Travelling in a familiar car, with familiar people, at a preferred time of day, reduces these factors and can help an autistic person feel safer and more comfortable.
Even so there may be certain aspects of travelling by car that can be challenging for some autistic people.
For example, they may be unsure about which route to take, how long it will take or where to park or worry the car could breakdown. Car travel can become costly especially if you are covering a great distance.
What can help
- Plan your journey in advance
- This helps to reduce stress, by making the journey more likely to be predictable and smooth
- Decide your route and familiarise yourself with it
- If your journey is long, plan in stops for rests, drinks or toilet breaks
- If using a paper map, write down a list of each road and turn you will need to make – and position it in a safely accessible place in your car
- Electronic navigation systems (e.g. Sat Nav or a map app on a smartphone) can show you the quickest, most direct routes
- They can give you ‘live’ information along your journey, alerting you to when you need to turn onto a new road or when there are diversions or delays
- You can set them to ‘speak’ to you, which enables you to maintain focus on the road
- They can also show you routes that avoid motorways or toll roads, should you need
- There are also apps and websites that show parking options, and some that allow advance booking and payment of parking spaces
- It varies from place to place as to which apps give the most options in particular areas – so it is advisable to find out about this before travelling
- If you’re a car owner spend some time checking the car for road worthiness before a journey including that you have adequate breakdown cover and insurance that meets your needs
- If parking or driving in a busy city feels challenging, then you may want to consider using a park and ride service
