Does driving overstimulate you?

I'm generally OK with the day to day very familiar routes and my own company. But finding somewhere new, especially in the dark, spikes my anxiety massively and every last minute lane-crossing that others seem to do with fluid ease and inuitive confidence becomes this sequence of 'well, you've had a good innings' moments. 

I had to drive a friend home last night. Nice guy, and I was glad of his innately good sense of direction as we headed to his from the town. But at a certain point I knew I was on a route I could follow from memory to get him to his front door. But he got irked with my choices as they didn't follow the fastest route (in his mind anyway) and his 'what are you doing?' reactions ('You're going to be tuck behind them now', 'you should have been in that other lane', 'this is going to take five minutes longer') made me capitulate to doing things his way even though retracing the sequence I know would have been most relaxing for me. Basically I'm too submissive a driver! It should be 'my car, my rules'... but I've never had that kind of personality. Anyway, it was all fine really, but my nerves were morre jangled than they could have been by that atmosphere of judgement. It is an understandable ruunning joke between us about my awful sense of direction, but sometimes when I know I'm in familair territory and doing the best trade-off of speed to safety, I do feel a bit humiliated. Driving alone, I only have to justify my choices, and mistakes/corrections, to myself. 

You have my sympathy. I've driven through London twice, the first time I took my mum for a weekend away (not my idea of a holiday) but she enjoyed it. The second time wasn't planned but my Grampy had a serious fall and was airlifted to hospital and I had to drive to the hospital as he wasn't expected to pull through. I'm glad to say though he did recover and is still with us now alive and well.

absolutely. I don't go anywhere without having the place I am parking set as a destination. If for some reason I cannot park there when I arrive I have to stop and look up parking on my phone to find somewhere else suitable and set as a destination and drive there. There's nothing worse than driving around aimlessly looking for places to park.

I have a folding bike which fits in the boot of the car and am happy cycling about the place (prefer this to driving as you can always just stop, turn around, walk for a bit, etc) so sometimes I plan to park outside the city (which depending on how far away you are is often free on residential streets), make a note on the map of where the car is then cycle the rest of the way. This save money and petrol and faffing about getting stuck in stupid one way loops / road works / dealing with other drivers in city centres. I used to do a similar thing with the trains but they're too expensive, unreliable and don't operate at the right times all the time.

At least with the bike / car set up I don't get that feeling of being trapped in somewhere although it's not always suitable.

Yes I massively struggle but only at night time. During the day I love driving. It brings me a lot of peace but sometimes if I’m overstimulated prior to getting in my car I have to keep journeys short. I find the lights from the vehicles ant night extremely distracting and struggle to focus. I only passed last February so I’m hoping as time goes on I will learn to manage this but I don’t often drive at night anyway. 

I love driving. I feel safe and happy when I drive, and it's something I feel that I'm actually OK at doing. If I'm driving far then it can get exhausting and stressful but when I'm driving local I love it, especially when there's very few other drivers. The freedom that comes with driving is amazing, it's a feeling unlike any other. As other members have said, my main gripe is how bright cars lights are, especially the really modern ones their day runners are far too bright.

Kate Kestrel said:

I’d never drive through central London for example (tried it once - never again!). 

I used to live in East London and have to drive to Heathrow and back daily for a job I had - truly horrible!

You get more used to the driving requirements with exposure - it just takes time for your comfort zone to adapt to the sheet volume of information you need to process every second.

On the bright side, this is one of the things that is an upside of autism - we are often capable of processing reams of information typically so once you learn to dial down the anxiety it can be just like any other drive.

Music was always a good way to stay calm in difficult conditions (heavy rain, long traffic jams on a bakingly hot day, aggressive drivers etc), but chose something mellow like classic music as upbeat stuff tends to get the heart going faster and triggers adrenaline.

To be honest I’ve no wish to go to London at all these days - which helps!

Kate Kestrel said:

Although I have my limitations with it - I’d never drive through central London for example (tried it once - never again!). 

Tried it twice. Definitely not again! More fool me for thinking it was more convenient.

I plan any unfamiliar journeys really carefully, and I’ll work out where I plan to park in advance too. That reduces the stress of driving a lot for me. I avoid rush hour too if possible.

Driving is one of the few things that makes me actually feel like a capable human being. Although I have my limitations with it - I’d never drive through central London for example (tried it once - never again!). 
I love the freedom it gives me - and treasure that. I like going to places really early in the morning or late in the evening - so public transport could never allow me to do that in the way a car can. And I feel so lucky to have a car - my car is quite old and nothing fancy  but I love it and feel so grateful to have it. I also love listening to music in the car. My son really likes going for a drive and listening to music too - it reduces his anxiety/stress levels. He likes motorways. I only learnt to drive in my thirties and I never take it for granted. 

I never thought about using blue light glasses for the lights, thats such a good idea! definitely gonna give that a go!

Most of driving is fine. I panic often when I'm at a roundabout because I feel other drivers getting restless.

When I stall I panic more.

If I'm going on a long journey, then yes it can, more so if it's a place I haven't been to before. I study the route several times before I travel if that's the case.

I tend to drive locally if possible, just to the village and back, or blast up the country roads listening to my favourite songs and then helps me not get overwhelmed when driving. I avoid night driving, if possible.

I've just started dating and the woman I'm dating doesn't drive so I've had to drive a lot more recently but it's been OK so far.

"One thing I really hate is how bright car lights are! They are blinding"

Absolutely. It didn't used to be like this when they were incandescent bulbs but these bright white LED things on all the cars now (plus the ultra bright brake lights that people seem happy to have shining in your face because they can't be bothered to take their foot off the brake and apply the handbrake at traffic lights) makes night driving painful. Given that bright lights like that make me pretty angry at the best of times, this doesn't make for a relaxing time when driving at night.

I have done some driving in my blue light filtering "computer monitor" glasses and it took the edge off it whilst making lights look more orange again. Not sure how sensible that is but I've found it makes things like supermarkets a bit less OTT too :)

I always drive in dips, overnight.

Big Brother, indeed.

I managed to avoid Bus Lanes, in Belfast, but there's always that one cute so-and-so who'll photograph you; when you're in one.

I'm learning to drive at the moment

I've found it can be a bit much at times. Lessons are 2hrs and by the end I'm feeling overwhelmed and very tired and stressed

I think if I'm anxious to begin with that makes it worse anyway. When I pass I'll not drive far I just want to be able to go places under my own steam.

One thing I really hate is how bright car lights are! They are blinding

The road system itself has become increasingly complicated over the years. I'm fine driving and the advent of the sat-nav has helped tremendously by taking some multitasking pressure (i.e I can paying attention to the road, other cars, people etc without worrying also having to focus on directions / signs as much). When I started driving the town I was in had fairly simple systems, the motorways were all three lanes, a hard shoulder and exist would mainly be spaced out. Now there's a constant barrage of nonsense to be on the lookout for, especially smart motorways with cameras and ever changing speed limits, lanes which are sometimes hard shoulders, some times not, bus lanes with cameras, multiple occupancy lanes, some with times, some without. Places like Leeds city centre is a nest of turns with little advanced warning about lane changes and exits, especially when busy with other people on the road who seem to think people being in the wrong lane is some kind of cardinal sin and attempting to change lanes is something to be punished for.

I can't see this getting any better. There needs to be something like the campaign for plain English, but for road design :)

Yes. 

I have to focus on all the Yahoos out on the road. Only this morning, I was in Armagh and had to deal with making sure I was in the correct lane at junctions and roundabouts. Plus, having to constantly check my rear view mirror. 

However, tomorrow I'll take my Artist friend to Belfast and back with me. It's a long road ahead.