Aspies For Freedom

Heh... Reading about all these people who can't drive is really surprising to me. Driving always came naturally to me and I consider myself an excellent driver. I was driving as soon as I turned 15 and got my license a couple weeks after I turned 16. I do have a few speeding tickets, but that's because I get bored while driving (so I need to hurry up and get where I'm going), and also because the speed limits in my hometown are designed for the drunken hicks that make up the majority of the population. I drive fast, but not unsafely.

My mom also depended on my learning to drive, because it took an hour and a half to drive to my high school each morning (I had to leave at 7:00 am). She would have to do that drive four times a day (though against traffic it only took 40 minutes), and so I was encouraged to get my license as soon as possible. Also, I had a job that started soon after I was scheduled for my driving test (also 40 minutes away), so if I failed it I would have been pretty much screwed.

Driving has always been a huge part of my life ever since I got my license. I don't know what I'd do without it, since everything around here is really hilly and spread out (making it pretty much impossible to bike/walk places). I put about 30,000 miles on whatever car I'm driving every year. My first car was a 1996 Ford Taurus, which was a piece of *** and would always break down while I drove it. My second car was a 2002 Toyota Camry LE, which I really liked but my brother totaled it late last year. My current car is a 2001 Honda Accord EX, which is pretty nice inside (leather, moonroof, and some other cool stuff).

Does this cosion of your like bikes, if so  explain the pros and cons of having one(and a car) like gas prices and  inspections(or lack there of). For in-city biking a hybred bike is best.

My son passed the US written test for his learner's permit.  Our Vocational Rehabilitation agency is going to perform some driveability tests to see how his reaction time, etc. is.  Then they provide instructors who are specially trained to teach driving to people who may have more difficulty.  My son could never have survivived the typical three students/one teacher set up in school driver's ed!

Sorry for the previous empty reply post!

I think that if he can pass the practical exam, then he can have a license. If you're old enough to get a license then you're old enough to pass or fail a driver's test on your own merit. Let the guy do his best, and let the authorities grant or deny him his license. Parents sometimes have trouble accepting that their children need to take their knocks.

I went to primary school with a boy who was at the lower end of HFA, and despite having limited language, very poor coordination and also being deaf he learned to drive and passed his test on his first attempt when he was only 18.

I on the other hand am mildly AS. I tried to learn to drive. I had a hour long lesson once a week for a total of four years. Could I cope? NO!

I could control the car without much problem (my poor coordination made it tricky but not impossible), I understood the rules of the road perfectly.
My problem lay in the fact that I could not trust any of the other drivers on the road.
I don't like people - they are unpredictable and they make mistakes. People in big metal vehicles being unpredictable and making mistakes are the most terrifying thing in the world to me. If I'd have known the other cars on the road were controlled by computers or robots with failsafe measures in place I'd have had no problem driving, but PEOPLE?!
I could never accept that the other cars on the road would do what they were SUPPOSED to do (often I was right) and that meant I was in a constant state of panic and unable to drive.

The other problem I faced was the driving test. I attempted my practical test three times before I gave up. I just could not cope with being that close to a stranger, plus I couldn't follow his instructions because I kept getting distracted by all the other unpredictable things going on around me.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that sometimes people who you would expect to find it hard to learn to drive, actually find it easy.
If you looked at the boy I went to school with (his behaviour is very obviously autistic, even now) there is no way you would think he could drive, but he can and has been doing for years.
I look and act fairly NT, I have a very high IQ and I am well educated but I just cannot get the hang of driving.

I think people with HFA, even the people who appear to be significantly impaired by it, can sometimes surprise everyone with the stuff they can cope with, even if you would have never expected it..

Sorry, that got much longer than it was supposed to be. The last two paragraphs are the important bit.

I DONT WANT TO DRIVE.
^^

*PROUD*

So his parents don't want to give him a taste of driving out of a fear that he'll take their keys and drive without their permission? Has he done stuff like that before to make them worry about that or are they just irrational? Also, how about they just store the keys somewhere where he can't find them? And why, if they keep denying him, would he not just go and take their keys now?

I've got some rather bad experience with a real driving instructor, I much prefer the way my husband teaches me. With him I spent hours on a parking lot before going out onto a real road. Also, I like manual better than automatic because it gives you more feedback and control and I like his truck better than a car because you're up higher and can see more. I often decline to drive because I know I'm too tired or emotional or such, but I can drive just fine otherwise. Now all I need to do is go practise the parallel parking thing a couple more times (don't have any need for it irl) and take the test. Finding time for taking the test is the hard part (if I could go alone I'd have taken the test months ago, but obviously someone needs to drive me to the testing place).

In my case, my parents were able to break the news to me.

In 1986 (I was in driver's ed when the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up) I was in driver's ed, at least a B in grades, no intellectual problem, but the instructor told my parents I had coordination issues and should not drive yet.

I had no problems with friends in college or graduate school with rides.

Finally, just before my senior year of college, Mom convinced my Dad to let me learn to drive and get the license.  Dad had feared I'd wreck the car, raise his insurance.  I did learn and I got my license in September 1991.  The cop grinned, said I didn't think I could "do her".

My dad's whole life, I only drove friends' cars on occasion (driver rotation on long trips).  Dad actually wrecked a Geo Metro (late stage bone cancer and driving don't mix).  When he died, Mom had actually been out of practice a while because Dad monopolized the driving.  Late September 1996, it was my turn.  I had a quick refresher (don't say crash course) course and started driving.  I was so scared I had to play Christian music on the tape deck.

Shortly before late-stage breast cancer killed Mom, she bequeathed me her 1998 Chevy Cavalier.  I still drive it.

Note: Virginia has something called civil remediation.  Not just jail and fines, but a separate set of heavy fines for drunk driving or felony offenses, and smaller fines for motorists who break smaller rules and have eight points already.  

That is just one reason to drive less:

1.  Walk or bike off the pounds, of which I have plenty
2.  Cheaper, no gas, although I don't have a problem driving a few hundred files a month:
the surrounding area arround the Four Mile Run in Arlington County/Alexandria VA is very pedestrian, bike (bike trails), and bus (bus to subway) friendly and everything is here (dry cleaner, airport, HR Block, drug stores, large supermarket chains like Giant, a vet, a gym, a bank, Blockbuster video rental, 7-11, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, all can be walked or biked).

      2a. If you consume less gas, you'll put less carbon dioxide in the air
      2b. If America consumes less gas, we'll have less need to put young men and women in places that have oil but don't like us.  This will only get worse as we reach the "peak" of "oil" extraction, and it declines, and then everyone wants more (not only 300,000,000 Americans but 1,000,000,000+ Chinese and a larger number of people in India).  We need nuclear electricity, nuclear-assisted water-to-hydrogen, and nuclear-assisted coal to petroleum while we more gradually transition to the second, ultimate step: solar and wind electricity to replace the nuclear.

I'm quite surprised to learn that so many aspergians seem to have trouble driving. I don't think learning to drive was more difficult for me than for an average person and I certainly consider my driving ability to be well above average (which is not to say that my driving performance is great!) I must confess, I use my ability in a rather selfish and dangerous way, ducking, weaving, speeding, etc etc. It is all quite calculated and I do it mainly to get to where I'm going as quickly as possible. I don't believe most people other than professional drivers would be capable of pushing their vehicle to the limits I do, especially in heavy traffic.

I actually thought that having asperger's was what helped me to have good driving ability - the ability to look at the situation rationally and take calculated risks. I suppose it is a little unusual that I have the ability to make split second calculations behind the wheel (when not behind the wheel I am usually quite slow when calculating what I should do). I had guessed that most aspergians would be particularly good drivers. Interesting.

So for those who find driving to be a great challenge, or completely impossible, what is it that makes it so? Do you just feel scared? Do you calculate the risk you are taking and coldly consider it to be unacceptable? Do you not trust your ability? (If so, is this just a lack of confidence or is it a well founded lack of trust, due to genuine lack of ability?)

I've been doing a lot of driving lately, probably about 15,000km in the last two months, mostly highway driving - yes, I know, no skill required), sometimes in 20 hour or more stretches with almost no breaks (yes, I know, dangerous and stupid, but I have my reasons for not resting). I love my cruise control and recently bought a GPS navigation system, which makes things very comfortable

I'm not one of those people that find it (nearly) impossible to drive, but let me answer anyway...

Other people do stupid and unpredictable things, like weaving through traffic without using any blinkers, changing over 3 lanes while making a turn, etc etc etc. That kind of stuff greatly increases my stress level while driving. I'm pretty decent at spotting those things well before they become an issue, but I can imagine other Aspies having more trouble interpreting other people's stupidity, or becoming paranoid and seeing potential stupidity all the time.

What do you people think of those new bluish headlights, btw? I hate them, they're way too bright and for some reason I have this compulsion to stare at them as if they were diamonds or something. Bad bad bad; should be banned.

I'm sort of the same as well... I pretty much memorized the driver's handbook, so I know all the traffic laws around here and I get extremely frustrated when people on the road have no idea what they're doing. The only traffic law I ever break is the speed limit, because the speed limits around here are designed for drunken hicks. I do have a few speeding tickets, but other than that I consider myself to be an excellent driver. Even when I'm going 85-90 mph on the freeway I know that I am not any more at risk than someone going 70 mph. People have said that I'm an "aggressive driver", but I'm definitely not - I consider myself more of a "dominant driver", because I actually know what I'm doing. I follow the rules (except some speed limits), don't get road rage, and I don't let people cut me off.

I agree that the AS makes me a better driver as well, because it allows me to focus intensely on the task at hand and never get distracted by the radio, people in the car, things going on outside, etc. When I drive, I sort of feel like I actually "become" the the car, and I don't even see the inside of the vehicle, only what's going on around me (and I have pretty good visuo-spatial skills as well, so I think that helps a lot). I was surprised as well when I saw that many people here had difficulties with driving.