Driving frustration, is it just me or my adhd?

[Anonymous]

Sometimes this makes me feel so stupid, I get flustered easily, confused, turned around, read a sign but it goes by so quick that if I needed to turn within 800m I have already missed the turn by the time I realize what the sign said!!!!

I live just outside of a major city (Vancouver BC) most of the time I am very comfortable behind the wheel as long as I am in my own small part of the city and or I drive the route on a weekly basis but any time I have to go out of the comfort zone, major issues!!!

I have been driving for about 15 years so I am not new at this lol!!

Tonight this is what happened: My twins were going to visit their dad and I had to take them to Vancouver airport (I have driven there approx 30 times) I get into the car make sure we have everything, double check for passports and all important things, even remembered that I needed to stop for gas so had left myself an extra 20 mins just on the safe side…….start the car and for the life of me cannot remember how to drive there, start to get that panicky feeling like omg were gonna be late because I can’t remember!! I grab my phone because I have a map system where you put in the addresses it gives you directions, whew now I remember which way to go….this is something that I must visualize before I drive anywhere, I do not remember lots of road names but as most are highways the map helps with jump starting the memory.

Did manage to get to the airport on time, check them in on time, remembered passports and all important stuff, Yay me

Leave the parking lot and go through booth pay station (forgot to do express pay before leaving the parking lot) have to sit there for 15 mins and wait….wait…wait, spazz at the toll lady because they charged me for a whole half hour when I was only 5 mins over the time (I had sat in the line up for that long).

I am not sure if I daydreamed or was worrying about the kids or if my mind was wandering but I suddenly panicked and had no idea where I was, drove for awhile longer and recognized a tunnel that I probably had not been through in about 2 years but used to drive through the other direction 5 days a week for 3 years because of an old job. Pull off at the next hwy exit and onto the shoulder in tears because I cannot for the life of me remember what the tunnel is called or even what part of the city it is called so I can look it up on my phone. Calmed down enough and called Hubby even though I felt really stupid and asked him to help me out (I was only 5 mins away from where I used to work but could not visualize how to get home from there, eventually with his help I was able to connect the missing pieces and see how to drive home.

After the call I went around in circles twice because of detours, came around a corner and saw a new electronic billboard that almost blinded me and was so distracting I almost drove off the road!!!

It took me 50 mins to get to the airport at the tail end of rush hour and 1hr 45 mins to get home wtf???

Here are some other things I know about myself and driving:

-I listen to the all talk radio so I can hear about issues in traffic visualize them then know to avoid higher stress areas, also this helps to stay on topic with current events they are not long and drawn out explanations and the announcers tend to jump from topic to topic so it keeps my brain occupied most of the time, they also repeat things often like traffic, news, weather every 15 mins or so, this way I don’t forget about traffic issues and if I need to hear something newsworthy twice it helps it to sink in! I can’t listen to music as I kinda zone out and miss seeing things like pedestrians, signage etc.

-I used to smoke when I didn’t have the kids in the car (now am working on quitting, day 6 yay me ) so now I find my hands really restless so I take a bottle of water that has a cap so I unscrew the cap every 2 mins or so for something to do.

-I try to stay away from detours because they confuse me and am always afraid I am gonna hit one of those people with the signs.

-I try to avoid driving at night if I can as this is worse with all the bright light distractions

-I have noticed that I drive quite fast like 10-20 km over the speed limit (but doesn’t everyone?)

-I hate sitting in traffic and if I can visualize a way around it even if it takes me longer to get there, I will take that route

-I get bored and have a really bad habit of checking my e-mail while driving, I do txt as I am afraid I will forget by the time I have got where I am going

-When someone else is driving I always feel like they are driving too slow, I get panicked that we won’t get there on time and they seem to drive really really close to the other cars

-I can’t stand being around huge trucks I am afraid they will squish me or run me off the road, also the sound of them just grate on my nerves!

I am interested to hear what other people say and what their issues with driving are? I am finding it not so lonely to know others have some of the same problems!!

I should also add that this was with medication tonight, usually it’s worse if I don’t take it and it wears off lol!!

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