Does anyone with ASD find driving stressful?

[Nao]

Not nearly as stressful as public transport. Most of the time I like being in the personal bubble of my car with my music playing and no smelly annoying people around me!

 

[unsurewhattoname]

I can't have music playing when I'm driving. The radio stays off.

 

[BethC]

I am terrified of learning to drive. I think the prospect of one-on-one interaction with the instructor scares me more than actually driving though. I'm 21 and all of my friends can drive already, and I've never even had a lesson yet

 

[Nao]

I am terrified of learning to drive. I think the prospect of one-on-one interaction with the instructor scares me more than actually driving though. I'm 21 and all of my friends can drive already, and I've never even had a lesson yet

I do remember feeling quite uncomfortable being in that small space with a stranger. My first instructor was a smelly old man who kept making dry mouth noises. I went through several before I found an nice younger woman who didn't smell! Once I'd found the right instructor it was easier. Driving does give you so much freedom.

 

[clg114]

I like driving, but it is stressful. Knowing what the other drivers might do is very hard to guess for me. I just keep my distance from everyone.

Knowing what the other drivers might do is very hard to guess for anybody. You can thank cell phones for that.

 

[qwerty]

I absolutely love to drive or better yet ride a motorbike. Favorite music playing while the world zooms by in my own private universe. If i had the money i would love to go on a motorbike tour across the USA with the incredibly long highways, it would truly be my idea of paradise, i really hope i can do this someday, top of my bucket list.

 

[Beverly]

I actually figured it out once and, even if you are not consciously aware of doing it, when you are diving in traffic, assuming a three lane in each direction highway, you are aware of 150 different things simultaneously on some level. That's a lot for any brain to process and, being on the spectrum means that, like me, you thought of every one of them before attempting to drive for the first time. Instant information overload and, that can make driving seem daunting.

Once you do a few times, you realize that your mind is capable of doing 80% of it while you think about other things not related to driving at all and, you will alert to anything that needs your full attention, cars pulling out in front of you, brake lights ahead of you, overall change in the speed of the traffic you are in etc...

Don't let the seemingly endless number of things you have to be aware of and know to drive safely scare you off, it really isn't as scary or difficult as it seems when you analyze it.