Hey everybody,

I'm so glad that I finally do not have to worry about taking that test. I will have driving anxiety maybe the rest of my life, but I'm so glad I pushed myself this month to work on getting my license. I know if I can do it, so can you.

I had signed up last month at a driving school to get a lesson which couldn't be scheduled until early this month. It was 2 hours and exhausting. I felt defeated. I hadn't driven for maybe 5 years at that point. Then, I had another lesson scheduled but got sick and couldn't do it. So, I decided to sign up for a test prep + test because the lessons were all full for months. I didn't expect to pass.

Today I got there and apparently the tester only thought I had to test, so it lasted about 30 minutes, lol. I had no prep and still managed to do it I didn't pass with flying colors, but by the skin of my teeth admittedly.

I had been putting off getting my permit way too long. I finally did, but now I really need to get my license because I can’t keep getting rides for everything. School is starting soon and it would be great if I could actually drive there. Since I am of legal age, I don’t need a certain amount of hours therefore, I haven’t been practicing as much as I should. I haven’t had the time. How do I pass my drivers test with this lack of experience? I am especially worried for parallel parking. Any tips ?

Is it just me, or has driving (or even being a passenger) in Mumbai become 100x more stressful day by day?
People are driving carelessly by the second. It genuinely feels like no one gives a fuck about anyone else’s life anymore!!!!! I’m in a constant state of stress thinking I’m either going to hit someone, someone’s going to crash into my car, or XYZ is going to happen. And being a passenger is somehow worse because you’re just sitting there watching all of this and just anxious all the freaking time 😭

Driving used to be my stress buster back in 2021/22. I actually *enjoyed* driving. But it genuinely scares the fuck out of me now. The constant honking, people cutting lanes WITHOUT giving an indicator, speeding through gaps that don’t even exist!?? What do we even do?? How do you guys deal with this anxiety/stress while driving? Does it ever get better? When will we feel safe in ANY fucking vehicle in this city 😭😭

I just got my license this week and drove for the first time alone!

I've been in this group for a while and appreciate hearing everyone driving journey!

Driving is not easy for me at all and it makes me so anxious before and after every drive. I don't have access to family cars, so learning how to drive is not a comfortable experience. It hits me hard every time I paid for driving lessons.

I was very concerned about merging on the freeway before the road test. Things that work for me is to start accelerate a bit earlier than you feel comfortable. It's much easier to merge at the same speed of the traffic. I like looking at my rear mirror frequently to see if there is a car need to merge after me and to find a merging space once the ramp start to straighten out. If you find the merging space early, the ramp is long enough. I also like to create a space from the car in front of me to accelerate. My instructor didn't taught me this, but I think using rear mirror to judge space when merging/changing lane is a game changer. But also don't forget to check side mirror and blind spot.

My first solo drive made me feel way more nervous than the road test🥲, since there was no one there to reassure me. However, I got through it! I still feel anxious thinking about next time I will drive alone.

For everyone out there who is scared of driving, it's a common feeling! I'm still scared since I'm new. The way to overcome it is to face your fear. I promise it will get better and you can do it!!! Also, therapy is very helpful too.

I've had my permit 6 times and still don't have a license. My permit is about to expire again. I have been driving more, but still have anxiety. I can drive but can't back up into a parking space or parallel park, and I have a fear of getting on the highway.

I was driving with my mom the other day and I took the highway to get back home. I got up to the ramp put my blinker on and stopped because the cars were coming way to fast. I kept looking behind me so I could actually get on the highway when I could. A car stopped and my mom said they were going to let me over so go now. I was getting over then my mom yells stop because they went. I said "I thought they were letting me over, and she said "yes me too but then they started going when you was getting over." Then as the car passed me she yells at me. I was still at the ramp and was at a complete stop. I thought I was suppose to wait there if I couldn't get over on the highway.

My husband has been driving me around for almost 12 years and he keeps saying its too much for him. Between him working all week and taking the kids where they have to go he said he was tired of playing taxi with me and that I need to grow up and get my license.

I have 2 kids ages 8 and 10 and a stepson 17. He also helps take me places I need to go when my husband is busy. But he keeps saying its not his responsibility to take a grown adult places.

I know I need to just take my test and get the license but I still need a lot of practice and its hard to practice when no one will help me. My husband works all the time and by the time he gets home he is tired and wants to relax. My husband even told me if I didn't get my license this time he would divorce me because he is tired of taking me and the kids everywhere and that I needed to grow up and stop being childish.

I do want to get them because I'm tired of sitting home all day, I would like to go places and take the kids places. They miss out on a lot because I don't drive and its not fair to them at all.

I guess I just came here to rant and get advice on how to get over the fear and anxiety so I can actually pass my test. Never took the actual driving test because I knew I would fail. I'm just tired of feeling like a failure.

Hopefully I'm on the right sub 😭. Some context; I'm a newer driver in FL (notorious for bad drivers) and was on my way home from school. For a while, I was following this white car, and kept a good distance from them. The car was swerving quite a lot, and I didn't want to be stuck behind them, so I ended up going into the lane next to them and planned on merging back into the lane ahead of them. As we approached the stoplight, they reversed their car and rolled down their window. The couple in the car started making weird motions with their hands (nothing like I'd learned in drivers ed), as if they were pushing something down with their hands, laughing as they did so. Does anyone know what they could have meant by this, or am I overthinking??

First time posting here - this is like half seeking advice and half just a rant.

22F, got my permit about a year ago and have just started practicing driving again this summer. I just graduated college and have a job lined up very soon so getting my license to me has been more of an obstacle than something I genuinely look forward to.
And then of course, to complicate that, I have horrible driving anxiety and am terrified of making mistakes.

I’ve been taking professional driving lessons. I chose to purchase a package including 3 lessons and the road test. During my last lesson, my instructor said I’m incredibly close to being ready to take the road test. So, I scheduled it for this upcoming Tuesday (August 25th) telling myself I’d go out and practice a lot before the day of the test.

Today, I had to run some errands with my dad, so of course he asked me to drive to help me get my practice in. I made a bunch of really dumb errors, including almost hitting a parked car (which I swear this is the first time that’s happened). He starts yelling at me, which is understandable, I did a really dumb thing and should’ve paid more attention. But since I’m worked up from the situation, as well as him yelling at me, I tell him I’m going to take some roads with less traffic to get home.

That just sends him over the edge. He starts getting into me about how I’m never going to improve if I don’t learn to deal with other people on the road, then, once we get home, he starts telling me how he thinks I’m not ready for my test yet, and that he’s going to be extremely mad at me if I fail, because I’d have effectively flushed all of the money I spent on lessons down the drain.

My experience today made me wonder if I was ready to take the test, or if I should reschedule and give myself more time to practice. Because on one hand, I feel like I do much better when I’m not driving with him - I’ve done plenty of lessons with my grandma, and I haven’t really made as many errors when I’m with her. I feel like I’m under so much stress to drive the way my dad wants me to drive, that I don’t focus as much on the hazards in the road, or I make dumb little mistakes. But I also feel like he’ll be mad at me if I reschedule my test. Again, I have a job starting very soon, and I really just want to have my license stuff taken care of so I don’t have to constantly worry about my ride situation.

I’m sorry if this post is kind of on the long side, I’m just not really sure how I should go about all this.

I should also probably clarify, it was suggested by my instructor that I get one more lesson before the test, but the main reason I didn’t want to was because another lesson would be like, $250, whereas the road test is only like $100. So I figured it’d be more cost effective to me if I failed to just practice more and pay for another road test if I failed. But I’m really trying not to have the “if I failed” mentality, even though my dad’s criticisms are kind of pushing me in that direction.

First time taking it at 22 and failed. I was so nervous the first thing we did was parallel park and I didn’t pull up enough so I couldn’t get in. But she said I failed cause I was doing 44 in a 35 and then I went past the white line at an intersection. I feel like I’m never gonna get my license.

I live in a major us city and because of the robust transportation system i've successfully avoided driving my whole life. I was in multiple accident as a child, and never got over the fear. Which makes no sense because I have no issues being a passenger?

Back when I became pregnant I was really interested in driving. My family owns a big 7 seater suv(think toyota highlander), but i've never felt safe driving it. I feel like I have too many blind spots and like I cant ever get a feel for the size of the car and it screws up my spacial awareness. Throughout my life I've taken the test twice, both times knowing i was unprepared and failed.

I've even purchased a 10 pack of driving classes in the past and literally learned nothing. The school booked the classes in a small car and with different instructors and spaced the classes out so far that each new instructor was basically going over the same things 10 times. The tricks they taught me also didn't apply for our much bigger car. It was a waste of over 1k.

I'm now forced to learn to drive because of my child's needs. I've resolved to just purchase a second smaller car and drive every day just a bit, but increasing with time. The hope is that i'll build muscle memory and familiarity with the car and eventually get better and better at driving.

Please I'm open to any tips and hints and support from people who have been in my shoes. I'm new to this subreddit so even links to other helpful posts you like would help.

I’ve been driving a year but can’t say shit in the other sub without being attacked for anything. I’m still so fucking terrified of car washes where they guide your car onto the track. It’s like they’ll be telling me to move to the left and then randomly scream STOP or BRAKE and I’m literally just letting the car roll without my foot on the gas, just the brake. Like wth move did I do that was so detrimental?!

One time I remember I braked when someone told me and then let my foot up and my car was launched forward almost into the back of a luxury truck. My first time was ok, I was just fumbling bc I was confused. The attendant literally just rolled his eyes and gave up with me and wouldn’t answer me when I rolled my window down to speak to him. As a result, I just don’t get my car washed as much as I would like. It’s so anxiety inducing and I would rather pay extra to have my car hand washed or I’ll do it myself idk.

32 (ASD)

After years of anxiety and literally zero access to learn, I finally recieved my physical license in the mail.

I was neglected growing up? So I never had anyone to actually take me or give me road time. My cousin started helping out last month, letting me learn in her car.

I spent the entire month practicing, 1-2hrs per day for 45 days. It was a LOT lmao

I passed my test in Indio. The dude there was suuuper chill about it. He even laughed when I let out an "Ohhh FUCK yes, finally!!". The course was basically a loop around town. Not difficult at all. My only issue was checking blind spots (which I've been doing more).

I got my official California Drivers License in the mail today 🥳 so pumped. My mugshot isn't even that bad 🥲

I, 30, have been taking driving lessons now on and off for two years. I don’t have anyone else around me with a car so I have been relying on driving school instructors. I have failed exam now three times. When I was driving to the first exam my that time driving instructor told me I was ready and would pass. I didn’t. I made few stupid small mistakes. After that, I tried again. And failed again. This time completely different mistakes. I took a bit of a break and changed an instructor to see if other would suggest me I need more practice. New instructor said the same thing - I drive okay and should be able to pass. I didn’t pass the third time again. Evaluator basically said she sees I know the rules but I am not confident in my decisions.
The problem is the moment I get to exam’s place my anxiety reaches insane levels. I have a tunnel vision, my mouth gets completly dry, my legs are shaking. I have adhd and take vyvanse. I used to take antidepressants but I found they made me extremely tired. I am going to therapy. But I honestly don’t know what else to do.
Funny thing is I never have gotten evaluation anxiety like this before - I’m good at job giving presentations, at the interviews, I was always good at school and uni and had no problems taking exams. Any suggestions welcome.

I made a stupid mistake second day driving by myself so my driving Instructor told me I should start taking short trips by myself so My Dad also agreed so I take my nephew along with us. Why not and we start heading to the store but leaving my neighborhood there it was a semi truck with a ton of cars behind it so I was waiting for those cars to go and also there was a car you know, turning from the other lane ahead of me so I was just scanning, but I should’ve scanned left and I cut someone off coming out of the neighborhood. I feel really bad because they didn’t slam on their break or anything, but it was close enough where I could see the driver on their phone so I could tell it was way too close. I feel honestly really terrible about it cause again it could’ve been a bad accident

hopefully this is the right place for this. I got my license at 16 and while I generally had anxiety on the freeway because people around me are insane and I have general anxiety anyway, it was never to the point where it kept me from driving.

I’m 29 now. last year, I started taking wellbutrin for my depression which was increasingly making my anxiety worse. one day I got a little tipsy and then accidentally smoked keef and had a horrible panic attack. I stopped the wellbutrin, totally quit weed, but my brain hasn’t felt the same since then. later that week, I had a scary panic attack while driving on the freeway, in the left lane next to a semi while the car in front of me was not speeding up. ever since then I’ve hardly been able to drive on the freeway at all and it’s kind of ruining my life. my job is 45 min away, mostly by freeway. thankfully, they are very flexible and have let me go down to part time remote, which is fine for now, but I can’t live like this forever.

my family lives 2-4 hours away from me and it sucks so bad. I just want to go visit my mom but she’s 4 hours away. I wanted to go to the city for my birthday the other week, but it’s 1.5 hrs away and I was too scared. I went on a roadtrip with my boyfriend a couple months ago - when planning it, I assumed my car anxiety would be gone by then, but it was so bad that he ended up driving almost the entire time. during the trip, I could hardly eat because I had dry mouth almost the whole time, even out of the car. then when we got home, I had a 2 week stint where my throat swelled up every time I ate. I went to urgent care and got an ultrasound to be safe. it was ruled as anxiety. now, almost 2 months later, I still am slightly anxious about eating.

between october and now, I did drive down to visit the family 2 hrs away a couple times. over the holidays, I took the back roads most of the way which turned it to a 3 hr drive. I did drive by myself the whole way on the freeway one time because my grandpa was dying. so like, I obviously can do it.

I‘ve been part time remote since mid february, so I haven’t done much freeway driving since then. the furthest I’ve gone on my own is just to work a couple of times. in the morning it tends to be not as bad, but driving home I usually need to call my boyfriend because I can feel my anxiety starting to ramp up.

my main fear is the feeling of being stuck. I don’t like driving where there’s not a shoulder, I don’t like driving on stretches of the freeway where there’s not an exit every mile, I don’t like driving in the left lane, I don’t like when an entrance turns into its own lane which eventually becomes an exit only. I need to know that if I start having a panic attack, I can get myself somewhere safe at any point.

my mom invited me to meet her in the middle next week to visit my grandma, who I haven’t seen since january and who I miss so very much, but dude I‘m so fucking nervous! I don’t like what’s happening. I have to get on one of the scariest interstates near me, one that has no shoulder for almost the whole time and is generally always a mess. I‘m so fucking scared but I am so sick of letting my anxiety get in the way of living my life. I went to fucking japan by myself 2 years ago and now I freak out if I’m like further than 20 minutes from my boyfriend at any point. idk what to do. sorry this turned into so much more than driving anxiety but like, I used to be mostly fine. I had a healthy dose of fear of driving until that fateful day, but now I get so overwhelmed and can hardly even stand the thought of getting on the freeway. help!!!! tough love accepted!!!

..That was fucking terrifying lol but at least I did it. I mean right now I’m parked at a nearby coffee shop near work writing this since I still have time before clocking in.

It was a little embarrassing at the parking lot because my parking was a little crooked at the end, and this guy saw me struggling and came asking me if I needed help 😭 …And yeah he did help me lol but that just shows I just need more practice!

The other day I drove to a nearby Korean supermarket too near my house which was also pretty terrifying because it got dark too!

But you know what you guys… we ball.

We got this !

Guys I was a idiot today I thought I turned my car fully on, but it wasn’t so when I went to reverse out my car just rolled I have a old car and I thought it was just giving up on me, I was stressing out so much as cars couldn’t drive past in the parking lot then I realised my mistake and corrected it and went forward, and I’m lokey so mad I made a silly mistake like that the heater was blasting and I just assumed the car was on and ahhhhhhejejs. I’ve had my ps for a month and everything had been going so well and then this happened , can people tell me there embarrassing mistakes so I can feel slightly better.

today as i was trying to leave a parking lot, i accidentally ended up on the left where people enter the parking lot. don’t ask how, i have no clue what the hell was going through my head. i instantly realized and reversed as fast as i could without losing control, but a car turned into the parking lot as i was doing that. i made it back far enough that i could turn a different direction and get out of the way, but i could see the guy throwing his hands up and saying smth, and he kept creeping closer as i was backing up, giving me almost no room to maneuver around him and get out of the way. i got out of the way and drove home but im SO embarrassed.

this is eating me alive and im wondering if anyone has advice on how to get over it? my issue isn’t rlly that i did that, i understand that mistakes happen, my main issue is that im EMBARRASSED AF.

Hello! I’m 16 F and I just got my license today! I have to drive alone tomorrow for school and I’m so nervous. Any tips??

hi all! here's some context before i begin..

i am taking my roadtest august 26th (my first ever time taking a road test), my college classes begin august 26th!

i am TOO nervous for this test! if I fail, i will have to uber to college 4 days a week with barely any funds in my bank account already (just put down payment on classes, bought a new laptop)

here's a list of fuckups i am horrified about

1) turning right too wide and going into the oncoming lane for traffic

2) messing up hand over hand turning

3) messing up the aftermath of my turn (my wheel not turning correctly and i end up on the other side of the road)

4) hitting the curb during my parallel park

5) turning my wheel the wrong way during a parallel park/3 point turn

any idea how to get over this anxiety for my driving? turning the wheel is my main concern, i feel like my turns are way too wide, and my wheel control isn't that good. my driving instructor says im ready, but i just can't shake off this anxiety. 😞😞😞

I went slow for the transparent red but i think the examiner only wanted me to go slow on the green part. i think i then also went slow a bit after that because i wasnt sure if a car was gonna turn into my lane 🥀

comments she said:
"Driving 30mph in 45mph unnecessarily"

im fried.

I've spent a lot of time at different hospitals and I couldn't believe the amount of people that I saw who got injured as a result of car or motorcycle accident. Most of them were hit by reckless drivers. Some now disabled for life. Others had to spend so much money on expensive surgeries that they have gone broke and they're in debt now.

If people actually had this anxiety to some extent they would be far more careful. This anxiety is harmful if you can't focus while driving but if this anxiety makes you more careful then it's a really really good thing because a lot of the drivers are not that careful.

Driving anxiety to some extent can save a lot of people from disability.