I have been driving here and abroad for over 50 years and am quite a confident driver. Did 3 days a week as a volunteer hospital car driver in a rural area. I used to find that there were a variety of reasons for people to feel a bit anxious, driving in the dark, or going on a journey that they did not know. One particular thing I found were many women , who were competent drivers, but lived with men who insisted on doing all the driving. If the men could not drive for any medical reason, or died, these women were often a bit nervous. So I think it is important to keep driving even if it is only once a week , which keeps the confidence up, and also means you check on routes etc. If there should be a stressful time when you need to drive you will have the confidence to keep going. When I moved to a new area , here or abroad , one of my first trips were to find the doctors , and nearest A and E and hospital, dentist . It was most important when I did not have much of the language and was reassuring that should there be an emergency I could sort it out. Then I suggest it is worth checking on a map if you are going on a strange journey. Yes many people will have sat navs, but it can be useful to be aware of other towns or routes to your destination. Sat navs tend to send you on the shortest mileage or main roads. Given accidents or road works on main roads it is often quicker to drive a little further but actually can arrive at the destination . Signs on roads can give your destination and the next roundabout not show it but another town on the same route. When I travel, especially at this time of year, I choose , where possible, to park under a light or near cameras in a car park, back into the space so that if it is dark , it is easier to see the car and leave. Always carry car keys in your hand but do not open the car before you are right next to the door, thus not allowing anyone to be able to jump in if you open it whilst some distance away. Before you leave the lighted building you have visited look and see who is about. If you feel really concerned you can always go back inside, which only looks as though you have forgotten something. Keep a small torch in your jacket pocket , preferably a zipped up one, so that if there are no lights or you drop the keys you have a separate light to the one connected to your keys. I know you can use your phone for a light but having a spare little torch is again a confidence builder. Then I am quite bolshy and take the attitude that I am entitled to travel around at any time I please, like any other law abiding citizen. So I walk in a confident way, look people in the face and am not letting anyone especially men make me stay at home when I want to go anywhere. My other little trick is my handbag. My husband used to say I could be done for carrying an offensive weapon, because it was full and quite heavy and I wear it over my shoulder. Should I see anything that looks at all dodgy, I would take it back onto one side and hold the long strap tightly. Swung at a convenient height I think it would be quite helpful! However I hasten to add that I have only held it like this a couple of times and never had to actually use it. Always remember , if you are on a journey and you feel you are becoming anxious that you can stop in the next layby, and just take a couple of minutes, look at your map, keep some water and perhaps a biscuit or piece of fruit or just sit there and calm down and then when you are ready carry on. One lady I took to hospital for cancer treatment for some time, was a widow , and talked of giving up her car. However over some time she told me that her husband had always driven and she found the car too big and had hardly driven it before. I suggested she might consider swapping her car and she did choose to do that , buying a smaller car which was "hers" and suited her more, and over time she started travelling in bigger circles from where she lived , and eventually was happily travelling around and visiting gardens with friends (before covid ) Good luck to you all and keep on driving. Once we are allowed to travel together you might be able to share driving on long distances , where you could drive in the daylight and the other person drive in the dark, or for specific times . My friend put me on her insurance to cover a long journey, so that I could share the driving from Manchester area to Cornwall, which meant we could have a more pleasant journey, and we found it worked out cheaper than trying to go by train and gave us flexibility. I was a member of National Trust , and also much prefer to call at a property on the journey to have a genuine break and somewhere lovely to see a garden or house for half an hour, that going to expensive motorway would just be expensive and give no real break. Happy travelling everyone.
