How many people on the spectrum drive, and when did you get your license?

[SusanLR]

I learned to drive with a private instructor when I was 19.
I have never gotten a ticket or been in an accident, but, I never liked driving.
Over 40 yrs. of driving and I still get nervous.
Always drove automatic. Never learned manual.
I've had large cars like my first was a Lincoln Towncar. But, I always preferred vans.
Large panel vans/party vans. Now I drive an SUV Jeep Compass.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I learnt to drive when I was 17. My job requires a fair bit of driving in the summer so I wouldn't get away with not having a car, but I prefer to cycle around town.

 

[disconnected]

I learned and got my license when I was 16. I’m 42 now.


I learned and took my test in a manual. I have owned four manuals since- 96 Saturn, 98 Tacoma, 02 Ford Ranger, 2010 Subaru Outback. My last two vehicles are automatic.

I now drive a 4 door truck that’s automatic.

I also have my motorcycle endorsement and probably have well over 50k miles on motorcycles if not closer to 75k!

I am a drummer. Maybe that’s where I learned to move all my limbs at different times?

My current

This picture is my bike in the Gulf of Mexico. Last Spring we went on a 4700 mile mostly dirt road/Jeep trail ride. Mostly camping along the way.

Previously I was interested in the large BMW GS series bikes. It was common for me to leave at 4:30 am and ride 800 to 1000 miles to somewhere I wanted to go, camp then ride home. That ended my first marriage.

 

[disconnected]

One of my specialties is the ability to memorize maps. I zone in on major roads or river or mtn ridges and am able to wander with my visual boundaries in my head.

I often ....we’ll always lead backcountry rides with small groups of off-road motor campers. This is Spring down in West Virginia. People continue to follow me too!
That’s me in the hi-viz jacket. I switched to one of those so drivers have a better chance of seeing me.

 

[disconnected]

A BMW I had about 10 years ago. I would ride year round with electric jacket liner and grip heaters and heated gloves.

Crossing Rural Wyoming - Boxxer GS

Crossing the “Great Basin” in Nevada. I litterly was afraid we where going to die there!
That’s a BMW F650 GS

 

[disconnected]

My screen name “disconnected” actually came from Motorcycle camping since I would get so far out I was disconnected from all civilization!

 

[Frostee]

Very nice to see everybody’s cars

 

[Mary Terry]

Can most Americans drive manual?

Probably not a majority but the older a driver is, the more likely he/she can drive a manual transmission because auto transmissions did not become the norm until probably the 1970s. I grew up driving manual and insisted on having a manual transmission (first a VW Beetle and later a Saab) when I lived in the Rocky Mountains because they provide greater control in snow, hairpin turns, and steep inclines. I have a huge Mercedes S550 which is auto-everything. The car is smarter than I am, LOL

 

[Mary Terry]

There are also two noteworthy things about me when it comes to driving:

• I am the only one out of six people who have Aspergers in my group of friends who can drive a stick shift.
• I am the only one in the group who has been driving the same vehicle for the last decade!

I drive a 2010 Toyota Tacoma (hence my username) that my dad bought brand new when I got my permit and simply gave to me. I've got 106K miles on my truck now, and I intend on keeping it until it is no longer economically feasible to do so!

We have a 1999 Toyota Tacoma which we bought new and now use as a farm truck. It has over 200,000 miles on it, a cracked windshield and some rust spots on the hood but I love it. I drive it when I buy things like bags of soil, garden mulch, lumber, etc. Since it's a Toyota truck, I expect it will live another 10 years at least. I've known people with over 400,000 miles on their Toyotas.

 

[Pats]

That was another thing that I really wasn't given a choice in the matter. (No autistics in the 70's) My mom took me to get my license and that was that. Didn't like it, but did it anyway (like everything).
My first husband tried to teach me to drive a manual, but he made me too nervous. My second husband bought me the Toyota Celica I wanted, but it was manual. He gave me the keys and left on the truck so I either drove it or not. I drove it. I drive a manual now - partly because people today don't know how (in this area) and no one will ask to borrow my car. Except my son and one grandson - they can drive a manual fine.

 

[clg114]

I initially got my learner's permit when I was 16 (in December 2005, three months before I turned 17), but after some lessons with my parents I realized I wasn't ready to drive then and I put it off for about three years. My permit expired and I had to take the test again. I got a new permit when I was 20 (in August 2009), and got my license when I was 22.

I have five other close friends who, like myself, have Aspergers Syndrome. The oldest one of us, who just turned 33, got his license when he was 17. Another one of us, who was born in 1988, got his license shortly before his 20th birthday. Another one also got her license when she 19. The other girl in the group was probably 24 when she got her license. The last of us to get a driver's license is three months older than me and got his less than a month ago at the age of 30.

My mom always tells me that statistically, only 50% of people with Aspergers Syndrome drive. I'm proud to be in that 50%!

I got my drivers license in 1960 when I was fourteen. Back then Idaho was a very rural state and most farm/ranch kids needed to drive at that age. I was not a farm or ranch kid but I was a budding gearhead. Thru out the years, we have always had a car and a pick-up. Currently we have a 14 Ford Focus that my wife drives, 03 Dodge 4x4 that I drive and his & hers Jeeps. The Jeeps are street legal, but are set up for off-road use. Our Jeeps are works in progress and this is how I spend a lot of my time.

 

[FreeDiver]

One of the biggest negatives of a manual is trying to go uphill from a stop. It can be tricky taking your foot off the break and moving it to the gas all while feathering the clutch at the same time, and doing all of this quickly enough as to avoid backing into the car behind you.

 

[disconnected]

One of the biggest negatives of a manual is trying to go uphill from a stop. It can be tricky taking your foot off the break and moving it to the gas all while feathering the clutch at the same time, and doing all of this quickly enough as to avoid backing into the car behind you.

My Subaru had brake assist, so it wouldn’t creep back. None of the others did though! I know what you mean!

 

[Judge]

My Subaru had brake assist, so it wouldn’t creep back. None of the others did though! I know what you mean!

My 2018 6-speed Mazda 3 GT as well. High tech likely to keep us out of trouble.

Though when the automated brake assist function engages, it's quite abrupt.

 

[FreeDiver]

My Subaru had brake assist, so it wouldn’t creep back. None of the others did though! I know what you mean!

I've only been driving automatics now for the last 25 years. But when I lived up in north Idaho back in my teen and early 20's. All I ever drove were 1 ton 4WD pickup trucks with manual trans. That's all you could drive up there because it was all dirt roads and it snowed in the winter as well. During the summer, I would drive up into the mountains and go huckleberry picking and driving one of those big rigs up that steep, skinny, one lane dirt road was an adventure in itself. My biggest worry was not so much backing into another car behind me as it was backing down the hill and going off the cliff. There was very little room for error up there. I always went huckleberry picking by myself. This was my quiet time and I didn't want anyone around. Even though the truck I drove had a CB radio in it. We didn't have cell phones back then and if I ever got hurt up there. Getting help would be next to impossible.

 

[Anonym]

I got my driver's license at 17 and have been driving regularly ever since. I'm actually quite good at it and rather enjoy it most of the time. I can also drive a stick

 

[Trophonius]

Yes, got the license when I was 20.

I didn't drive much until 24. I used to ride a bicycle to work, but then I moved and going in bicycle wasn't ideal. I still use the bicycle when I don't have too go far

 

[TheGuyWithTheTacoma]

One of the biggest negatives of a manual is trying to go uphill from a stop. It can be tricky taking your foot off the break and moving it to the gas all while feathering the clutch at the same time, and doing all of this quickly enough as to avoid backing into the car behind you.

My Subaru had brake assist, so it wouldn’t creep back. None of the others did though! I know what you mean!

I managed to drive my uncle's '71 VW Bus on the hilly roads of his neighborhood with only a couple stall-outs...

 

[Judge]

I managed to drive my uncle's '71 VW Bus on the hilly roads of his neighborhood with only a couple stall-outs...

Ouch. Those infamously underpowered microbusses! I learned through the "school of hard knocks" years ago not to pop the clutch in San Francisco.

Simply avoiding driving there altogether proved to be a better remedy.

Bill Cosby once had quite a funny monologue about driving his VW Beetle in San Francisco.

 

[Crossbreed]

Bill Cosby once had quite a funny monologue about driving his VW Beetle in San Francisco.

This one?

Driving in San Francisco