Last updated on November 26, 2023
Podcast Episode 0032; Season 03, Episode 04; October 29, 2019
Driving isn’t easy for me and many autistics avoid driving. Some of the challenges are the same ones I experience as a passenger on public transit, especially the sounds and vibrations. I don’t like to feel crowded, either. Heavy traffic feels like being in a crowd. You can also still smell the exhaust, the dirt, the rubber tires, and general city odors.
The mental demands of driving never fade for me. I don’t drive on “auto-pilot” like I’m part of the vehicle. I likely think about each action more than many people. Yes, I think about what I’m doing, and that can and does cause fractional delays in my reactions. What might be a split-second could be dangerous, so I’m extremely cautious. That caution bothers some people. I keep a safe gap between vehicles. I drive the speed limit (or a bit under the limit in Texas).
What is driving like while autistic? This podcast episode features my thoughts on the challenges of operating a motor vehicle.
Transcript (lightly edited)
Welcome to The Autistic Me Podcast. I am Christopher Scott Wyatt, speaking as The Autistic Me.
Today I want to talk about driving. One of the autistics I know recently mentioned that she does not drive and never learned. I asked others if they were drivers or if they found public transit and other means of transportation more accommodating than trying to navigate the challenges of operating a vehicle.
[00:00:39] It didn’t really surprise me that at least half of the autistics I spoke to said they do not drive. Even those with licenses found that it was easier to take public transit or to rely on friends and relatives for transportation to and from events.
I am a driver and have been a driver since high school.
[00:01:00] I took the summer driver’s education course and then received my license.
I drove myself to and from work, to and from school, and then, of course, I drove to and from Los Angeles from Central California as a college student. I have continued to drive, obviously, for many, many years.
I do not find driving easy.
[00:01:27] I do not find it convenient. But at the same time, I find that driving myself places is much better for me than navigating public transit.
It turns out that for me public transit is more overwhelming than my own [transit]. This is not to say that I don’t experience the same sensory overload that is experienced by other autistics attempting to drive, and I also experienced the same cognitive overload that many of them experience.
[00:01:59] I would like to address the sensory and the cognitive challenges to operating a motor vehicle for an autistic individual.
For myself, the first thing that is a challenge would be the cognitive aspects of driving [and then the sensory aspects].
I learned to drive a stick shift and that was useful. I certainly find myself in some ways preferring that now because that’s what I learned.
[00:02:27] I miss the days of the stick shift. I also drove a Chevy pickup that had the column shifter where it’s located near the steering wheel in an L pattern. I find that the feedback was convenient. I could tell how fast I was going and I felt like I had a connection, for some reason, to the vehicle — which probably sounds a little strange, but I certainly felt like I could determine the speed by the sound of the engine and the need to shift or not shift.
[00:02:57] I felt more in control in some strange way. But at the same time, I recognize how overwhelming it was because I was focusing on the engine and on the stick shift and the clutch while driving. You also have to pay attention to all of the signs, the other traffic, animals that get in front of you if you live in a rural area, and even children’s balls bouncing in front of tires.
All these things that you have to pay attention to as a driver require a lot of cognitive energy. The most challenging part of driving for me is changing lanes on a freeway or on a busy street. I don’t think that’s unusual, l but I think because of my autistic traits it’s far more demanding because I tend to narrowly focus.
[00:03:50] Over the years, I have tried to adjust my inputs when I’m driving where it’s busy. I will tend to turn off the radio and turn off other distractions.
Now that we have children, I ask the children to be quiet when Daddy’s navigating a crowded area. I don’t believe that is in any way different from other people [who] need far more focus.
[00:04:15] Research has certainly indicated that distractions affect all drivers — to the extent that it’s similar to driving drunken. We assume we can do far more multitasking than most of us are capable of doing. Thankfully, I’m very much aware of my limitations.
[00:04:40] And so, as an autistic individual with that extra awareness of my limits and that extra cognitive demand, I know to turn off the radio, stop any inputs from the computer screens or the cameras or whatever else the vehicle might have, ask the children to be quiet, and then focus on things like changing lanes or navigating.
Things that have become more cognitive demanding over time include the navigation systems that give you voice directions.
[00:05:04] I really would prefer that I just have the [visual] input on-screen so I could look at the screen and not hear a voice telling me what to do. I find that very confusing and too much input when I am driving. I know that people say, “Well, you shouldn’t be glancing at the screen.”
But I find it easier to quickly glance at the screen and see which lane I should be in or which turns I should be preparing for in advance rather than listening to Siri, Alexa, or Google’s voice telling me what to do. I do understand, certainly, that the voice in some ways is supposedly better because you can keep your eyes on the road.
For this reason, I’m certainly interested in what they call “heads-up displays” (HUDs) where it will be on the screen in front of you while you’re driving.
[00:05:55] I know that’s still multitasking, but at least you’re not looking at a center console.
The other way that we can drive is with my wife in the car. She can look at the phone navigation and she can tell me directions when I need them instead of the constant input of the voice from the phone or me looking at the phone.
[00:06:14] And in many ways, that’s the same way we drove for years when we were using maps. When we were using printed maps, my wife could tell me, “Okay, in a quarter mile we’re going to be going left.” That type of input can come way before it does with the voice navigation assistants.
[00:06:35] One of the things that I find troubling about some of the voice navigation is [that] they often give the directions right at the last minute, when you’re already trying to navigate cluttered intersections or turns or interchanges and now you’re being told to change lanes or turn.
I’ve noticed that the visual instructions where they highlight an arrow [indicating] which lane to be in or which turns to anticipate happen before I need to be changing lanes or turning. [The voice waits until it is too late to merge or turn.] I find that much easier because I can process that information and then navigate.
[00:07:08] So the cognitive overload of driving has always been there, and I do believe as I said that it’s there for everybody.
But because I am hypersensitive to my own cognitive demands, I recognize I’m not doing my best with all of that input. It bothers me a great deal when I see other drivers turning their heads and fussing with kids in the backseat or leaning over to pick up something off the floor next to them.
[00:07:35] I worry that distracted drivers are a hazard, and I know that I cannot do those things.
The sensory input issues are more difficult in some ways than the cognitive ones the cognitive inputs. I can reduce through adaptive strategies. As I said, I can turn off things and change things.
[00:07:57] I have control over the cognitive demands the sensory inputs of driving.
I cannot control road noise, as road noise vibrations… are vibrations and I do not like them.
However, I will say the vibrations in a car, the road noise in a car, are less than what I experienced on public transit. I have found that buses certainly vibrate more and have more noise, more smells, more input than I can handle.
[00:08:25] Trains are horrible.
I rode the trains in Minneapolis and St. Paul when we lived in Minnesota. I appreciate that they have public transit, but I found the squeaking of the brakes, the shaking of the cars, the constant in and out of people, the announcements of what stop was where, all of that input was so overwhelming that by the time I reached my destination, I needed to take a break from everything.
What I did when I rode public transit: [I] arrived at the University an hour or even an hour and a half early so I could decompress.
[00:09:05] It might sound strange to say that driving was less stressful, or even my scooter was less stressful, but I did find that that was the case. The sensory inputs are just overwhelming, particularly in public transit.
But, in a car the sensations that I find annoying are predominantly wind noise, road noise, engine noise, and, believe it or not, speakers vibrating [or] hissing and humming on some radio stations or some programs.
[00:09:37] I find that I’m very sensitive to all of that input.
We don’t allow the children to eat in the car, so that’s rarely an issue, unlike on public transit where I can smell things — especially as I’ve mentioned on my blog and elsewhere — smells like tortilla chips, those Doritos or Cheetos or anything like that with a very strong artificial flavoring, the crinkling of the bags et cetera.
[00:10:03] Thankfully we don’t have that in our car. But if we did, it would be completely overwhelming and paralyzing.
The vehicle we now own is much better at road noise and wind noise than our Jeep was. The Jeep did have a tendency to transmit a lot of wind noise, especially on the driver’s side for some reason.
Some of the [door] seals were coming loose so it had gaps that allowed whistling.
[00:10:29] I found that extremely distracting.
It also had a back seat that would squeak. When I was driving the Jeep, I could constantly hear the back seat as it was squeaking where the latch was to fold down the seat. I resorted to putting grease… to putting paper… to putting felt and other pieces of cloth or materials between that mechanism and the seat, trying to reduce that squeaking.
[00:10:58] I would actually find myself shaking and getting a headache just because I could not block out that screech, that horrible squeaking noise from the back of the Jeep. I will say that our Subaru Forester, which we now own, has none of those unusual squeaks or vibrations from the seats at this time. It’s also not an 18-year-old vehicle, you know, so that’s obviously something to take into consideration. The Subaru is fairly new.
[00:11:26] I will say that I find minor inputs just so distracting that I do need to reduce those or I would not be able to drive. I have a great deal of difficulty with the noise of other traffic, too. When large trucks go by and cause vibration or wind noise, especially if the vehicles are on an elevated road, it tends to shake more.
[00:11:53] Bridges, I’ve noticed — there’s a vibration that transmits to the other vehicles and you can feel it. Now that we live in Texas, there are a lot of elevated roadways and I sense the swaying or the slight movement in the road as I did with crossing some of the bridges in the Minneapolis area.
[00:12:15] I do not like that at all. It’s distracting and it makes me wonder if something is wrong with my tires. Is my something wrong with the steering of the car? Because I’m noticing all that input.
I am a lousy passenger and I think that that’s true of a lot of people as well. It’s just easier if you’re the one driving you can somewhat anticipate some of the inputs that are coming, though not always. I think that it is important to recognize there will always be the unexpected bump, the unexpected crack in the road, or whatever, which will also cause sensory input.
[00:12:51] Curiously, among the things that provide input that I really hate are the heating and air conditioning systems in cars. I really don’t like the wind blowing on me in the car, so what I try to do is eliminate that as much as possible. I do try to operate the fans at the lowest possible speed, and yet still have effective climate control within the vehicle.
[00:13:15] The challenges for me are not prohibitive.
I can still drive. I can still get to and from work. I can certainly still function 90% of the time and get to where I need to go.
The moments when driving is too much are those days where I was already tired and dealing with too much sensory input or too much cognitive overload. I think it’s important to recognize that there are days when it is best to just not travel.
[00:13:52] And I think that, again, autistics tend to be very aware of those inputs and those needs. So there are days I know I should not be trying to accomplish any task, much less driving, which is a very complicated and dangerous task.
In terms of how to approach driving: If you have an autistic teen or adult thinking about driving, certainly try to help minimize those inputs that are both cognitive and sensory.
[00:14:23] Ask if there is something that is too much to handle, that’s causing distractions and safety hazards.
I find that I get very frustrated if I am unable to navigate well in a city. I get frustrated if I make the wrong turn or I miss an exit. I get very annoyed with people not letting me change lanes or not letting me merge.
[00:14:49] And so I think it’s important for someone learning to drive or wanting to drive to develop strategies for dealing with those things that will cause that individual person extra stress and to determine what is or isn’t acceptable. I will say that driving is essential in most of the United States.
[00:15:15] Most of us do not find public transit accessible or convenient. Unfortunately, we do not have good mass transit or good intercity transit. We have a lot of problems with the Interstate transit systems in the United States. Unfortunately, as we have seen in California and elsewhere, efforts to improve mass transit are often poorly funded or, when they are fully funded, they just go wildly over budget and don’t meet expectations.
[00:15:49] So the reality is, unfortunately for most working adults in the United States, you need to be able to drive. I hope that autistic individuals like myself are able to do so wisely and cautiously, in a way that makes them safe and acceptable companions on the road with other drivers.
[00:16:17] I strongly encourage ride-sharing services to be aware of the disabled and to consider us an opportunity. Because so many of the autistics I know do not drive, they make heavy use of ride-sharing services and taxis. Taxis are, unfortunately, often overpriced.
[00:16:40] Ride-sharing services have inflexible pricing options at times that can also make them prohibitively expensive.
We need to consider how to get to and from work though as autistic adults. We need to consider how to get to and from school as young adults and teens.
And so, learning to drive provides a certain level of freedom that people in the United States have come to expect.
[00:17:08] We are unlike the European nations, where mass transit is enabled by short distances and highly populated urban areas. That density makes not only mass transit, but also bicycling, walking, and other means of transportation, convenient and easy. Living in California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Texas, these are states with wide-open areas, long distances between their major cities, and no easy way to get from one point to another without driving.
[00:17:46] I simply wanted to comment on this because I was asked and because I found it interesting that so many of the autistics that I asked also don’t drive.
And it is without a doubt a hindrance to everything when you are unable to get to and from jobs that might have unpredictable hours, when you are unable to get to early morning or late night classes, when you are unable to access healthcare and supports.
[00:18:16] This is a very serious problem and driving is often the only good solution.
I have wondered if it wouldn’t be beneficial to have dedicated driving lessons for individuals with special needs. I know that those who have adaptive technology for steering and for working gas and brakes, those individuals can get specialized training.
[00:18:46] I understand that [with] a physical disability it’s very easy to say, “Okay, we understand that this person needs extra levers or gears or repositioned.” But an autistic also has special needs and needs special training and an added awareness of his or her limitations operating a motor vehicle.
If you have any questions or comments, I welcome them.
[00:19:09] Remember The Autistic Me is on Facebook. You can also get to The Autistic Me on Twitter. As always. I appreciate you listening to the podcast and reading the blog.
I am Christopher Scott Wyatt speaking as The Autistic Me and I look forward to our next meeting. Thank you.