Any other nervous drivers out there ? Thought we could offer each other a bit of moral support

[MrsMorgan]

I passed my test in July and was surprised and dissapointed to find that I was far more nervous about driving afterwards than i thought i'd be. Then I did the worst thing possible and crashed.

I hate going anywhere I don't know, and will look up junctions etc on google maps before a journey so I know where to turn/position etc.

My biggest fear is parking and I will actually avoid going to places that I know don't have many spaces.

It is starting to really get on my nerves and I know I have to get over this as otherwise what was the point of passing.

At the moment I am only using the car roughly twice a week which is just plain daft. I need to start using it alot more often and making myself go further afield.

Anyone else want to join in ?

Would it be worth having a couple of lessons with a good instructor in your car, doing the sort of routes you normally take? Just to help you settle?

Probably yes but I really can't afford it at the moment.

Xp has offered to go out with me, which isn't ideal, but he has the time, so I might take him up on it if I get desperate.

I need to master reverse parking. I could do it fine in the car I learnt in, but have been too scared to try in my own.

I am job hunting at the mo and I am hoping that once I get a job and I have to use the car for work I will get used to it alot quicker.

At the moment I have no real reason to use it. I walk the dc to school unless it is really raining, and so only use it for nipping into town etc.

MrsMorgan, I hear you!

I used to be a good driver (despite failing my first test because I mounted the kerb, oops).

But after hardly driving for years living in central london, I lost my bottle.

We've moved out of London and now it gets better the more I drive. I hated reverse parking until we got a car that beeps to help you.

Though every once in a while I will have a bad experience that sets me back a bit. So I know where you are coming from. It can be scary.

Good idea, Uriel.

Also perhaps you could go somewhere quiet (!) and practise, practise, practise reverse parking. I live in a city where I have had to learn to park in tiny spaces. It's a silly thing but it's given me confidence in my driving and my dh is constantly impressed that I'm better at parking than he is

I'm sorry you crashed. I wrote my car off on a motorway a couple of years after I passed my test (about 300 years ago). It took me a while to get back into driving but I believe having an accident made me a better driver in the long-term.

Mmmm I'm a nervous driver too. So nervous in fact that I'm actually nervous of the thought of driving . I've never actually driven a car in my life. I'm too scared to have lessons.

I'm KidCreole, I'm 33 years old and I can't drive >.

Might any of your family get you the IAM Skill for life programme as a gift?

I had a panic attack driving on the motorway in June. I started to drive less and less so now I am restricted to the town I live in.

This is after 28 years of driving all over the world since I was 17.

I've also turned into a terrible back seat driver.

I was nervous when I passed too (coming up to two years ago).

The only thing that has made it better is driving lots. I used to dread every trip in the car, just like I dreaded every driving lesson. But it's got easier.

Reverse parking (do you mean bay parking as opposed to parallel?) is really easy to practice in big carparks - I used to go to a corner of B&Q when I first got my car to practice.

I think the best thing I found was to push myself to do things - I used to dread giving other people lifts so used to force myself to offer, til it became less of an issue. I still don't particularly like driving, but I'm not nervous and I don't dread it anymore.

Good luck!

(oh, and if you haven't got one get a satnav - then you only have to worry about your driving and not where you're going)

Thank you all, it does make me feel a bit better to know that I am not the only one that feels like ths.

That IAM thingy looks brilliant, but unfortunatly I can't afford it and neither could any family member.

I did mean reverse bay parking yes. I am going to make myself go and practice it in the cinema car park as that is absolutly huge and always empty. I also have to tackle 2 huge roundabouts to get to it, so it should help in more ways than one.

I feel so annoyed with myself that I am like this. I wanted to drive so that I could take me and my dc wherever we wanted to go and thats not happening yet.

I would love to improve enough to take them on a sun holiday in Whit week, but we shall see.

Oh I have a sat nav, my mum got it as a passing my test pressie. I have only used it once so far but it did help a bit.

Part of the problem is that I hate driving alone, I much prefer having a passenger because I can chat away and I forget that I am nervous.

I am going to try and set myself little goals, like reverse bay park, drive to scary shopping centre, brave the slow lane of the motorway etc. I must do this else I will regret it forever.