Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 116 - ADHD And Driving - Confessions from the Driver's Seat
0 Playsin 2 hours
Get ready for a ride through the ADHD mind behind the wheel! In this episode of ADHDville, hosts Martin West and Paul Thompson—your ex-co mayors—shift gears into the complex relationship between ADHD and driving.
Strap in as they get real about the stats, the struggles, and the strange comforts of the driver's seat. Martin kicks things off with the hard facts: a 102% increased crash risk and a greater likelihood of moving violations for adults with ADHD, all rooted in those classic executive function challenges—inattention, impulsivity, and distraction.
But it’s not all doom and gloom! They share hilarious and relatable stories from their motoring pasts—from Martin’s hammer-started Lada and rogue London taxi, to Paul’s leaking MG Metro and parking-space misadventures. They also explore how modern car technology, like lane-assist and rear cameras, can be a game-changer for the ADHD brain, while questioning when it all becomes overstimulation.
From highway hyperfocus to the burnout of chaotic city driving, this is a candid, funny, and deeply insightful look at life on the road with ADHD. Perfect for anyone searching for ADHD driving tips, personal ADHD stories, or just a podcast that feels like a chat in the pub.
--------------------------------------
ADHDville, the podcast where hosts Paul and Martin bring 40 years of friendship to your ears. As late-diagnosed adults, they explore the ADHD world with fun, games, and the occasional guest—no boring lectures, just a comfortable and hilarious conversation you’d have with old friends. A new episode drops every Tuesday to make your week brighter!
---------------------------------------
Theme music was written by Freddie Philips and played by Martin West. All other music by Martin West.
Please remember: This is an entertainment podcast about ADHD and does not substitute for individualized advice from qualified health professionals.
Recommended
Transcript
Technical Difficulties and Apologies
00:00:00
Speaker
All right, so we had some technical problems, so we kind of lost the last 15 minutes, so it'll just gradually fade away at the end. So apologies for that.
00:00:12
Speaker
These things happen. All right, on with the podcast. Yes, come on. yeah Back in the room. Back in the room again. back in the room.
Introduction to ADHDville
00:00:23
Speaker
Alright, so let's put the foot on the gas and let's go to a place where the distractions, the landmarks and the detours are on the main roads. Welcome to EHDville.
00:00:37
Speaker
like how you did that. Would you suggesting the theme of today's episode? Yes. Foot on the gas. You got it. Foot on the gas.
00:00:49
Speaker
Foot on the gas. Foot on the gas. I'm driving in my car. It's not quite a Jaguar.
00:01:03
Speaker
And I'm Paul Thompson.
ADHD Diagnoses and the King's Agitated Head Pub
00:01:05
Speaker
um And I was diagnosed with the kabi a ADHD a couple of years ago. I'm Martin West, and I was diagnosed with the combined ADHD poo-poo platter in 2013, and we start off in the local pub in ADHDville, the king's agitated head, where we, the ex-mayors of ADHDville, take care of business. And this week, we're talking about cars and a driving.
00:01:29
Speaker
Beep, beep. And we have a quiz, obviously. Beep, beep. At the end. So um I suggest... ah Where should we go?
00:01:40
Speaker
Where should we go? I i suggest, Martin, we go to the coffee place. Brilliant. Yeah, we've had enough alcohol. Christmas is over. Yeah.
00:01:51
Speaker
Time to sober up. It barely started. Time to sober up. Yeah. Ah.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yes. I'll be glad when they're not playing Christmas in music. Yeah. It's a good song, but what's it named? By ma Mariah Carey.
00:02:17
Speaker
All Want For Christmas. It's a banging tune. you know It's a really well-written pop song, but oh God, does it drive me insane. Yeah.
00:02:29
Speaker
I've been... It's a tune, you know. Yeah. Well, Christmas is far as opportunity. Done. So everyone can just turn off the Christmas tunes now. Yes. Add the lights.
00:02:42
Speaker
All right. Okay. Driving, cars and all that. i thought we would ah thought we would get the depressing stuff quickly out the way.
00:02:55
Speaker
that's what? Right.
ADHD and Driving Risks
00:02:58
Speaker
So if you have ADHD... You and cars, not necessarily good mates. Not necessarily so.
00:03:08
Speaker
So we've got like, i've i've i've i've I've got some stats here that I'm just going to lob. Oh, God. Go on. All right, here we go. because So we got so so if you have if you're if you're an adult with with ah ADHD, there's a increased risk of having ah of having a of having a crash. There's risk of of having
00:03:39
Speaker
a ticket of some kind Oh, blimey, yeah, though well that's definite. I mean, you've got an increased risk of of of moving violations such as like using your cell phone, and not wearing your seatbelts, speeding, you know, doing weird weird things on a junction that you shouldn't be doing.
00:04:04
Speaker
yeah um you know ah and that's And that's all pretty much down to you know ah the old classic ADHD of impaired executive functions. So you've got problems focusing and filtering out this this distraction. There is there is the the the inattention part, the if the impulsivity part, of the risk-taking And the and the multitasking, like doing two different things at once, you know, like you're youre you're you're you're trying to get your iPhone yeah still to work and your GPS driving at the same time. You're much more likely to drive without a a a license. Basically, it's a little bit of a mare, little bit of a nightmare.
00:04:58
Speaker
Yeah, but i mean, well, simple question.
Martin's Driving Accidents
00:05:01
Speaker
Are you a good driver, Martin?
00:05:04
Speaker
I've had... I've only crashed... twice. Right. I think I've crashed twice. I've crashed twice. of them were my fault.
00:05:19
Speaker
Both them were a long time ago. One was because i ah my tyres... were bald i'd forgotten to replace them right and i went i the roads what i see and i would i was supposed to take a curve and it went in straight line and i went into the back of a parked car oof the sec the yeah yeah not good the second one was um And the poor lady that parked her car there, she apologised because I knocked on the door. was parked outside her house. knocked on the door and said, I'm really sorry I've got into the back of your car. She said, I'm really sorry I don't normally park it there.
00:06:01
Speaker
you and i You said, sorry, it's your fault. And she offered me a cup of tea. Oh, Jesus Christ. A cup of tea. want a cup of tea? The second time was because I i was like coming us off the the the end of... I'd have been of i've been off work for about a week with flu and I got into my car and I thought I was okay, but i wasn't. And I wasn't really concentrating. I went into steamed into the back of an Audi.
00:06:30
Speaker
ah Yeah. But I think I'm controlling having said all that because of hyper awareness. I think i general generally... hyper aware, maybe a bit of people pleasing as well. So I'm like really careful, you know, to like be a responsible driver.
00:06:51
Speaker
Right. I'm just saying. think I'm pretty good driver. And you probably are. I mean, you're you are alive. so and Yes. And you haven't killed anyone. So so so is but so that that's a bonus. Touch wood.
00:07:06
Speaker
But the statistics don't lie. We are collectively not great.
00:07:16
Speaker
um So I think this is where ADHD and autism and all these kind of things, when, I hope, when in 20 years' time or hopefully sooner, it actually goes, splinters off and it gets ah about 20 different names, those figures won't be worth anything.
00:07:38
Speaker
Because think there's certain different types of autism, different types of ADHD, combined, not combined, changes a lot, I think.
00:07:50
Speaker
it's It sounds like you're you are trying to trying trying to rip rip rebel against the ah like un chart these withciss statistics, Paul. I am a bit. Well, um'm um I'm hoping my insurance company are listening and they'll kind of like, you know, yeah and they'll, you know, they'll have to pay so much in the future.
ADHD Statistics and Insurance
00:08:15
Speaker
Future.
00:08:16
Speaker
yeah um I can see that... the
00:08:22
Speaker
I can see it more. It rings truer with in terms of far parking fines. These are facts, Paul. Facts. Facts. statistics.
00:08:34
Speaker
Oh, my God. but Paul! What you doing? No, because it lumps autism and ADHD into one big lump. Well, actually, there are different variations.
00:08:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just ADHD. Just ADHD. Just like we are an ADHD podcast and we lump a lot of things together. But we're all different, aren't we, in the end?
00:09:00
Speaker
Yeah, but if you collect them all, all the people who have who have i've been diagnosed with ADHD and you collect the figures up,
00:09:12
Speaker
You know, Paul, that we are a little bit of a sketchy bunch in the in the in the car.
00:09:20
Speaker
Yes. I mean, I'm not, and you aren't. No. But that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is like us. Yeah, I know, but it's it's a bit, I don't know. It it's just seems a big lump to put everyone into.
00:09:36
Speaker
Well, that's... It's like, why did you put the whole fucking population in, you know?
00:09:42
Speaker
I think because like people that are, don't know, it's like talking about the difference between men and women drivers. In theory, where women are lot lower risk than men. They are.
00:10:00
Speaker
Yeah, because they have fewer accidents, right? They do. Yeah, but I know a lot of really bad female drivers. You know?
00:10:12
Speaker
yeah it's It's a difficult one. I'm sorry, I'm going to hold on to my belief that I think it's ah it' too difficult to generalize ADHD as a bunch, as ah as an insurance risk.
00:10:27
Speaker
I'm going hold on to it, Martin. Blimey. Controversial. Yeah. im All right. All right. So, um well you know what? Let's just go through...
00:10:41
Speaker
Let's just go through some of the cars that we've owned. Oh, snivey, okay. Some of the cars, highlights of some of the cars that you've owned.
Paul's First Car Experiences
00:10:53
Speaker
I mean, like I'll start off, right? because it Just come and talk about ADHD point of view. So my first car was a Volkswagen volkswa in the Beetle. it was like seats.
00:11:04
Speaker
it was like bright yellow and it had it andit and it had and it had a denim seats and yes And it would – obviously, because I have ADHD, you know, I wouldn't do – I wouldn't properly keep keep it up.
00:11:22
Speaker
It would just keep going until until something went wrong or fell off, and then I'd have to take it into the garage. And, ah I mean, like, I would have bottles of water just – just everywhere in the car because the radiator would leak and I'd have to keep filling it up.
00:11:47
Speaker
Did I know you you when you had a yellow beetle? may have done. I don't remember your yellow beetle. You will have done because you met me after school, after after our college.
00:12:01
Speaker
yeah or know i didn't Yeah, and I didn't have it until I was at work, i so I'd started working. Okay, I don't remember that, weirdly. Yeah, it was good. okay It was good, but yeah, it would it would break down all the time.
00:12:17
Speaker
and I had a dark red fiesta, a fiesta popular plus. Popular plus.
00:12:28
Speaker
Plus, I don't know where the fuck the plus was.
00:12:33
Speaker
It was... Plus what? Come on, be specific. What the hell was the plus? I don't know. It had an extra speed on the windscreen wipers. Yes, extra rubber on the windscreen wipers.
00:12:51
Speaker
Yeah. Let's just put a plus on that. Then I had a Nissan... nissan uh nissan micro which i didn't put any oil in and then the then the engine exploded i did the same i had a another fiesta xr2 a white one o sporty hatchback yeah it it was sporty actually and i forgot to service it and it and it just went it just blew up
00:13:28
Speaker
I see never serviced it.
00:13:33
Speaker
Never. No, i didn't I didn't service any of my cars until the ones that I have now. i so i so I get those serviced on the on on the regular.
00:13:45
Speaker
but i mean But all the cars of my past, no I think the only reason I get my car service now is to stop the fucking light flashing on the dashboard.
00:13:57
Speaker
Irritating. It's irritating, you know? Yeah. And so, I mean, in that respect, the technology in new cars is really helpful. Also, the technology, technology I will get on to that but maybe and not in a bit later on, but...
00:14:14
Speaker
technology can really help say dhd is like would like uh you know my my steering wheel vibrates if i go off if i go off paced yeah i've got a whole list on that so so we can cover here come to come that later and then after my nissan marker i had a i had a Lada, that Russian... I remember the lada.
00:14:39
Speaker
I definitely remember the lada. And red lada, which um obviously, you know, like um I didn't have service. And after I would have to have a hammer in the car...
00:14:51
Speaker
because occasionally the engine wouldn't start and I'd have to lift up the the front bonnet. enough to I would have to hit the top of the car brevetta for some reason.
00:15:05
Speaker
I'd have to bang it a couple of times for for some little valve to drop down and then it would start again. So, yeah, it it was a hammer start. Hammer start car.
00:15:16
Speaker
Hammer time. it was. It was. So my third car was a white MG Metro, and the person that sold it to me was, do you remember but we had a colleague called Fenella?
00:15:31
Speaker
Yes. Do you remember her? At our colleague? No, no, at Redlands. She worked in PR. Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes. She worked in PR. And she sold... i so I bought through her aunt or something, or her sister. No, it her aunt in Rygate, her MG Metro. And I bought it, everything was hunky-dory, until it rained.
00:15:59
Speaker
And it just... It was like having a shower, especially if you went round the corner... Especially if you went around a left-hand corner, all the drips would would go down to one side, and I'd have a like a wet lap.
00:16:14
Speaker
LAUGHTER
00:16:18
Speaker
wet myself. I've wet myself. Yeah. Car. It was the car. Oh, God, though. Oh, that's hilarious. And then ah ah after the larder, i had a i had a London taxi, which I'm sure you must remember when I bought a London taxi. We did a trip once down to Brighton together in your taxi.
00:16:44
Speaker
Oh, brilliant. And ah you know what? we had to stop somewhere. can't remember why. It was overheating or something, and we had to wait for it to cool down. or Probably.
00:16:57
Speaker
Yes. kate yeah I wouldn't have it service. Because it was a taxi, I sat in the back. It was the most bizarre feeling. Right.
00:17:08
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was definitely the the weirdest thing.
Taxi Tales and Police Encounters
00:17:14
Speaker
most fun car that I've owned. Right.
00:17:18
Speaker
Because, you know, because, ah well, the good thing is, is if you drive to Brighton, as we would have done, Brighton is a seaside town and it can get, it has a lot of tourists and the roads can get quite busy, but it has a lot of taxi lanes. Yeah.
00:17:41
Speaker
So I could drive, although I wasn't supposed to, but I would drive in the taxi lanes around... That's 40. Right, because ah because and and it's the same in in London. You know, like, if it was if there was a lot of traffic, I would just use the taxi lane. Blimey.
00:18:04
Speaker
I once... I didn't use the taxi lane. i went I took a wrong turn in central London um slash Piccadilly Circus and went down the wrong way down a bus lane.
00:18:20
Speaker
And there was no way out of it. I had to reverse about 200 metres, reverse out of the bus lane in Piccadilly Circus. ah It's busy as well.
00:18:32
Speaker
With angry bus drivers. Bloody hell. how I know. You know what? what was What was good about the taxi was it seemed to be i couldn't get in in in trouble.
00:18:52
Speaker
So, for example, ah once I parked right across a zebra crossing, right? Yeah. And I nipped out the car because I wanted to get a drink. And it was like, ah don't know, it was like 2 a.m. or something really, really late, right? So I just stopped the car. i run into ah a shop, get a can of Coke or something. it I jump back in and then there's a cop standing there.
00:19:22
Speaker
with my taxi right over the zebra crossing. No. And he goes it goes it goes, you should know but better. know Yeah, yeah, mate, sorry. it was it it was in it and it was It was an emergency. so And then I just got in and drove off.
00:19:42
Speaker
but i mean because now in the uk well for so a long time that was an automatic um you'd automatically lose your driving license for that now yes yeah i mean it was it was a it it would have been it has been for a long time yeah a stiff penalty if penalty a stiff one right and ah yeah yeah go on and it was even like I can remember I was driving down the street in London and I saw someone that I knew on north side on the other side of the road. So I literally stopped the car in the middle of the road the car was having to go around me like on both sides while I was leaning out the window chatting to someone and and and no one beeped me. Everyone just kind of calmly went around me even though that was causing a major obstruction.
00:20:38
Speaker
It was like, also I had this, don't know if you remember, I had this huge sound system put in it and a massive speaker in the back.
00:20:52
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. and I could have had my music turned up really loud. Stephen Fry still drives a taxi in London. Does he?
00:21:03
Speaker
He does, yeah. He's had one for years. ah For at least, think, a good 30 years he's had a taxi. Yeah. I mean, it's it's it the downside of it is when you're – people will always try and get in your car.
00:21:21
Speaker
So I'll be driving along and i'll be at the lights and then people are like trying to pull the the handle on my car to get in. Yeah, yeah.
00:21:33
Speaker
i had I had around that time, I had a Land Rover, which you you came with me to buy it. Yes, I remember that. What a fantastic best car ever had. Best car.
00:21:48
Speaker
It makes you, that car, because it was like the old version of it, because it had it had no power steering, and it was a big old lump.
Cautious Land Rover Driving
00:21:58
Speaker
So I was always really scared to actually have an accident because if yeah if you hit someone with that, it would be game over for them, you know.
00:22:06
Speaker
So was really careful with it. I was quite careful. More careful with the Land Rover than any other car. I thought, if I'm going to damage someone's car, it'd be like written off. Yeah, yeah.
00:22:19
Speaker
And it was so much fun. Right. Now, I think that that was my first crash was in the taxi, and that's why I don't have it anymore. It's because someone pulled out in front of me, but the car was so heavy, i was coming down Rygate Hill.
00:22:40
Speaker
was coming down Rygate Hill. and know I mean, it's not a steep hill, but it's a hill. And they came out in front of me. was quite steep. Yeah, yeah. And I put on the... I mean, know he came out in front of me about, I don't know, half half and half a mile away, it felt like.
00:22:58
Speaker
But the car was so heavy and the and the brakes are so shit that it took me so long to stop. but just Yeah. see him ah just It just occurred to me about we're doing a really good job for convincing insurance companies to stop to hike up the insurance for ADHD community.
00:23:18
Speaker
Yeah. let's Let's tell everyone about all the accidents we've had and examples of bad driving. Fantastic. Yes. That happened a long time ago.
00:23:32
Speaker
I once got into my lounge drive. It was a Friday night and we was whilst I was living in Crouch End and we'd all had a drink or two And then I think some people started smoking some stuff, right? Substances. Then um other substances it got pulled out. Okay. And then but did everyone decided, oh, let's go to central London and hit hit a club and go dancing, you know.
00:24:04
Speaker
So I was the only one that had that had a car, had my Land Rover. So everyone piled in. It took my Land Rover and we drove to Kensal Green or something like that and then got the tube. But near the station, the only place I could find to park in was in my mind's eye, the way I worked it out, it was about the size of the Land Rover itself, the space. Right.
00:24:35
Speaker
Okay. So I thought, oh, this is going to be tricky. Right. i convinced I don't know, I might have trashed several cars.
00:24:46
Speaker
Yes, in the in your mind it was perfectly parked, but in reality there was... In reality, I remember kidding out and congratulating myself for having got my Land Rover to such a tiny space, but in reality was probably something completely different.
00:25:10
Speaker
Oh, dear. That was funny. And now I just have a rather boring Honda CR-V and a Subaru Forester, which I do get regularly serviced, both of them. ah well I had a so Subaru Forester.
00:25:29
Speaker
All right. Great car. Yes, good. I'm enjoying it. It's a fantastic car. Yeah. Yeah. It is a good car. Hang on. I'm just going to hit the pause button briefly. Okay.
00:25:45
Speaker
All right. So, yeah, we were talking about things that
Modern Car Technologies for ADHD
00:25:51
Speaker
help us. We're talking about cars we've had. we yeah We are, but also I thought we'd move on to like technology that's in our car that I find useful.
00:26:04
Speaker
Yes. So, you know, like we talked about, you know, like the... ah the ah the rear camera is like a lifesaver i think i've saved about four people's lives uh just just by having having that that's good there's a but to that though it's because i i was last year i was coming back from venice late at night and i was tired
00:26:36
Speaker
And um um we got back to ah to the station where we lived and we parked there in my girlfriend's car and I was a bit tired. Okay. Now her car is a lot more basic than mine. Mine's got all the warning signs, the beeps, the cameras, the everything. Got into hers um and it was a nightmare because you get no sign at all. And I was already tired.
00:27:06
Speaker
And when you get you get used, what I'm saying is you get used to live to driving a safe car and getting warning sign. And when you don't have it, it's a nightmare.
00:27:18
Speaker
Right. So what you're saying is if your camera has a rear view, if your if your car has a rear view camera, yeah that's good. But if it doesn't have one, that's not good.
00:27:31
Speaker
If you have to get into someone else's car and it's much more basic and it doesn't have that tech, you could get... I glanceced i reversed like quickly. Yeah.
00:27:42
Speaker
and thinking, oh, well, and you know, if there's something behind me I'll get a beep. I'd forgotten she didn't have that in her car. Right. And suddenly someone shouted, POO!
00:27:56
Speaker
And I put the spikes on just before I bashed into another car. There was someone under your car. Exactly. POO! I heard the squelch.
00:28:08
Speaker
POO! And the the cracking bone of bones. Oh, nice. i ah I also like the little indicator I have, which is the vehicle in front has moved.
00:28:25
Speaker
So if you're like sitting at the lights, right, behind a bunch of cars, and then you're like just waiting for the lights, and then you zone out, looking out the window, and then the cars the cars moved off.
00:28:41
Speaker
ahead of you i haven't seen that okay my my my car would beby b me boy o everyone's everyone's moving yeah i like that well honda's a great car a really good car extremely reliable even if you forgot probably even if you even if you forgot to get it serviced it would still go for forever a honda Yeah.
00:29:07
Speaker
Yeah. I do like that. Automatic brake. Yeah, I've got that. Yeah. That's good. Yeah, all of this tech really helps ADHD, definitely.
00:29:20
Speaker
It's like a lot things you don't have to think about. Right. Yeah. I just, i' I'm still a bit hazy on the whole thing of like, so how often do you fill up your your tank? At what point do you go, oh, oh I need to put some gas in in this car?
00:29:41
Speaker
I hate stopping at petrol stations. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Boring. No one likes it. I have to get out of the car. no Especially in the winter. Oh, God.
00:29:55
Speaker
in line especially yeah best but Especially on the motorway I just find petrol stations in motorways God forbid in places m I've not actually run out of gas for a long time now.
00:30:12
Speaker
like so um So when the little indicator, the little low fuel indicator comes up, I go, okay, let's get some fuel. I've never pushed it for a long time.
00:30:24
Speaker
I've never run out of fuel. I've never, ever run out of fuel. I've been really close. I've never run out of fuel. I think I probably definitely have, bound to have done at some point.
00:30:40
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. on your car, then, yours is like a tech technological car. Can you, like, um
00:30:52
Speaker
kind of raise or reduce... Raise or reduce? I'm not speaking good English today. Can you come like can you can turn up or down? That's it. can you Jesus. Can you turn up or down the sensitivity of the tech?
00:31:06
Speaker
Like for lane and changing and things like that. I can turn stuff on on and off. Right. if i if it If I go deep into the car's menu system, yeah I can... But, you know, like... Yeah, but all I all i really do is just change the the clock, know, when the when the clock moves forward. Right.
00:31:30
Speaker
Or back. Yeah. that's about That's about the extent of my ah of what i what I do. Because of mine, ah if my... if I've got two different settings for life. i um If my truck my car's trying to detect whether I'm, you know, nodding off to sleep, okay, it will my serum will vibrate, okay, if I go over the lines. But also there's an extra setup where actually it steers you back into your lane without you doing anything.
00:32:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's what mine does, yeah. Right. And you have to give it a little bit of a yank to actually say, no, I do actually want to change lanes. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:32:18
Speaker
No, yeah, I deal with that as well. Yeah. Yeah. ah one One thing that I did like about my Lada being a Russian car and Russia being cold was the was the car heater was amazing.
00:32:35
Speaker
um bad test It was It was so good. you i mean I can remember driving to work and I would have my wet socks on.
00:32:48
Speaker
you know, because perhaps I hadn't done laundry. I'd just done some laundry, but but so I had wet socks because i hadn't dried them in time. I would drive to work and then ah then I would have the socks in front of the ah the air the hot air vent and then I would dry them out.
00:33:09
Speaker
Bloody hell. Okay.
00:33:14
Speaker
It sounds like I needed that in my MG Metro when I got rained on. Yes. Yes. Heated seats, preferably. Oh, yeah, I know. That's the thing. I don't like heated seats.
00:33:30
Speaker
I'm not a fan the heated seat. It feels like you've soiled yourself.
00:33:37
Speaker
Oh, I like a heated seat. I mean, it gets cold here. i mean, I don't know how cold gets here. your your particularly but worst it will get to is like minus four something all right you've had a cold snap haven't these days these are yeah yeah it gets it gets you've had snow and shit oh yeah yeah we had about five inches the other day lot um so yeah it gets it gets freaky also i like my nice seed warmer
00:34:08
Speaker
but But there is a point you have to turn it off because you're right. It kind of gets uncomfortable. Yeah. It's good a bit. And then, oh no.
00:34:21
Speaker
Yeah. It goes wrong. So let's talk. thiss talk ah What about when technology goes too far? Apparently, Teslas have fart detectors on them. Wait, what? Have you heard that? I don't know No.
00:34:36
Speaker
there There is actually, because you're talking about going deep into the technology of your car. If you want to, in some Teslas, there are actually fire detectors on them.
00:34:48
Speaker
So you'd be driving there driving with your mum and your dad and you have someone else in the car, and then someone guffs, and then a little warning card goes off, and it was like, oh, it's the person in the passenger seat. The light comes up, and we turn to that person. Like in the same way you'd say, oh, someone hasn't put their seatbelt on.
00:35:09
Speaker
Is it, oh, yeah the person in the in the the rear left just guffed? Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Yeah, and everyone turns around and gives them a hard stare. Yeah. fuck I mean, Jesus Christ, that would be the flippin' worst. um I mean, like, one... I don't like ah don't like... I mean, i kind of feel like the whole...
00:35:36
Speaker
um
00:35:40
Speaker
I want to say the when I plug my car in and I try and get my podcast going or whatever it is that I want to listen to and I'm also getting the e the the the GPS map dire directions up and having to juggle those two things, um yeah, you yeah it it still feels a bit clunky for me. Yeah. Still.
00:36:06
Speaker
Well, I had a situation yesterday, it was like a bang on thing for our podcast. I was coming back from a city called Bergamo, which is in the north of Virch, just like near Milan.
Overstimulation Factors in Driving
00:36:21
Speaker
And I suffered like what I realised afterwards was serious over-stimulation coming back from Bergamo. right and i've put a list down right of all the potential things that you have to think about or have to be aware of when you're driving okay i'll go really quickly we'd already been in the town of bergamot during christmas so there's a lot of people there by the time we came back it was night time so you've got night you got you got the lights from driving at night time okay
00:36:59
Speaker
You've got, I had bad Google map instructions. They sent me into an industrial park, right? For no reason. Okay. I had a music on.
00:37:12
Speaker
Okay. Which was good, but it got interrupted. you I'm not sure if you get this in the States. You can, and I can't seem to be able to turn it off, but there's a function where you can get traffic news that interrupts your music.
00:37:27
Speaker
Yeah. get that in the States? Yeah. ah Yeah, but I just turned that off. Right, I can't find how to turn it off. Right. So there it was. it's like and and this and It wasn't even traffic news. It was something like a live football match, for fuck's sake. Then the really bad really bad really bad road systems in Italy just absolutely makes they make no sense at all.
00:37:55
Speaker
Right? Left here, right there, and then really bad road signs and blah, blah, blah. Then multiple instructions. So my girlfriend was saying, oh, ignore the Google Maps. Go this way. Okay. So that was that that was another thing. Oh, yeah.
00:38:14
Speaker
Then you get mixed up with aggressive Italian driving style. So you've got someone, you know, um in English it's called um tailgating. Yeah. Right? So they drive really aggressively up behind you because they they say, oh, my car is fucking faster than yours. Move over. So that kind of thing going on.
00:38:36
Speaker
Then girlfriend was feeding me Satsuma pieces. So oh have a Satsuma. All this going on, right?
00:38:47
Speaker
Calm down, Paul, and have a Satsuma. Calm down, have Satsuma. Right? And I realized that it wasn't until I actually wrote this down this morning for the podcast, actually potentially how much overstimulation you can have potentially driving a car.
00:39:08
Speaker
Mm-hmm. and um And I was thinking, is it me, you know, after, you know, unmasking and, you know, after with my ADHD diagnosis, just noticing it and then it happens more, you know. It's not just it, just notice it more, give it a name, whatever. It seems to just be with my kind of unmasking gradually, I seem to become becoming more adhd than I ever have before.
00:39:39
Speaker
You noticed that as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, it's a thing. It's definitely a thing, isn't it? I'm thinking now, Martin, I need to be the next time, for example, that I go, ah we decided to to go on a trip somewhere.
00:39:59
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Potentially coming back at night. I think I need to manage my ADHD better somehow. like stay at home or something. don't know.
00:40:12
Speaker
Like not go out. Oh yeah. mean Or not come back in when it's dark. oh Yeah, yeah. so i So i I drove down to DEC and back over Christmas. And there is a... Right, and i I used to be okay about driving at night because it's like a six-hour drive or whatever. Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:43
Speaker
ah but but But now I like ah
Night Driving Stress and Trip Impact
00:40:46
Speaker
kind of leave. I have that i have to leave earlier but yeah because I don't really want to spend too much time driving at night because it just gets too stressful.
00:40:57
Speaker
Also, i've got i've I've also found that um my ADHD, I don't know about you, but I work better on long car trips down a a freeway or a Totally, yeah. Or right a but the motorway. Like my ADH is very suited to that.
00:41:20
Speaker
Whereas local driving, where it's like turn left, turn right, lights, people, people. left right but but I mean, that yeah I find harder. Right.
00:41:32
Speaker
Also, because can you imagine in Italy, you've got much narrower streets. In the States, your streets are much wider, right? You've got just jump a lot more space. yeah In Italy, local driving is a nightmare, especially for parking.
00:41:48
Speaker
Narrow streets, you know, everyone drives everywhere in Italy. No one uses a bicycle, you know. They can avoid it, they they will. And so that's a real trigger for me, trying to find a trigger a kind of parking space yeah in a city.
00:42:07
Speaker
God. yeah that's okay well what uh else we got i mean obviously you know like oh there's so much we could talk we could talk about so much yeah but driving is a real trigger for me and i do think i'm gonna have to manage it better because i came back last night and i was really was in a bit of a state have to be honest And my girlfriend said, are you all right, Paul? I said, no, not. I'm really not. I'm really struggling.
00:42:43
Speaker
I was really overstimulated. Yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's, uh, yeah, it's, it's a lot. It's a lot. it's so long You've got your fucking satsumas flying around. ah Bloody hell.
00:42:58
Speaker
Music, and you've got the, then you listen to music, and then the, then the, someone scored a goal, and that comes on the radio. It was a really good tune as well at the time.
00:43:10
Speaker
Right, and now Inter Milan is one up. i mean Yeah. that was That was actually it. It was that. It was Inter Milan.
00:43:21
Speaker
It was Inter Milan versus Atalanta. It's like, I'm interrupting my fucking music, you bastards. Yeah, you can turn turn it off.
00:43:34
Speaker
There was been trying to calm down. i was overstimulated. Oh, at least my favorite music's come on. Right. And then I got interrupted with fucking live football.
00:43:48
Speaker
Bastards. All right. All right. Well, um mean know I mean, perhaps we'll well come come back to this at some other point. i mean i do I mean, I didn't even get to the time when my mum...
00:44:02
Speaker
almost run me over in her car. Nice. I've got some stuff here. We'll will do another episode. I've got some here. used to, when I was a kid, it's one of the first early signs I had, I think, of autism. is um I used to be obsessed with them reading number plates.
00:44:25
Speaker
Oh, yeah. On cars. Yeah. that I would really notice number plates, which is a massive sign for autism.
00:44:37
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's ah it's a game here in the in the States because all of the license plates have this have the the state on them.
00:44:50
Speaker
Right. The state the car is registered. Right. So you try and spot as many states as you can.
00:45:01
Speaker
Right. It's like a game.
00:45:06
Speaker
um All right. All right. i will um I think we'll just have to leave it there. We'll have to jump in the tractor. Yes. and Alexandra's ah haunted. Actually, no, we're not doing that because we're going to do the quiz.
00:45:22
Speaker
Ratings. The ratings. The ratings. Absolutely. Fuck it all. Right. Ratings. All right. So I guess... um
00:45:36
Speaker
I guess this is like driving around in a car versus, you know, sort of public transport, I guess, right? Yeah. which Which actually is like, i mean e i mean, that's quite, public transport is itself is is quite a nightmare, buses and whatnot.
00:45:59
Speaker
ah Yeah, so I would touch it. I guess that's that's that's the only thing I can score, against is ah is is that. So let me let me hear hit the ah hit the quiz button Driving around in your car, is it a dopamine hit or is it a burnout thing?
Driving as Dopamine Hit or Burnout
00:46:23
Speaker
What say you, Mr. T?
00:46:26
Speaker
Dopamine hit. It used to be, when I was a kid, I used to love driving around, i mean having freedom, independence, you know. Massive dopamine hit.
00:46:37
Speaker
It was huge. Now, if I could get away without driving, i would, if I'm honest. um And i think ah I was without a car for about four years when I lived in Turin.
00:46:49
Speaker
But dopamine hit. So now I'd say dopamine hit. Sometimes it gives me a of listening to a podcast on ah on a long drive on a motorway. I really like it.
00:47:03
Speaker
But that's not really dopamine. I'm going to give it four, quite low. How about you, Marty?
00:47:14
Speaker
I mean, you know, I like being in the car. It's nice and warm. Here in my car, I feel safest of all. i can lock all the doors. It's the only way to live in cars.
00:47:25
Speaker
you sorry know And I like being in there. It's warm and nice. You've got little sounds like I've got a button. And then when stop somewhere and we arrive, and then I don't want to get out the car because it's so nice. I'll just sit in the car.
00:47:40
Speaker
So I'm going to give it an eight. A nice high eight. That's high. That's high. i Yeah. I like driving in my car. Burnout score.
00:47:54
Speaker
So, you know, what does it technicalized Uptake, you know, servicing. Since I moved to Italy, the burnout has gone off the scale.
00:48:07
Speaker
It's really, I find it ah massively triggering. Italians are really aggressive drivers. And narrow streets, you know beautiful Italian cities and villages and towns, and they're lovely.
00:48:20
Speaker
But for driving, they're a nightmare. Nine is the burnout score for me.
Signing Off and Listener Engagement
00:48:28
Speaker
All right, well, that just leaves me to say ADHD is delivered fresh every Tuesday to all providers of fine podcasts. Please subscribe to the pod and rate us most hobby, hobbytastic. No, not hobbytastic. That's an old script. Rate us.
00:48:43
Speaker
Rate us. Rate us. ah but fast and furious that that that'll do and feel free and feel free to correspond at will in the comments but wait there's more if you wish to see our beautiful beautiful faces then send it forth to you jibs and the tiktok and you can pick up a quill and email us at adhdwill at gmail.com but in the meantime be fucking kind to yourself