Terrified of Driving!?

Question

Hi I feel a little silly for asking this, but I'm terrified to drive. I'm 16 years old and I've had my learners permit since I was 15 and a half. It's been about 5 months since I've turned 16 and I've NEVER driven! I'm worried I'm gonna die or I'm going to hit someone, AND the road my mom wants to take me driving on is a ONE LANE for the right and ONE LANE for the left and that totally scares me. That road is pretty much a street with houses on either side (at least they have driveways so I don't hit their cars!) I'm afraid that someone I know will see me and I'll get really nervous and crash! I WANT to drive because my parents got me a car when I was like 15 and my mom drives it to work since I never drive it. I'm jealous of my friends who are driving on their own and ALREADY have their licenses. And to make it worse IF I ever drive and get 60hours of driving with my parents over I have to take behind the wheel with a my gym teacher or the principles wife or one of the other administration and I'm afraid they will talk bad about me since my gym teacher hates me lol. Does anyone have any tips for a 16 year old who is TERRIFIED of driving?

Answer 1

Regardless of the origins of your fear, there are several possible routes you might take to overcome it.

One might be to face your fear in a safe (and, if need be, supportive) setting, and gradually desensitize yourself to driving by first practicing in an area without much traffic -- such as a quiet neighborhood or an empty parking lot -- until you grow comfortable, and then moving on step by step to more challenging arenas. In this scenario, you'd leave as the last step whatever scares you the most ... driving on an interstate during rush hour, for instance, or navigating downtown city traffic.

The key is to first become adjusted to driving in one situation before moving on to tackle the next. You can make the steps or the pace of tackling them as slow as you want to.

Answer 2

i got my permit 7 months after i turned 16 and got my license 5 months after my 18 birthday... i know how you feel. the biggest thing i had to overcome was that where i live there are little country roads and they are extremely narrow. then one day, i realized that it wasn't as small as i realized, and i soon conquered that fear. then i was terrified of driving at night, but i got over that too once i actually drove at night haha... i could go on, but the fact is, until you actually start doing it, you'll always be in fear of wrecking or whatever. and all my friends never did the 60 hours... haha

Answer 3

It is not recommended that any of your family, friends, relatives or acquaintances 'teach' you how to drive.  All they will do is show you how they drive, which may not be what you need to pass the driving test.  You have a logical fear of doing something you've never done before and you realize the consequences of doing it wrong before you start.  Your best bet is to enroll in a driving school that will teach you how to drive and pass your road test.  Your folks spent a good chunk of change on a car for you (bad idea) and they don't seem to care if you ever drive it. If they want you to be able to get around on your own, then they should make sure that you know how to do it properly.  Get thee to a driving school.

All the best

Answer 4

Pray to the good lord. never fails

Answer 5

I know exactly how you feel.  Just start off in an empty parking lot and try driving next to the lines and such, one you get comfortable with that, find an empty road and see how it is there, then move on to one with very little traffic and so on. Confidence is the key to driving, if you are afraid you are gonna mess up, you will, hah, just relax.