anyone else suffer from a phobia about driving on motorways? I have to overcome this. Help needed please

[cruisemum1]

anyone?

btw i would be travelling from Croydon to Fleet so it would include the kingston bypass and beyond. What's that bit like????

Yes I have

I passed my driving test at 17 years old and then as I had no car didn't really drive again until I was 22years old. I then was very nervous about it and this in combination with having an overly controlling boyfriend who turned into a husband (now ex), I did very little driving and was petrified of going on the motorway. It was something about the speed of driving and the inability to get off or stop easily.

I got over it because ex-h and I divorced, I moved in with a friend and we went to a party together that we had to drive to. She couldn't drive as she had a broken arm so it was left to me. She hadn't told me it would involve motorway driving as she hadn't thought it was relevant. When it came to it I did it because I didn't want to let my frined down.

Nowadays I am more than fine on the motorway but it took a few goes of driving on one to reach that point.

hmmm croydon to fleet?

The AA woulsnt advise you go on the A3 at all for that route!... maybe you are doing a difefrent route?

It does advise the M3 though

and... I do the A3 from down south to the M25 regularly but then i join the M25 and dont go further north.

IMO going on the M3 from the M25 would be fine and easier than the A3... as the A3 does have a few slip roads with hardly any 'slip road', and if there are cars trying to come on then it is SOOO much easier if you just move across into the right hand lane, out of their way to let them join...

the M3 being a motoroway has nice long slip roads, which really ARE ok to get on to!

I used to be far to scared...then on a couple of occasions there just wasn't another way and I just did it, as I had to and am fine now....most times...I tend to freak sometimes still, if I have time to think about it
I really think the answert is to just do it....
I assume you do drive dual carriage ways...tehy really are not much different, you know.
One thing that really relaxes me now is that, I don't get nervous anymore if I miss a junction or anything, I just take the next one and go back on myself....rather then flapping about it!

Necessity and practice are the main thing

I also hated driving abroad (still don't like it much) but when we moved to Atlanta for six months I did all the driving there (needs must and all that as dh can't drive for toffee - he only passed his test at 37 years old and hasn't driven since)

Driving in the U.S. isn't exactly difficult but they have 12 lane motorways so if I can drive on those the piddling 6 lane ones we have here are nothing. It's a matter of practice and not building it up too much in your mind(as someone else said)

nannyl - i actually got hte directions from the AA website but keyed in 'avoid motorway' and that is what they came up with. Again, it is not the actual motorway/A road itself which scares me it is the fear or a panic attack on one at speed which fills me with terror - and i do mean terror.
3andnomore/lazycow- well done for getting on with it! I alwasy thougght that if i 'had to' go on a MW journey then i would just do it and bugger the phobia but tehre is always an alternative so i guess unless i take the bull by the horns then this will continue. i just really want to conqauer this fear. I think, as others have suggested, a few MW lessons and some hypnotheerapy might be in order!

s'cuse typo's

cruise mum

have "aa'ed" it wirthout motorways!

Yes it does say go down the A3!
I dont know the bit north of M25 at all

south of M25 is mainly fine, but personally if you dont like speed that much maybe STILL go down the M3 as you dont get people joining on stupidly small slip roads.

this may also inclove M25 but getting on the M25 is one of the easiets as the slip road becomes the main lane so you dont have the slip road stress, and dont forget often the M25 is going slowly anyway, often only 50mph or even less so you arnt going fast at all.

Just something to bear in mind!

IMO it is a miracel if you go 70mph on the M25

Do the enourmouse roundabouts bother you?

The M25 / A3 roundabout is pretty huge!

Take some PASS PLUS lessons!!!! You wont need alot, just a couple or three lessons, will teach you how to use motorways safely and therefore increase your confidence.

Gotta be worth it surely?!

haychee - am defo gonna investigate the passplus lessons once dd is back at school. thanks

In our house it's the other way round. DH really hates motorway driving so I do all the long distance driving including all over Europe.

I started doing an advanced driving course a couple of years ago and it made me much more confident on motorways and I really enjoyed it. It a bit geeky but my teacher was lovely. i think it cost about £100. I've never got round to taking the test as I got pregnant with DS and haven't had time to re-start again.

Got SatNav and a bigger car now too which helps a lot. I used to have a KA which was terrifying to drive on the motorway.

meglet - if it costs me £100 it will save me long term on train/taxi fares so i will so taht. several posters have recommended it. Alternatively, i could just drink a couple of red wines before any journey. That seems to fill me full of bravado

Not sure if every advanced course is the same but I was given a regular instructor and we arranged our own drives most weeks then once a month we had a group meeting and I had to take another teacher out for a drive to cross check me. i only had to pay once for the course and I think it covered me for a years worth of lessons (maybe more) so it was pretty good value. The actual test is done by a serving police officer . Not sure if I'd have the guts to try the test! Good luck if you do go for it!

Cruisemum - just found your thread by typing in 'panic attacks motorways' in the search section. I am suffering from EXACTLY the same as you. Had a panic attack on the motorway first time I drove after my c section 2 years ago. Was horrendous - thought I was going to pass out - fuzzy vision, palpitations etc. Haven't managed to go on a motorway since. Have managed the A3 for a couple of junctions ( live near Kingston) and that has been OK. Anyway, have looked into a company called Ride Drive

www.ridedrive.co.uk/

They do lessons for drivers with anxiety and phobia issues. They seem pretty good and when the guy is back from holiday I am going to book in. If you live in Croydon we should do them together ! The only thing that keeps me going is that when I was doing my finals at university years ago I developed a driving phobia ( everywhere, not just motorways) and gradually overcame it as my first job meant I had to drive on the A3 every day. I do therefore buy into the practice effect. Trouble is, I dont drive more than a few miles locally each day on 'safe' roads ( cos I know them ) and therefore can get away with not facing me fear. I am so embaressed to have this phobia, its ridiculous, especially as I used to love driving and drove FAST !
You got any more driving on motorways lined up ?

Hi I found your page. I am in such a state I don't know where to go. I hate driving at night and recently my aunt who is 81 went into hospital. She is coming home next week. But after the first visit to see her, I had the most awful panic attack on the M25. I think it is related to not being able to control life or death.

Since then, 3 weeks ago, I have been having palpitations, dizziness at roundabouts, M25 and short drives between specific places,

I know it isn't serious as I have been through this before about 10 years ago. My mother nearly died in hospital and about 6 months afterwards I suffered 2 years of palpitations and what were thought to be minor heart problems. The Consultants thought that I had a heart murmur but it had all but disappeared. Now again it has resurfaced.

Is it the thought that I cannot stop the inevitable and the thoughts of my parents and aunt's deaths in the future tries to manifest itself in my panic attacks?

I love driving and it is only by shreeking at myself as I get stuck round a roundabout in peak time traffic in the dark that I manage to get round it.

I am terrified I am going to have an accident.

Does this go back to an accident I was involved in over 25 years ago when I was going to a wedding in Wales. Freak weather conditions caused the car to collide with a lorry on the M4 and I have always been a bit twitchy since then but never like this.

Please help me and give me some advice. My daughter suffers panic attacks and has talked some good sense into me but it doesn't help it stop.

Any techniques to make it stop or help me get out of dangerous situations?