I'm afraid to drive: how to overcome the fear of driving?

Drive a car is very serious matter. It is important that the driver is confident in himself and his abilities.

But it happens that a slight fear turns into a real phobia.

The driver sabotages any trip and refuses to get behind the wheel. How, then, to overcome the fear of driving a car?

What is the name of a phobia?

Amaxophobia - pathological fear to drive a car.

It is considered one of the most common phobias in the world.

According to experts, amaxophobia suffer more than 25% of the population.

Most experienced drivers admit that they worry about getting behind the wheel, and in the process of driving they experience stress and feel panicked.

If an experienced driver is afraid to drive, what to speak about newbies? Fortunately, you can get rid of the fear of driving. You can do it yourself, or you can ask for help from a psychotherapist.

First you need to determine what you are afraid of, how strong your fear is, whether it can cause serious damage to you and the people around you.

What is it manifested in?

Many drivers, having passed a driving school and getting right, never once do not apply their knowledge in practice. The fear is so strong that it does not allow a person to get into the car and just drive.

Symptoms phobias:

feeling of tension, especially in the hands;
eyesight becomes cloudy, a person may begin to see poorly, although he has no problems with his eyes;
rapid pulse;
heart palpitations;
excessive sweating;
weakness;
severe tremor in the limbs;
it becomes hard to breathe, the feeling of not having enough air;
nausea;
dizziness;
hard breath;
feeling of strong fear;
bad thoughts come to mind;
panic attack.

how begins driving fear? The psychologist comments:

Causes

Fear of driving lies deeply in the reasons that this fear and provoke. Most often, a person is not afraid to drive a car, but worries about what it may lead to.

The terrible stories of friends, the stories about the accident in the brightest colors usually lead to the fact that the driver in general may refuse to get behind the wheel.

So, the reasons:

Fear of accidents. It is the most common reason why amoxophobia occurs. No one wants to be a participant or guilty in such a situation and this is quite normal. Fear of getting into an accident occurs both among beginners and experienced drivers, who themselves had an accident, or had witnessed it.
To overcome this fear, you need to practice as much as possible, or take courses in emergency communications training. If fear is based on the experience of an accident, then you should definitely seek psychological help.
Machine fear. In the view of drivers suffering from phobias, a car is a huge beast with a very complex organism, it is difficult for them to control and it is very easy to make a mistake. Many fear that they will not cope with the management and this can lead to consequences. In order to overcome fear, you need to study the mechanism and the structure of the machine. Make sure that this is just a vehicle that you are driving and not you. And of course, practice as much as possible.
Fear of oncoming traffic. Seeing how a car is speeding in the oncoming lane with a huge speed, a man begins to panic, it seems to him that now they will surely hit him.
It is worth remembering that in the oncoming car sits exactly the same driver as you. He may be experiencing the same fear.
Fear of car damage. A car is not a cheap pleasure, so it’s quite normal if you are afraid of damaging it. If you are a beginner, then you should not learn to ride a new, expensive car. Then you will not be afraid that you can damage an expensive car. Do not forget to take out insurance. In which case, she will cover all your costs.
Fear of harming pedestrians and passengers. When the car is full of passengers, especially children, the driver may be afraid. It `s naturally. In this case, you need to be more focused on the road, do not exceed the speed, stick to traffic rules.
Scary ride in someone else's car. It happens that the driver is afraid to get behind the wheel of someone else's car. He feels ill at ease, also afraid to damage someone else's property. In this case, it is necessary to minimize trips on foreign cars.

Amaxophobia for beginners - is this normal?

For a newbie to experience fear of driving is quite natural. On inexperienced drivers rolls a sense of panic before overtaking cars on the road, traffic jams, busy highways and many others. So what should a novice do to overcome his fear?

The fear of driving passes with experience. Therefore, you need to practice as much as possible. Choose for this the familiar routes and roads where you will feel confident.

You can ask for help already experienced driver or instructor. So that he would go with you in a pair and tell you when you do something wrong. Be sure to learn the traffic rules, knowing all the signs, markings and signals, you will feel more confident.

Remember that doing something for the first time is always scary. If you really want to drive a car, then you should not debug a solution to your problem for later. Moving with the help of a taxi or public transport, you will not get rid of your phobia, but only temporarily get away from it.

10 tips how to overcome the fear of driving:

Fear of driving in women

Fear of driving can occur in both women and men.

It does not matter whether she is a novice or an experienced driver. According to statistics, women are really more exposed this phobia than men.

The female half of drivers is harder to overcome their fear than the male. This is due to the fact that women are more emotional. Men are cool, more sensible and more attentive - this gives them an advantage on the roads.

Often, women are afraid of the same thing as men: accidents, car malfunctions, harm passengers, etc. But there are still several fears inherent mainly girls:

fear bring down there is some animal on the road: if you are afraid of this, then it is worth driving as carefully as possible and carefully looking at the road;
fear be ridiculed: It's no secret that male drivers often mock female drivers. A male instructor, or even a husband of her own, can sow enormous self-doubt in a girl that can turn into a phobia. You should not worry about this, remember that everyone once started, that nothing happens right away.
And by the way, it has been proven that girls, by virtue of their nature, drive much more carefully and carefully.

To get rid of the fear of driving, girls should practice as much as possible. It is also important to explore the entire technical side of the issue. To be a self-confident driver, you need to know how the car is arranged, how its basic details are called.

Indeed, in this matter, women always rely on men. But in order not to worry about anything, you need to know what and how it works.

I want to drive a car, but I'm afraid. How to beat the fear of driving a car? Tips from auto lady:

How to get rid of fear?

Like any other fear, you can get rid of amaxophobia.

If you feel that this experience is not just a slight excitement before you get behind the wheel, but a real paralyzing fear, then you should ask for help.

The first thing to do is to come for a consultation with a psychotherapist. He will find out the reasons for your fear and assign you the necessary course. Next you need to strictly follow all instructions.

Remember why you wanted to become a driver, how important it is for you. After all, with amaxophobia is quite easy to live: no need to get behind the wheel, use only public transport.

But if this option does not fit and you really need to drive a car, do your best in order to get rid of this obsessive fear.

Psychology

Tips:

Each time, sitting behind the wheel, remember why you do it. How important and necessary you are. Tune in only to positive be confident.
Concentrate on driving, be as attentive as possible.
Do not pay attention for rudeness, which can be found on our roads. Do not respond to curses and provocations by some drivers. If you know and follow traffic rules, then in any situation the truth is on your side.
For peace of mind, the rear window can be hung sign "U".
It will show other drivers that a newcomer is driving, which means that you need to be a little more patient and attentive.
Even if you are a fairly experienced driver, the sign will help you become a little calmer and more confident.

Practice

Recommendations:

Special simulators will help you to adapt to the real place of the driver. Having trained, it will be much easier for you to get behind the wheel of a real car. You need to train until you feel confident and ready to transfer to a car.
These stimulants are good because they have regimes that will help you to practice in such situations: rush hour, traffic jams, night time, bad weather conditions.
To overcome your fear, you need practice as much as possible in driving. Therefore, the maximum travel by car. To begin with, try to do it in an area where there is not a large flow of cars, then gradually move to more “live” roads.
Start your journey with race track. This is a special place designed to ride. Here you will gain useful skills and add self confidence.
Courses emergency driving will help you overcome the fear of getting into an accident.
There they will tell you how to behave correctly, having got into such a situation, what to do to avoid accidents.

I'm afraid to drive in the city, what to do?

To drive a car in the city is much more difficult than outside. A huge number of cars and people, signs and traffic lights, all furiously honking - this leads to panic novicesand sometimes even experienced drivers.

It is very difficult in such conditions to focus on driving. But you need to learn, because if you passed on the right, bought a car and live in the city, you just have to overcome your fear.

Need to start with mastering small routes, they may already be familiar to you, for example, before you traveled this way to work on public transport. But sitting in the bus, you do not pay attention to the road signs, and now they need to be studied.

Hit the road early in the morning when there are few cars and no traffic jams. So it will be better than at rush hour. Well think over your route, learn in advance all the signs and traffic lights on the map.

Try to ignore those who are violently beeping. People are different, and you are still an inexperienced driver, do not spoil your mood, because it can confuse you.

Can I ask someone more experienced ride with you the first time. But do not overuse this method too much.

You can get too used to the fact that there is someone nearby, and this means that you can always shift the responsibility to the more experienced. But when it comes time to drive yourself, you can panic from the fact that no one is around and no one will help.

Remember the feeling of fear inherent in every person. There is nothing strange in the fact that you are afraid of such a responsible matter as driving a car.

If you realize that the fear of driving prevents you from living, then worth asking for help. You can get rid of any phobia, you only need to really want this.

How to learn to drive without fear? The girl behind the wheel - we teach confident driving in the city: