Driving anxiety

Etoile2701

I have kept my driving licence renewed although I haven't driven for over 30 years as it gave me the most terrible anxiety. Give me public transport every time. I would rather fly to New Zealand than drive round the block!

Yes, I’ve flown to NZ alone and friends couldn’t understand how I could comfortably do that yet hate driving. I guess I had more confidence in a pilot than I had in myself.

So sorry to hear this jaffacake2 I sincerely hope your spine settles and you are fully mobile again very soon

Update.
Thank you all for your comments.
Good news. I had osteopathy treatment and the numbness in my foot has lessened.
Bad news maybe from the treatment my back is in spasm and last 24 hours have been hell. The therapist had said my spine and pelvis were misaligned which may be affecting nerve supply to my foot. Back has reacted to bring realigned and is not happy.
Car is sat on the drive and I have already started talking to family about one of them giving it a new home. Will wait a while until my body behaves itself.Meanwhile enjoying Sainsbury's home delivery service !

Greyduster

Not many hard shoulders these days! That’s another scary thing about motorways!

Yes, that thought crossed my mind too!

Reading all the many posts of those of you who have lost confidence driving, that must be so awful. I'm so thankful that my driving ability and enjoyment of it remains the same as it always has done. Maybe because I learned to drive whilst living in London, I don't know, but then again nothing much phases me. I regularly drive to the other end of the country and I have driven most of Europe and hope to continue to do so. I love it. But I am concerned there appears to be a lot of nervous drivers on the roads. A nervous driver is a dangerous driver as they can be confused and to unpredictable. OP I hope once your foot is sorted you can enjoy driving again.

Not many hard shoulders these days! That’s another scary thing about motorways!

Callistemon21

😯
I wonder how big it was!
He should have pulled on to the hard shoulder.

Yes Callistemon. He was a very nice bloke but had zero common sense.

😯
I wonder how big it was!
He should have pulled on to the hard shoulder.

Callistemon21

😯

We saw a van driver on the busy M5 not long ago who seemed to be leaping around, bouncing up and down in his seat, head banging! He may have had his music on loud he looked as if he was high but he didn't seem to be aware of other traffic.

A bloke ran into the back of me in moving traffic on the M5 near junction 1 (20 years ago). He apologised profusely saying he had been carefully putting a spider out of the window at the time!

😯

We saw a van driver on the busy M5 not long ago who seemed to be leaping around, bouncing up and down in his seat, head banging! He may have had his music on loud he looked as if he was high but he didn't seem to be aware of other traffic.

Callistemon21

If all the other drivers would stay off the motorways, they'd be wonderful.
Spaghetti Junction anyone? Try keeping a safe distance and another car will jump in front of you.

I once saw a lady putting on make up as she zoomed up from Erdington with one hand on the steering wheel to merge into the traffic joining the A38M from the M6 south. The traffic was moving quite briskly (this was at least 25 years ago). Madness!

Has your foot numbness stopped you from hitting the brake?
If not then don’t worry,but the anxiety is different.
Before you give up driving it might be with having a couple of sesssions with a driving instructor to improve your confidence,and they would also give an opinion as to whether or not you should continue to drive.

Oopsadaisy1

I think many posters are missing the point

Numbness in right foot

I might miss the brake pedal

Don’t drive!

I think it’s only you and me who are seeing the potential for a horror show.

I stopped driving on motorways years ago after narrowly avoiding being in a pile up caused by a lorry. We were both shaken to the core and thought we were going to die! For weeks it was all I could do to get back in the car. I am now on my own and have wondered about having a motorway refresher, because not being able to drive them does limit one, but if I did, would I then have the confidence to do it on my own?

Etoile2701

I have kept my driving licence renewed although I haven't driven for over 30 years as it gave me the most terrible anxiety. Give me public transport every time. I would rather fly to New Zealand than drive round the block!

You should not be renewing your licence. Driving needs to be done on a regular basis. Not driving for 30 years and anxiety = a killing weapon on wheels

I love driving and make sure I stay on top of the game by driving in rush hour and on motorways and long distances and into London. I feel without being able to drive the world would become very small.

I have kept my driving licence renewed although I haven't driven for over 30 years as it gave me the most terrible anxiety. Give me public transport every time. I would rather fly to New Zealand than drive round the block!

As an ex motor insurance injury claims handler, I would say that if you are not 100% confident it's time to give up! You are handling a machine which could potentially injure or kill one or more people (including you!). And yes, the roads are full of cars going too fast, impolite discourteous drivers ... and potholes. You have to be able to deal with this - it isn't going to change anytime soon.

I'm still happily driving at 66 and consider myself a good driver but I haven't driven out of my home city for years. There are even parts of that I avoid.

Traffic has increased a hundred fold since I passed my test in the mid 80's and the modern headlights are hellish.

Interesting info about the menopause. Although I didn't have hot flushes or any of the usual symptoms I did have a few peculiar "blips" in my early 50's including a couple of nasty panic attacks and an irrational fear of driving. I soon got over it thankfully but maybe it was actually the menopause.

Shizam my previous post was for you .... i obviously didnt tap the correct bit 😔

Thank you for informing me about the menopause issue.

Really.... i didnt know it was a fact..
I just kind of blamed the menopause because of the way it was affecting other situations.

Thank you for the information..... 😃

I gave up driving at about 65 because I never got into the car without expecting to be killed.
I live in a rural area with very poor public transport so it’s difficult but I couldn’t face the constant anxiety.

The driving doesn't worry me as much as getting lost and trying to park!

Serendipity22

This is very appropriate to myself.

At 1 time i never batted an eyelid of going anywhere, fast forward to the menopause ( thats what Im blaming it on ) because I was asked if I could pick someone up from the airport today, as I say, at 1 time noooooo problem whatsoever, BUT as the words left the persons mouth ( can I pick them up ) i was nervous at this request! WHY? WHAT'S GOING ON ? I ask myself, I can only blame it on the menopause weird to say the least. So the solution to my odd problem is that i have roped someone else in and i will go with them and pay petrol and parking.

Weird !!!

This is actually a common enough symptom of menopause to be a feature on Jeremy Vine’s Radio2 show recently! So many women called in saying they were once confident drivers, but post menopause, they struggled. Many had stopped driving altogether. Think I was one of the affected. Started getting weird panicky feelings driving on bridges, wide open spaces. M25 was a particular nemesis. Was also going loopy on tube etc. Discovered taking magnesium for anxiety. Apparently, brain neurones in menopause can misfire without it. It does seem to be helping. Just a thought.

Would it be worth having a few driving lessons to increase your confidence ?