Hello everyone, my name is Kacie and I am 21 years old. I just joined this site today because my fear of driving has become extremely inconvenient over time. I used to live in New York and I moved to Florida around 4 years ago. In New York, driving was not really necessary but where I am now, everything is spaced out and you basically need a car to get from here to there. I tried learning how to drive the first year I moved down here. My boyfriend was teaching me and when I was in the drivers seat I just felt very nervous (which I thought was normal because I was just learning) and I sarted to become really sweaty and out of it..I was driving and he was yelling at me to take a turn and I was just so confused and I felt frozen and I eventually took the turn but I crashed. I am terrified of driving, I actually fear if I get behind the wheel I would be putting myself in danger or someone else on the road! Not to mention I am even a nervous passenger. I am completely tensed throughout the whole ride. I have tried driving again since that accident but it was on a straight abandoned road but I was still so nervous and scared. I just don't know how to overcome this fear and everyone always gets on my case about me not driving but they just dont understand what I am going through. Hopefully someone here can relate to me, I just need someone to talk to about this, it's only been getting worse and I don't know if I will ever get rid of this anxiety, I just don't want to be pressured to do this anymore!! HELP!

Hi Kacie and welcome to Ofear

I don't personally have a fear of driving but I do know something of what it must be like, as I was very nervous when I started to learn to drive (though, not to the same extent as you). Everyone here has their own fears and anxieties, so even if we don't share your particular fear, we can all relate to you and will happily help you.

Hi Kacie,

Being anxious and scared is not much fun at all.

I drive a truck for a living and im very scared of hieghts. Scared enough that if i stand near a cliff edge, or even on a ladder say 5 foot high, i get giddy, sweat and will topple over. Even seeing them on TV makes me scared.

The point im getting at is driving the truck over bridges was a nightmare for the first few years. It was fine if the bridges are ones where you drive downhill onto them, but the ones you drive up and over scared me sensless. So i know and can appreciate how bad you feel when you are in the car.

I suppose im getting better because i do probably 2-3 bridge crossings per day....but even now i stare absolutely straight ahead, do not look sideways and i know it sounds silly, but i sing a very old song (1940's) which has the lyrics, "Keep your mind on the driving keep your hands on the wheel, keep your snoopy eyes on the road ahead"...

With exception to doing things like practising in remote areas, i dont have any real suggestions. I do know being preassured isnt going to help and if anything, probably will be adverse. Have you considered seeing a Counsellor or a professional in the field? They would most certainly have more ideas than us?

Most people consider a phobia funny........it certainly isnt for the person that suffers from it

Hopefully talking in here may help a little bit? If it does, please drop back in because we would love to help you in any way possible.

Thank you, it is great to be around people who understand! Just posting that first thread actually got alot off my chest so thank you for reading. I was actually considering seeking out a professional but I thought I'd drop by here first before I did anything. I'm going to call around tomorrow to find someone to set an appointment with and I'll take it from there and let you guys know how it goes. Thanks again!

Hi Kacie, welcome to Ofear!

As Barrucadu already been pointed out, all of us can relate even if we don't suffer from this particular fear. But we know how it feels, and we know how frustrating it can be when others don't understand and get pushy.
It's good that you've decided to get professional help. It'll take some work, obviously, but I'm certain that you can get over this fear. Babysteps steps and guidance can do amazing things.

Have you searched the forum for older posts? I'm pretty sure that we've had more members with your fear in the past, so maybe you can find something helpful in one of the older threads too.

Well, first of all, welcome to the forum Kacie.

Secondly, I can relate. Although the fear I feel in relation to driving is/was never to the extent of being what I'd classify as a phobia, I still struggled a lot with my fear of driving. Well, to be honest, I still struggle. When you mention feeling out of it while driving, I think I felt much the same way when I started driving. I just didn't feel like I was all there. It was as if it wasn't me driving, in a sense. I'm not sure if that's exactly what you feel, but I'm sure it's somewhere along the same lines.

Anyways, as you stated, it's normal to be nervous while learning to drive. It's a new experience. So, to an extent, it's healthy that you feel the way you do. But, from the sounds of it, that fear's controlling you right now (by not allowing you to take the right steps to learn to drive).

Have you considered going to a driving school? I think that the only reason I can drive today is thanks to attending driving school. The driving school taught me things that my parents would have never been able to/thought to teach me. So, I was able to find confidence in the fact that they'd taught me what to do in certain situations, etc. Thus, you might benefit from me taught how to drive at a driving school.

So, yeah, I can relate. And I speak from experience when I say it gets better. I am so much more confident behind the wheel now. Time and experience has made driving less anxiety provoking for me. And I understand what you mean about being pressured to drive by others. I live in an area where driving is a necessity as well. So, when I didn't start driving when I was legally able to, people started bugging me about not driving as well.

Anyways, I hope you're able to overcome your fear. As I mentioned, I really think you might benefit from going to a driving school or something of the sorts.

Thanks everyone. Harold, I have searched older posts and I found a lot of things I can relate to, and I have been emailing someone to make my first appointment with someone. Ana, I have thought about driving classes but I am just way too nervous to even picture myslef behind a steering wheel. Just thinking about it makes me stressed! I really hope I can get to the point where I can take classes but I just don't know how to get there because the fear is just so bad. Even as a passenger I stare straight into the road and watch everything going on and I just get tensed and nervous, and I think about all the accidents that can happen and I know I am being really negative but so many people die from car accidents even when they are the ones driving perfectly fine, anything can happen. But I am making an appointment to speak to someone about this and see what they have to say and I will share it if it helps me at all

Congratulations Kacie

By seeking assistance you are taking a great step forward and hopefully one day will conquer your fear.

Please keep us informed, we would love to hear how you are going