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I'm Aspergers, and I've driven cars all my life, probably several million miles, including driving in about 40 foreign countries, right and left. I don't see what the connection could possibly be. I would say that Aspergers are less likely to be aggressive drivers.
I have a very close friend with Aspergers and he gets lost real quick! He does have some quirky driving habits like using the clutch to hold still on an incline at a stop. He has other obvious quirky traits too but he drives sort of OK. He is high functioning in many areas as Aspies often seem to. He does not have driving anxieties but he is very emotional - an Empath one might say. Aspergers affects us in many different ways but the one thing we all have in common is social development disorder and even that varies and can be overcome as my son demonstrated most aptly (but he had to learn it). I'd agree that Aspies are less likely to be aggressive drivers. I was a nervous driver when I was young but not now. I am less alert than I used to be and I make allowances for that be giving myself a wider margin of error. I take note of errors I make and figure out what I did and learn them and work out how to avoid them in future.
Can People with Asperger's syndrome learn how to drive a Car ? I have met several people with Asperger's syndrome who drive Cars and have learned how to drive is it possible for people with Asperger's syndrome to learn how to drive a Car ? I want to learn to drive and I have Asperger's syndrome but I was told I can't or it would be harder unsafe to drive on the high way/free way by family my question is it possible to drive a car without going on the high ways can the high ways/free ways be avoided when driving is this possible because I have met people who drive but don't go on the free way I have also talked to people with Asperger's syndrome who drive but don't go on the free way ?
Absolutely, they can drive. I know three people with Asperger's, and they all drive. One is a dentist. One is an accountant, and the other is a math professor. They all function just fine. If I did not know they had Asperger's, I would just assume that they were very reserved people...rather introverted.
I'm sure each case of Asperger's is slightly different. I would talk to your doctor about driving. Good luck!
I think asperger people can drive no problem. The concern is to no distract them while driving because you want to make sure the person is focussed on the road. This becomes second nature after driving experience, just like walking or biking.
One thing to note is asperger people may have a slower reaction time and in some cases be slow at aggressive maneuvering. BUT
The #1 solution for offsetting this slower reaction time is to drive closer to the true speed limit, stay to the right and give more space than others give to the car you are behind, so this way you have more time to respond to unexpected traffic. Doing this removed more accident risk than the difference in reaction time between the AS person and the non-AS person adds on.
I don't go on the freeway/highways and I have A.S. I can't focus with all the noise and big trucks around me. I can't stand driving in general even locally but I do it. I've had my license since I was 16, I failed the test twice, now I'm 34.
I avoid driving on highways as I prefer the less stressful rural and country roads. One of the main reasons why I picked a medium sized city was to have various types of roads and density levels to pick from instead of being forced to deal with big city traffic and density all the time.
I drove a car for almost 60 years, in 40 countries,in every county in the USA, probably close to two-million miles. I quit only for reasons of eyesight. I cannot think of any reason why my ability to drive was affected by Aspergers.
Different people with Aspergers Syndrome exhibit different sets of behavioral symptoms. Some do not drive very well, but I know plenty of NTs that are terrible drivers, too, who are incapable of emotionally coping with the disciplines necessary to drive a car competently or safely. As for concentrating on atentive driving, Aspergers might actually have an advantage, since they are pretty good at zoning in on a narrow detail and tuning everything else out.
Aspergers or not, you cannot expect every person in the world to be suited to mastering the technique of driving a car, any more than you can expect every person to be a competent dentist or accountant or airline pilot or ice hockey player. If you start out by labeling somebody Aspergers, you can't blame that for everything the person does not do well..
I have Aspergers and I've driven for Uber.. go figure.
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MissSoBelle
