Driving phobia

foreverskint

have you considered the IAM test? It really might help you to overcome some of your phobia.
For around £90.00 you will be taken out by an IAM instructor and eventually tested. ( not as scary as it sounds and nothing like a driving test ).

The main concerns with the IAM test is hazard perception etc and it will help you to help yourself by understanding what is going on around you whilst you drive. ( you can also get insurance reductions and other benefit from holding the IAM certificate so long term :money: too ).

Good luck and I hope you find some answers soon:D

calleyw

I don't enjoy driving on the motorways as I think that to many people today drive like mad things.

My husband has 26 years of driving experience and is not neverous driver and even he does not like driving on motorways if he can help it. I know some one who has just over 40 years of driving experience and driving things from lorries to tractors and trailers and they do not like motorways either.

So as you can see you are not alone obviously we don't have phobias just don't like it and try to avoid through choice not phobia. And if we have to go somewhere and it means using a motorway and it is raining we keep off the motorways.

I do agree with what has been said. Maybe take a couple of lessons with a driving instructor. Or a get a very good friend who can come out with you. Pick a quiet time of day say midnight only joking but an quiet time of day like a sunday morning say about 8am. And get on at one junction and come straight off at the next. And do this a couple of times and then build up to different times of day and length of journeys.

What are you like as passenager in a car on the motorway are you ok with that. If so maybe start with a couple of journeys with you as passenger over the same bit of road than build up to the above. Either on a motorway or dual carriage.

I do not know what it is like to panic attacks but I do have issues with OCDs so I do know that it is very hard to get out of the cycle of something. And as you say it is not just something you can snap out of or a case of just get a grip of yourself. It takes a lot of time to deal with.

I really do hope you crack it. All the best.


Yours


Calley

Alechjo

Your description of panic attack is exactly what I feel when I inhale cigarette smoke. I am a non-smoker myself and if I am in a smoking environment something triggers in my brain and I feel panic, readiness to fight/run and lots of aggressive thoughts against people or person, who is smoking. I start to think how I can kill or hurt this person in the most violent way. These thoughts are so unusual and uncomfortable for me that I really hate being in such condition. Fortunantely, in the UK it is relatively easy to stay in non-smoking environment all the time, that's the solution for me. Sorry you cannot do the same with driving.

I believe finding really good and trustful driving instructor can help. I took Pass Plus after my test and found motorway driving most relaxed, really. You stay in 5th gear, see well ahead, plenty of time to plan for 'unexpected' things like people taking second lane immediately after joining at 50mph. Town driving and slow manoeuvres are worse for me, lots of information coming, fiddling with gearbox, etc. Maybe you shoud try imagining peaceful motorway driving and saying yourself that you can cope with that, as you can cope with much more difficult driving situations and are a good driver indeed. Another idea is to try motorway simulator, there should be one at BSM branches.

I am driving not for too long and never experienced panic attacks (just annoyance), but I had strange emotions riding a push bike in the second year I started riding. I was afraid to fall on the right side (as I always stand on left foot and was not so experienced in taking the right foot from lock pedal), that a car coming from the right on a junction can hit me, and so on. I am not sure why it disappeared, but maybe I became less afraid of risk in general, taking it philosophical. Everything is risky, and what seems most risky may be ok, while what seems to be absolutely safe backfires eventually.

Such condition might be connected with some general psychological/age crisis, that would end some day as if never existed. I wish you (and all other posters) every success. Let us believe everything would be ok, and it would! :j

gk172

Im the same i panic at the thought of having to go on a motorway but also everyone around me kinda laughs at it and doesnt really understand, it is the fear of joining that affects me so any slip roads onto motorway/dual carriage way i just dont do im fine if its the very start of the motorway and i dont have to join onto another motorway, but i am fine at speed so thats not an issue and im fine in city center just the joining bit, hubby tried and took my to a quiet bit so there would only be a few cars but again nerves got to me and i drove right across the chevrons to join rather than follow the lane till it tapers off.

Im feeling it now just typing about it and i cant even blame lack of trust in the car as its only a few years old a mondeo 1.8 so its got the power to shift.

Fritha_2

I know exactly what you're all talking about, I used to get panic attacks just driving to the supermarket and the thought of going on motorways....

I found a Pass Plus to be incredibly helpful, I did the six hours in one go and just told the instructor all the things I didn't want to do so consequently did them all (Leeds Loop anyone, busy motorways in torrential rain?)! You cover rural and urban driving as well as motorways. It was so helpful becuase it gave me confidence in my driving becuase I knew how to drive properly and what to do if it all went wrong! I still lose confidence if I do soemthing wrong but generally now with determination and practice I rarely panic.

Best of luck to everyone (particularly the OP) trying to get over a driving phobia, it's really common.

Gingham_Ribbon

I have only a couple of suggestions but I do sympathise as someone who cannot cope with being a passenger on busy roads. (I need to be in control.)

Have you tried doing a pass plus course, or some other advanced driving course? Some lessons on the motorway with a calm, kind instructor may help.

Very short stints on the motorway built up my confidence. I did it in the evenings when it was quieter, just going on and coming off again at the next junction.

I have a friend with a driving phobia who can let her car sit for months undriven, even locally, never mind on motorways, so you're doing okay! You'll get there.

moggins

I think the trouble is that people are not trained how to drive on motorways, we have too many people with no manners who are only intent on getting there as quickly as possible and don't care how they achieve it.

I took my test over in Germany and although the speed limits on the autobahns are crazy people do know how to drive on them. I found them a pleasure to drive on even as a new driver. There is never any trouble getting on to them as people know to move over to the middle lane when an entrance is approaching so people can get on without hassle. Lorries are also banned on the autobahns from Friday night until Monday morning so the traffic is lighter.

If we trained new drivers how to use them and people stuck to the Highway code driving would actually be a pleasureable experience.

Dead_Eye_Jones

I well sympathise with you, I have a fear of travelling in general, which is ultimately a fear of death, or specifically hideous dismemberment, drowning, burning alive, paralysis, etc. No ideas how to get over it, let us know how you go!

Felicity wrote:

A person having a panic attack is a far safer driver than one not having one, they are massively more aware of what is happening around them.

cant help but think this is one of the strangest things ive ever read!

Maybe im speaking for myself but as someone who has had a long term fear of driving (lessons at 18, never took test, havent touched a weel in almost 10years, avoid going in a car if i can) when I started to panic I didnt feel safe at all, and judging by the shouts and screams of my instructor, neither did he!!

I couldnt cope with it at all all, it was just too much for me, I didnt know what to do, so did nothing, or sometimes my instinct was just to stop. Not very safe on a dual carriageway at 60mph, not very safe half way round a roundabout, going across a junction, approaching a zebra crossing (or maybe we have different ideas on safe lol). Sure ones eyes may be as wide as pies but if your brain is a scrambled mess and you lose your grip on reality it doesnt really help much does it!

I understand the point, as someone with a strong scientific background I have intimate knowledge of the effects of epinephrine, however I think you have a very simplistic view - sadly things are much more complex than the text book suggests!

Felicity

Thriftylady wrote:

I'm sorry if my earlier post caused offence, I didn't mean it to sound like I was judging anyone with a driving phobia or who suffers from panic attacks. (I have suffered from panic attacks myself, and its a terrible experience)

The point I was really trying to make is that this seems too big to overcome on your own, thats why I suggested a driving instructor. With all the best intentions in the world, you can't control what goes on when you get behind the wheel of a car. I was thinking of a relative when I wrote it, she has a driving phobia and when she panics she just slams on the brakes and stops, regardless of where she is. To be honest, I thought this was the type of reaction the OP was talking about when she said that she suffered panic attacks - the feeling of completely closing in on yourself.

EasilyAggravated - its a bit harsh to say I didn't take the time to read your post, I read it carefully, but what I was trying to say was that driving somewhere familiar might not be the answer, you never know when there will be a diversion or an accident or whatever, and then you're outside your comfort zone.....and Counting Pennies, I agree 100% that a bigger danger on our roads is inexperienced drivers using excessive speeds. Having said that, excessively slow driving is inappropriate and dangerous on a busy road too....

I didn't mean to accuse all phobia sufferers of being a menace on the roads, and I'm sorry if this is how it sounded, really what I wanted to say was that maybe professional help was needed e.g. a driving instructor, rather than just trying to overcome it on your own.

But I'm afraid I can't agree that someone having a panic attack is a safer driver than someone who's not - if that were the case then there would be no reason to want to overcome this phobia, and people would be striving to have panic attacks when they get behind the wheel.[/QUOTE]

I VERY strongly disagree with this statement.

When people have panic attacks they are far more aware of what is going on around them than anybody not having a panic attack, hence pupils dilating etc, you can actually see more.

I am not a medical person but I have been to cognitive behavioural therapy for my attacks and knowledge as to what is happening to you and understanding the basic biogical response that we can all have to certain stimuli is the first step to overcoming them.

inkie

I have been driving for 15 years, but I do not drive on motorways. I used to - but since having the children I feel much more responsible. MY DH says that i am much more likely to have an accident on an A road than on the M-way - but the consequences at 70 mph are a lot more than at 40/50mph.

It's not my driving that I have a problem with its the fact that I have no control over the driving of others - and the way that people bomb about on M-ways is so irresponsible. I do not have a prob with dual carriage ways - its just those blue signs and the 3 lanes.

I frequently have to make trips to london, and get there no prob on the A roads - the journey takes a couple of hrs longer - but no stress.....ah!
I get everywhere i need to, and feel safer whilst doing it.

I suppose that I will do it again one day, but for the moment i'll stick to the A roads.

Nice to know that i'm not on my own!