Driving
ting1984
Citizen
Driving is probably the most dangerous things human beings do regularly. It heavily taxes working memory, executive function, and visual-motor coordination: seldom strengths for us. It's a life skill many of us have trouble taking to naturally.
When I was a teenager, I often wondered if I'd ever be able to drive. I didn't start taking lessons until age 18, didn't get my license until I was 21, and didn't pass the test until my third and final attempt. Even to this day, I cannot go anywhere unfamiliar without the aid of GPS or something like printed MapQuest instructions. It took me several years before I could talk to a passenger and drive at the same time (music in the background is often helpful, however). Sometimes I still process road information slowly or not at all, have a somewhat slower reaction time than the average driver, find the glare difficult at night, find inclement weather makes it even harder for me to see, and especially hate driving on busy city streets that I don't know. (I don't mind highway/freeway driving IF there aren't many cars about, and I can just cruise along with some nice music in the background; if there are lots of cars, though, I get just as much stress as I do with city driving, because the speeds are much higher and the margin for error is thus narrower.)
I wouldn't say I have a driving phobia, but of all the everyday things people do, it's one of the hardest for me, besides socializing.
Comments
I share those experiences in each area you mentioned to a lesser degree, except the music part, I need silence in challenging driving conditions.
I started learning to drive as a child, I think that like many other childhood experiences laid the foundation for adulthood and in this situation starting very early has made a difference to my adult experience.
I anticipate that, these skills I picked up are transient and will fade with age and loss of practice; as I suspect many of my learned compensatory skills will be too, based on my burn out experience a few years back.
I got my license very late—at age 37–despite many lessons.
I’m an okay driver now.
Yeah I don't like driving myself, only when I have to. My main difficulty is the absence of sense of orientation; and not the driving itself. Google maps doesn't always help.