Anxious Behind The Wheel: Tips To Help You Overcome Driving Anxiety

For many new drivers, they feel anxious when getting behind the wheel. It is very common and can even happen to people that have had bad experiences when driving, like getting into a car crash. To help deal with these issues, we are going to talk about some of the possible causes of driving anxiety, some tips to help deal with it and possible ways to seek help.

Common Causes of Driving Anxiety

Not every single person is the same. Everybody is different, so each person is having their own experiences in life which can lead to them having anxiety about something. However, there are some commonalities around driving anxiety and we share some of the most common causes here:

Not Being In Your Comfort Zone

One common cause of driving anxiety is when you are driving outside of your comfort zone, like driving in a brand new location. This can be overwhelming to some people, especially new drivers. More examples would be driving in a busy city when you normally drive in the country or driving through a snowstorm with icy, snowy roads. No matter what is going on, if you are driving outside of your comfort zone, it can be an opportunity for anxiety to creep in.

Past Experiences

Your past experiences while in a car can trigger some kind of underlying trauma associated with the act of driving. Examples of this could be you getting into a pretty horrific car crash, so getting into a car after that crash can trigger anxiety-related episodes, like panic attacks or post-traumatic stress disorder.

You Are Normally An Anxious Person

If you are normally an anxious person, then you know general anxiety can pretty much creep into every aspect of your life. If you are feeling anxious in the car, then you will feel overwhelmed, which can leave you feeling restless, fatigued, unable to concentrate, irritated and worried. Being anxious can impact your emotional wellbeing and could adversely affect your driving abilities.

Tips To Help Deal With Driving Anxiety

Just a quick side note, but if you are driving and feel like you are having a panic attack or some other form of anxious episode, you should pull over immediately until that fear subsides. An anxiety attack can cause blurred vision or other physical symptoms, which can put you and others on the road in harm's way.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

One of the most popular and surefire ways to help treat your driving anxiety is by seeing a therapist. Everyone is different, so a therapist can help you to identify what is causing this anxiety and help you to address it. This approach is more individualized, so it helps you to develop personal coping mechanisms to help you become a more confident person not only behind the wheel, but in general also.

Relaxation Techniques

If your driving anxiety is more on the milder side of things, you can try some of these relaxation techniques to help you cope in that moment:

• Meditation
• Deep breathing
• Listening to relaxing music
• Progressive muscle relaxation
• Autogenic training

Introspection

Sometimes we need to dig deep on our own to figure out the issues. You can try sitting down and asking yourself some hard-hitting questions and be very honest with the answers. This can be very therapeutic and can help minimize your anxiety. By realizing where our anxiety is coming from, it can tell us how to fix it. We may be able to do this on our own or maybe it means hiring a professional to help you. Either way, it may lead you down the right path of getting behind the wheel with no fear!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to our friendly support staff. If you want to start your driver's training journey with Coastline Academy, make sure to sign up for Drivers Ed and book your driving lesson today.