Published on 12, July, 2020
It took me many years to learn to drive and only eventually passed my test in an automatic car in my 40s.
Today I've just come home from driving to Chichester and the other drivers drove me a bit mad.
Motorbikes cutting me up, people doing 20 miles an hour in a 60 zone, me getting out of the way of 2 ambulances and no-one letting me back out etc etc etc.
I seem to like driving less and less and am more inclined to stay at home than I ever was.
There is just so much going on around you to be aware of, especially in cities (with pedestrians too).
So, 2 questions.
1. Is my difficulty with learning in a manual car, which I took at the time to be poor co-ordination, but I wasn't aware of my autism, an autistic thing?
2. Does anyone else find driving difficult (and, again, is it an autistic thing)?
I didn't even try driving until I was 25, didn't think I would be any good at it. However, I learned in a manual car and passed at my first attempt. I then drove for many years, at one stage I drove to and from Manchester and London quite regularly. I drove the 8 miles to work, but found that the particular choke pints on my route were really frustrating, I was driving ever more circuitous routes, and realised that a weekly bus ticket was cheaper than the cost of petrol, insurance, repairs and parking, so I started taking the bus. Stopping driving on a daily basis soon eroded my confidence, so now I only drive on routes I know, and just a few times a year; carefully avoiding the newer, illogical and ridiculously complex junctions that seem to be the fashion today.