just done) and I immediately pulled over and said, "someone else drive now."

[intralimina]

I have no idea why autistics are so afraid of driving, to be honest!

I can't put together the sensory information fast enough to make good (life-preserving) decisions. It can also be difficult to maintain focus on the road when something shiny and spinning is happening on the side of the road that is much more engaging that the black pavement, or sometimes the way the yellow lines fall into undulating patterns when my eyes unfocus slightly is so very fascinating... uh *crash!*

I am able to drive as long as it's not on the highway or at high speeds, and do so about once a week or once every other week, but my "fear of driving" is based in the reality of not being able to parse sensory information quickly enough to be safe.

[kethar]

The only times I have problems when I'm driving is when my senses get overloaded or my mind tries too hard to find paturns in traffic. My biggest problem is being too cautious pulling out, much to my wife's shagrin.

-ken-

[trenchcoatedson]

I usually turn up the music in my car real loud or else it will drive me insane. I remember driving up to my mom's house, there's a bit of a shift in altitude for some reason past one point, and things begin to hurt my ears. I usually have to turn my music down and then I hear the wind blowing past me and it drives me insane. I usually end up just leaving my music up and killing my ears.

I've always had that problem, though... I could not drive in a car and go anywhere if there wasn't music. In the car, if I acted up, my parents sometimes would turn off the music as a punishment, I think they eventually realised that was not a very good idea. I also can't stand open windows (WHY DO PEOPLE OPEN WINDOWS WHEN THEY ARE DRIVING), or sunroofs/moonroofs. My mother had one and she LOOOVEEEDDDD it. I hated it.

[kethar]

I like the music load enough to feel it (but not like the people who put it up where the bass is all you hear -- I hate that!); my wife likes it just below where it relaxes me the most. ;-)

When I have the most problems is when I get light-sensitive. That combined with rain or snow is death.

As far as windows, I like them open at slow speeds on hot days. Actually, I like one open. Two creates too much wind and I hate that. So does speed. And I hate cold because it hurts, so it has to be warm out. If it's warm, I can handle all the windows down a crack for air if they're not down enough to be load, cold, cause wind, or cause pressure changes.

-ken-

[codeman38]

I have the opposite issue... if I do have the music on, I get so 'into' it that, well, I fail to notice what's going on around me on the road. -_-

[trenchcoatedson]

That's never happened to me except when I'm on the highway/interstate. But then it kind of really doesn't matter much.

[irishtiger]

*YOU* stick to the rules but at least 85% of others don't which is what makes it chaotic & dangerous. But then you've only been licensed for a year so you can't have that much experience outside your area.

[trenchcoatedson]

I think 85 percent is pushing it. I've driven through cities and in other places around the country already and such and I don't think it's 85 percent. I said there were idiots out there who don't follow the rules- there always are. I'm not that naive.

Something about driving, though, I just like. It always makes me feel comfortable, at least.

[elanivalae]

I'd figure 80-85% don't bother following the rules of the road -- more in some areas, like Chicago, where basically no one does.

Of course, that includes things like rolling stop-signs, not ceding right-of-way, running red lights, changing lanes without signaling, speeding, applying makeup while driving, and constantly violating pedestrian right-of-way laws (the number of times I've almost been hit in crosswalks by people illegally turning right on red...it's safer to cross in the middle of the street so at least I can see them coming!)

In my experience, most people are careless drivers and view the laws of the road as merely being there to inconvenience them.

[sparrowrose]

I'd figure 80-85% don't bother following the rules of the road -- more in some areas, like Chicago, where basically no one does.

My own experience has been that people in Chicago are far better drivers than most other places I've lived.

I've come to the conclusion out here (Idaho) that driver's licenses come in little striped paper packets inside boxes of Cracker Jack's.

[codeman38]

The reason I prefer not to drive is what so many others have commented about sensory perception: simply put, I get so overwhelmed that I zone out, which is not a good thing to happen behind the wheel! That, and my spatial perception is... not good. I have enough trouble just trying to stay centered in the lane; also, I can't tell what speed I'm going, so I have to keep glancing down at the speedometer just to keep a relatively constant speed.

And it doesn't help that many Georgia drivers are completely unpredictable.

I'm fine at understanding the rules of the road; it's just that processing what I'm looking at can be so difficult that it sort of escapes my mind at times.

[trenchcoatedson]

(In reply to the "stay centered in the lane")... When I first started learning how to drive, my parents kept asking me if I thought I was in Britain. At the very very beginning, sometimes I drove on the wrong side of the road.

I also had total problems with my turn signals, and I have very poor grasp on verbal terms like.. right and left. I can't explain anything to anyone. I was just about to explain my problem with turn signals, then realise I totally forgot right now if hitting it up was left and down was right, or vice versa. If I were driving, it'd be no problem, but when I'm out of that car I'm like what? I should never give directions to anybody, one time I was like: "Oh, but Burger King is easy to get out of! It's a left turn!" and they paused and said... "It's a right turn." and I said, "...Either way, when I'm at Burger King, I know which way to go home."

[codeman38]

Oh, I have big issues with 'left' and 'right' as well. >_<

As for the staying centered in the lane thing? My problem was that I wanted to center myself, rather than the car, in the lane... so I ended up running off the curb and nearly hitting mailboxes. I met the instructor I'll be working with this summer and she had given me the tip of lining up, erm, the foot that's closer to the center of the car (there, just avoid the left/right issue entirely) with the middle of the lane- and surprisingly, that worked unlike anything that prior instructors had taught me. Still working on the whole 'processing what's around me quickly enough that I can react to it' thing, though.