Symptoms of Driving Anxiety & Road Phobia

The condition of driving anxiety disorder is a form of road fear that will cause the anxious driver to feel very uncomfortable on certain types of roads. Often referred to as road phobia, it may develop as a gradual build up in road fear that begins merely with a sense of lost confidence in driving. At its worst, road phobia causes a full–blown anxiety attack whilst driving, and may even begin this way.

Getting hot with sweaty hands on the wheel

Typically, the anxious driver will experience spells of dizziness or imbalance, feeling faint, nausea, stomach cramps, visual distortion, darkening of peripheral vision, hyperventilating, tingling sensation around the mouth, arms and legs turning to jelly, dramatic rise in body temperature, tightness in the chest, fast and thumping heart beat, difficulty in breathing, heightened awareness of vulnerability and maybe some disorientation.

These are the good bits, as road phobia can initiate other more worrying symptoms. There may be intrusive thoughts and desires that inspire the notion to swerve across the road into the path of another vehicle, and the anxious driver will feel as they can’t trust themselves not to do it.

The sensation the car tipping over
is a common effect of driving phobia

There may be a feeling of the car tipping over when driving around a bend, or even a sensation that realyl is the car tipping over, and this can happen on a straight road.

A common reaction is to keep a grip the handbrake tightly with the left hand, or the gear lever, as if in some way this will stop the car tipping over. The belief the car is pulling to the left is another one, and many an anxious driver will get the vehicle checked out at a repair centre, thinking the vehicle is at fault.

One of the most identifiable traits of road phobia is the anxious driver will make frequent application of brakes where braking isn’t necessary. There can be sudden and sometimes violent stamping on the brake too, stopping the car dead in its tracks.

Stamping on the brake pedal may occur even when driving on a busy motorway, which has the potential for profound consequences. Stamping on the brake marks the point where the anxious driver has gone beyond coping and will be at their wits end.

Coping With Life in The Car & Road Phobia.

For the phobic driver, dealing with the normal routines of everyday life in a car is extremely difficult. Feeling embarrassed and foolish they will almost certainly try to keep to themselves the details of their road phobia, as there will be the worry of being ridiculed by others.

A common behaviour pattern is that of displacement activity

This is where the phobic driver will go to extreme and elaborate lengths to get to their intended destination, usually by very complicated and really quite ingeniously worked out routes. This is done with only one thing in mind and that is to only drive on those roads within their level of tolerance.

The fact the journey takes the phobia driver many times longer, requires extreme hard work to complete and requires far greater distances to be covered, will be infinitely more desirable than driving on a motorway or other forbidden route.

When such bazaar routes are used, the reason for using them can always be so hotly justified. Displacement activity is avoidance behaviour in the extreme and becomes well rehearsed, as well as convincingly necessary.

Hiding Driving Phobia From Employers

Where an employee, having been issued with a company car, is expected to make visits to different regions of the country, they will find this extremely difficult when harbouring road phobia. The demand for displacement activity here can be so powerful it can force the phobic driver to leave their company car at home and to use public transport instead.

We have known of such behaviour and where it is practiced to keep the road phobia hidden from their employers. It is not unheard of for a spouse or partner to drive the company car for their own use, just to put miles on the clock to add to the deceit.

Hiding your road fear is making the problem worse

If this is what you are doing, or you are forcing yourself to perform other secretive acts in your attempt to conceal road phobia, put a stop to it now. All you are doing is digging a deeper hole and you have to realise that one day you are going to get found out. Don’t put yourself through this crushing level of stress. Talk to us about your issues to see if we can help, but above all else, come clean with your managers.

Just remember, with each and every driving anxiety attack the road phobia becomes ever more deeply rooted.

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This page was last updated
Sunday, 07-Feb-2010

Road Fear Causing Lost Confidence in Driving