How to Overcome Driving Anxiety

Have you just acquired your learner’s permit or driver’s license? Have you been driving for years? No matter your situation, anxiety behind the wheel is perfectly normal.

The human body is not born knowing how to control a 2 ton machine moving at upwards of 30 miles per hour. The instinct of the body would be to slow down or to find ways to protect itself from danger. So when you are strapped into a seat and are expected to drive into traffic, it can understandably be anxiety inducing.

But there is no reason to worry. You are not alone in this and there are ways to overcome driving anxiety. The following are some methods I think might help.

Identify Your Specific Fear

One of the first steps, I will admit, is a tough one. You will need to introspect and identify what specifically makes you anxious about driving. Are you afraid that the car will break down in the middle of traffic? Are you afraid of getting into an accident?


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Often people who suffer from anxiety feel nervous about being caught in a bad patch of traffic from where they cannot escape in case of a panic attack. After all, you cannot leave your car on the freeway even if you are stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It is important to identify the specific problem so that you can tackle it head on.

If feeling trapped in traffic is what you are anxious about, you can try and practice some grounding tactics that can help with this and abate the anxiety. If you are afraid of getting into an accident, that is a common anxiety and can be managed with frequent driving practice.

If the fear of an accident comes from some kind of past trauma, you may also want to seek counseling to address that specific trauma.


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In a nutshell, folks, find what is bothering you and then deal with it directly. This is a good practice not only for driving anxiety but even for life in general. Of course, it is rarely easy to acknowledge and tackle problems like this. It will take some time and effort to overcome them. 

Take It Step by Step

An important thing to remember is that you don’t have to get everything done in one day. Even if progress is slow, just take it one step at a time. 

If the thought of driving is seeming daunting, it is perfectly okay to take it slow. Don’t beat yourself up about it if your friends have learned how to drive but you are struggling with even taking the car out of the driveway. You can perfect your driving over time, even if it takes you a summer longer than your peers.

Expose yourself to driving step by step. The first day can simply be taking the car out of the driveway, and moving it back in. The second day you can drive around the block. Go slightly further on the fourth day and keep progressing gradually. This is known as exposure therapy, a method that is often recommended even by mental health experts when a particular activity grips you with anxiety.


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However, as with anything else—you know best where your limits lie, so push yourself to step just slightly outside your comfort zone, but not so far where you end up overdoing it.

Hire a Driving Instructor

This is one of the best ways to keep anxiety at bay while driving. If you are in the hands of an experienced driving instructor, you will feel less anxious knowing that somebody who knows what to do in an emergency is in the passenger seat.

An instructor will also be able to guide you through the process of driving better than a parent or any other licensed driver can. An instructor is trained in imparting this education and will train you to tackle traffic, will teach you the correct technique for maneuvering and will also teach you how to parallel park—something that even the most experienced drivers often have trouble accomplishing!

The good thing about having an instructor is that you can keep hiring one until you feel confident about driving on your own. The instructor will also be able to give you useful information on how to stay calm on the roads. Any good instructor should be able to instill you with confidence through encouragement.


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Reassure Yourself About Car Safety

If the safety of the car is what is concerning you, then there is no shame in double checking that everything is in order. Carry out routine checks for the brakes, engine fluids, battery, tire pressure, etc.

These are things car owners need to do anyway, but for somebody with anxiety around driving, it may be helpful to check as many times as it takes to feel confident that the car is safe and fit for use.

This is a way of reassuring yourself that you have physically checked all the parameters and taken care of all that is in your control. It is giving into the same kind of impulse you may have to double check whether you have locked the front door at night.

The more you know about how your car works and the more in tune you are with the mechanics of it, the less likely you are to be anxious about driving.


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Meditation

Anxiety linked to driving can quite possibly be stemming from some other place. There are several methods to tackling anxieties of various kinds, but meditation seems to be something you can always try as a supplement to whatever else you may be trying.

Meditation will give you the tools to ground yourself when you are feeling anxious. It is one of the best ways to teach yourself important breathing techniques so you can keep your heart rate steady and calm your nerves.

While meditation is something that needs to be practiced daily, there are also quick meditation sessions you can do even while sitting in your car if you begin to feel anxious while driving or are stuck in what seems to be an endless traffic jam.

Acquaint Yourself with Your Usual Routes

People usually feel anxious by things, places, people or experiences they are unfamiliar with. You do not know what to expect when the situation is new or you cannot predict how a person may respond to something you said.


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It is the same with driving. If you watch someone who has been driving for a long time, they seem to maneuver through traffic expertly or understand complex intersections without much second thought.

This expertise comes with practice, but it starts with familiarity. People who have been driving for years understand the most common traffic conditions that are likely to come up. Even when the roads get complex or congested, they have been in similar situations before and know how to react. 

Start with roads you’ll need to drive often, such as the one to your workplace or the one to the grocery store. You don’t have to learn every route to these locations, just pick your favorite. Maybe it’s a route with no left turns, or maybe it’s a scenic back road that’s usually pretty empty.

As a corollary, it is also very helpful to know how to use the GPS so that you can follow the directions in case you do find yourself in an unfamiliar area. Instead of panicking about directions and how to navigate the system, it is better to be prepared for such an eventuality given that you cannot possibly memorize all the routes in your city or town. Almost every smartphone can use Google Maps, Waze, or a similar app for navigation.


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Take the Plunge

The only way to become a good enough driver that you no longer feel scared about driving is by practicing it. The more practice you get, the less anxious you will be.

You can take it slow and take an extra step forward every day without taking on all the work on your first day. However, the key to taking it slow is also that you start small, and just go try it.

Many situations that seem like high speeds or aggressive traffic right now will only seem like regular traffic once you have become used to driving. Of course, it is easier said than done. But it is only about powering through the initial phase of anxiety before it becomes a familiar enough activity that your muscle memory takes care of most of it.

Don’t Be Hard on Yourself

In case you have taken the big step of heading out in your car despite your anxieties and feel yourself getting panicky, don’t judge yourself too harshly. Do not chide yourself for even trying. Instead, give yourself positive affirmations.


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If you are in moving traffic and are afraid you will lose control, pull off the road in a safe area and take a few deep breaths. Then tell yourself that you are safe. You may be uncomfortable at the moment, but there is no actual, mortal threat to you.

Remind yourself that you will feel better again within a few minutes once this uncomfortable feeling or bout of anxiety passes. This is not how you will feel permanently! Your feelings are valid but they will also pass and it is only a matter of powering through and waiting for them to pass without stressing yourself out further.

Parting Words

Given the associations of coolness and independence with driving your car, there can be a lot of pressure on young people if they do not feel automatically comfortable behind the wheel.

If you are not someone who has taken to driving naturally or feel anxious about driving, it is important to acknowledge that driving a car is not an easy thing, even if other people seem to be doing it with relative ease. It requires a great deal of concentration, hand-eye coordination, and presence of mind.


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Therefore, anxiety related to driving is a normal thing. It is completely alright to be afraid of getting into an accident or feel nervous because of an oncoming truck. The key, however, is in finding a method that helps you navigate some of these very rational anxieties.

Don’t put pressure on yourself to become an expert driver overnight. Leveling up your driving skill takes time, and that comes with practice.

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