driving phobia

Driving phobia (the fear of driving) can not only be very frightening, it can also be very inconvenient! Anyone with a phobia, of whatever kind, will often avoid their phobic situations at all costs. For someone afraid of spiders, this might not be a huge inconvenience in their life, but for someone suffering from driving phobia, it can bring an untold number of problems. There is, of course, a natural apprehension for a learner driver when faced with driving for the first time, but for someone with driving phobia, this fear remains, even if they go on to be a technically competent driver. Someone who suffers from driving phobia may experience a wide range of fears, including: fear of driving in towns and cities; nervousness while driving in heavy traffic; avoiding driving on dual carriageways and motorways; anxiety while driving at night or in bad weather; the avoidance of driving at all - getting someone else to drive when they can - or else take the bus! And finally fear and even expectation of losing control of the vehicle. And that final example probably sums up what driving phobia is all about. They genuinely believe that there is a distinct probability that something will happen to make them lose control.