The Art Of Driving When You Have OCD

"Speedmonkey" (Speedmonkey)
12/04/2013 at 11:18 • Filed to: OCD

OCD affects 1.2% of the population to a greater or lesser extent. I'm one of that 1.2%.

Here's a blog I wrote about driving when you have OCD.

DISCUSSION (20)

For Sweden > Speedmonkey
12/04/2013 at 11:22

Kinja'd!!!

I do not have OCD. I am the 99%. My voice will no longer be ignored. We will no longer run society at the whims of 1%ers like you.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Speedmonkey
12/04/2013 at 11:22

I have a feeling that I have OCD. I want to get things right the first time, and something like an air vent facing the wrong way annoys me.

Party-vi > Speedmonkey
12/04/2013 at 11:22

This looks like one of McMike's shops - you look so small compared to the front of that car haha.

vdub_nut: scooter snob > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
12/04/2013 at 11:26

My girlfriend always gets pissed off when she gets in my car and all the heat vents are closed, simply because that's the only way they all look the same.

But there are tons of other things I don't care about. I have like 25% OCD.

MonkeePuzzle > Speedmonkey
12/04/2013 at 11:27

1.2%... I'm pretty tempted to kill enough people to make that an even 1%

Converse > Speedmonkey
12/04/2013 at 11:28

Very well written article. Your piece was very insightful on how you personally handle the task of driving. I often wonder about it to be honest. After having some OCD tendencies while driving, I am not OCD, and I often wonder how people with it handle it whilst driving.

To be honest, I believe you are a more responsible and safe driver because you are hyper-focused and restrictive on distractions.

Thank you for writing and sharing with us.

Speedmonkey > Converse
12/04/2013 at 11:53

Cheers!

Stupidru > Speedmonkey
12/04/2013 at 12:03

Are you an engineer?

That would explain a lot...

Speedmonkey > Stupidru
12/04/2013 at 12:04

Ha! No. I'm a surveyor/company director

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > MonkeePuzzle
12/04/2013 at 12:13

you'd only have to kill 14,256,000 people

Nibbles > Speedmonkey
12/04/2013 at 12:31

It's nice to see someone else opening up to their driving tendencies with OCD. A have a few myself:

My turn signals have to repeat in sets of four. I've caught myself holding the wheel slightly askew just to ensure the right amount of clicks.

The radio, if it has a volume indicator, has to be an even number or full bar in the case of my Focus.

Dials for HVAC bother me to high hell. They have to be at a specific angle. In the Saab, this means either full cold or full hot. No in between.

If I glance at one mirror, I have to glance at all three. Three is a bad number so I have a spot mirror on the driver side so I can look at all four.

I also tap when I think and sleep when I don't think. There are set numbers for everything I do all day and I have been known to "go goofy" as the wife would put it if they are not adhered to. Thankfully the wife also deals with OCD so we tend to assist each other with our tendencies.

Sometimes though, we fuck with each other. Fun some times, incredibly agitating all the time.

Speedmonkey > Nibbles
12/04/2013 at 12:48

The mirrors. I forgot about the mirrors! Check, check, check

MonkeePuzzle > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
12/04/2013 at 13:48

so Hitler just had OCD?

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > MonkeePuzzle
12/04/2013 at 13:58

If his form of OCD made him hate specific segments of the population, then yes, he had OCD, haha.

Hitler with OCD: "If I have to go through my day and see people of other beliefs, skin colors, etc, one more time, I will go to war with the world! It just ruins the uniformity of the population!"

MonkeePuzzle > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
12/04/2013 at 15:02

I was more thinking "the number of Jews should be a nice round number"

and now I hate myself fr hitler "jokes"/commentary

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > MonkeePuzzle
12/04/2013 at 15:08

you should make two jokes so it's a nice even number :P

D > Nibbles
12/04/2013 at 15:37

Funny you say that three is a bad number, because when I was dealing with OCD tendencies, three was the magic number. I'd do tons of things in sets of three, sometimes even three sets of three...

Fortunately, I seem to have beaten those tendencies.

Nibbles > D
12/04/2013 at 15:51

Yup, we all have our numbers. Mine is 4. The wife's is 7. We do not get along in this aspect.

D > Nibbles
12/04/2013 at 15:53

Well, perhaps every 28th repetition you get along :)

tvresearch > Nibbles
03/27/2014 at 12:35

Hi Nibbles, What you've said here is really fascinating. What is your reasoning for having to have all these things 'just so'? I ask because I'm looking in to driving obsessions and habits like this for a TV documentary. Can I have a chat with you? - no obligation, would just like to hear more detail. Contact me on tvresearchgurus@shiver.tv leave a number and I'll give you a call - Cheers, Lyndon.