Hi,

I know this sounds like a weird subject. It may even have already been discussed in the past but I was wondering if anyone here with ADD gets annoyed with traffic lights. I know they are a necessary thing but they DRIVE ME NUTZ. It seems lately I just can't stand sitting at a traffic light anymore. I get so aggravated and bored sitting there and if I have to wait out 2 or more light changes I am boiling. Lately I have found all kinds of short cuts and side roads so I don't have to sit at lights and be aggravated by the time I get to work. Thankfully, my morning job doesn't involve any lights, but my afternoon job involves plenty. I guess after all of these years of driving and waiting at lights my tolerance level with them has gotten worse instead of better. Same thing with traffic. Anyway, was just curious if anyone else with ADD has this bug too. Thanks, Dee

I live in the city.
Some of the lights are a six minute wait.
Because the lights are so long running them has become a big problem here.
Now most lights have cameras and you will get a ticket for running the red.

Waiting for the light to turn green drives me nuts.
Because half the time the person in front of you has stopped paying attention.
And doesn't go as soon as the lights green.
I just want everyone to hit the gas fast so I can get moving again LOL
Its so so so boring just sitting there.

I don't like traffic lights either. What annoys me more, though is people who honk at me if I don't go within 1 nanosecond of the light changing. Sometimes I will deliberately sit through the whole light just to annoy them. :D

exeter don't worry I won't be sitting behind you honking.
I'll just be quietly wishing you'd go already lololol:o

LOL, What happens with me is that I get bored and turn inwards... I start thinking about my theories and models and such... then the light changes and I end up being the one that you guys are honking at :) If I am thinking about my stuff while I am driving...I can miss lights completely. Always best to write before I leave the house... gets out some of that hyperfocus!

chain I want a five minute head start in front of you.
So while you are turning inward.
I'm not the one behind you hyperfocusing on the light turning green.
LOL We both just showed two of the different ways ADD can work.
Or was that one way we are just hyperfocused on something different?

chain I want a five minute head start in front of you.
So while you are turning inward.
I'm not the one behind you hyperfocusing on the light turning green.
LOL We both just showed two of the different ways ADD can work.
Or was that one way we are just hyperfocused on something different?
It really depends on the hyper focus.... I tend to find nice big munchy concepts to wrap my brain around (give the impression I am calm). When I don't have them...I get very impatient :)

The worst is when my mind says "it is time to go!".... I have to quietly breathe... center and ground...ohm....ohm....ohm....

"Hurry up are you ready to go yet?" :)

My ADD friend Erin is like that too... but we distract ourselves so as not to be so impatient...this weekend:

I am mucking about on the computer and Erin says... "lets go!"
I say just a sec I want to finish this... so she distracts herself on the laptop... then I am "ready to go!" She says just a sec... "I am finishing up my blog" So I distract myself by writing a bit more on my book... then she says "ready to go?" and I say "I am just waiting for you.... let me finish this thought in my book"...

We can spend the better part of a day in this loop.

Get up at 8:00 loop until 2:00... then complain the rest of the day how we "wasted the day" :)

After getting rear-ended last week at a stop light, I have noticed now that I am really, really nervous when I am stopped at a red light now. Is this normal after having an accident? It's like I am waiting to get hit again...how one doesn't see a carnary mustang is beyond my line of thinking.

Oh thats perfectly natural...just try to not let it get over -developed and turn into a phobia. LOL how does one miss a canary mustang?

I dont like lights, there are too many in the city and esp. with driving a standard all that stop-go is really aggravating after large amounts of driving.

I also find that if I am dirving long enough and am sorta in the clouds(Im inattentive) that I almost forget what stop and go is(I do know obviously but I have almost hit the gas at a red), or see any change of light like the advanced turn signal when I'm not turing and run the red.... bad news, but fortunatly I have never had any nasty incidences from it.

A single traffic light won't annoy me, but a chain of red lights will. In my commute, I only encounter two, and one is a very short wait

I tend to get bored and tune out. Cycle through the radio stations two or three times.

I also have a tendency to start focusing on the next set of lights if I can see them. The one I'm at is still red, the next set turns green... usually I almost hit the accelerator but catch myself; once in a while, I'm halfway into the intersection before I realize I'm about to get pancaked by a truck...

What annoys me is the guy who thinks he is the only guy on the road and can take his sweet ***** time. Chain, I was wondering what goes through the heads of people like that.
Lights on the other hand are just that , Lights stop or don't stop it's up to you. But I have come very close to getting a new car many times from jerks running them.
On the road around here in the DC area the worst drivers are oriental and indian, why because they didn't drive back in their country and come here and don't or should I say have not learned proper edicat behind a wheel.

Now this is a subject that I am totaly absorbed with if I'm not on my med's. and for years I was hell on wheels now I just sit back and drive like a reasonable person. Untill Chain gets infront of me. LOL

Things I find helpful with Traffic Lights:

1) Clear Car
2) New Music
3) Cigarettes

T-Bass

I hate traffic lights I feel like I need to get out and run around the car or clean the inside...

Yeah i'll be cleaning the back set with my arm around my seat and totally forget I'm at a stop light!!! hehe people get mad, but what are they gonna do...I'm from a small town thank goodness but still i can't help it that the light took longer than 7 seconds and I kinda forgot about it :D

I will make it a point NOT to go down some of the main streets just to avoid the LONG lights.


I have a problem focusing on the lights though...like I'll see the arrow light turn but i'm going straight and I'll want to go with the green!!! Yeah I've gone before never been hit (knock on wood or whatever) I have to really look at the red light to make sure I don't step on the gas...kinda sucks!

FlyGurl, I do that all the time too. I have almost rear ended other cars. I've gone through a few too. LOL I hate green arrows. You know in our area they have been making intersections green arrow with the green light, and stopping the other side early ofr there green arrow.

oh good I'm glad someone else forgets which lane they are in...

Lately I've really had to look at the light like the whole time. My friends will be in the car with me and be talking and I'm just thinking "look at the light...it's still red..." then i have to talk back to my friends...really difficult for me !!! :D oh well... i guess its better that I see the silly parts of my mind then the annoying ones...not like i don't but the silly parts come in handy with the lights!!

sometimes if I am preocupied I will watch the guy next to me. But sometimes he is the one in the turning lane LOL. O well, that's what breaks are for.

...how one doesn't see a carnary mustang is beyond my line of thinking.

Well, there happens to be this set of people afflicted by a disorder that affects their attention span. They are often daydreamy, but sometimes hyperattentive to their surroundings. I don't remember exactly what the disorder is called, but I think it was something like Attention Deficit Disorder. You may want to do some research. There is also an online support group called ADD Forums (http://www.addforums.com) that may provide some information as well.






:D

Thanks for the replies about "lovely" traffic lights. I was quiet enlightened. I'm glad I'm not the only one who they drive buggie. I was actually in an accident involving a light and I was a nervous wreck for a good 6 months afterwards. I did eventually feel comfortable on the road again though. Oh and the green arrow thing. This is what I do, I make a right and then turn around so that I am at the side of the light that is shorter and then I make another right. I still have to wait at the light, but not as long and my mind is occupied with getting to the shorter side of the light. I know it sounds crazy, but it works for me. Green arrows are great when your on the right side of the light :). Dee

Oh yeah there are lights where I live that make me find alternative routes even if they are a little longer I avoid certain intersections on my way to work in the middle of the night just because the lights are horrible. Timing the light from up the street is a challenge that I'll accept just to keep my wheels rolling,sitting at a light also wastes gas, yeah I'm enough of a tightwad to worry about it but I also prefer to keep moving if I can.

Traffic here in the metro DC area is insane. Eight lanes and the traffic does not move... and traffic lights take an eternity to cycle. I just sit and wait, fidget, flip radio stations, tap my fingers and wait. It is a regular routine that I have become accustomed to.

Me :D

I also like to take side streets sometimes , even if its a little longer, so that I can keep moving.

I also take alternate routes when I grow bored of going the same way to a place.

I HATE traffic. I get so impatient and can feel my heart rate rise from feeling trapped.

If I am at a light, I will either be one of those people honking as soon as the light turns green so I can get moving, or be the person who zoned out due to thoughts racing thru my head while waiting. I often pass things up , due to the thoughts too.