Spotlight: Driving phobia

The fear of driving (driving phobia) is a significant problem that can affect everyday life. In addition, in Oman, there are various fears related to driving that may cause panic and possibly leading to suffer an anxiety attack.

In most cases, people cannot leave negative past experiences of accidents behind, which become part of their unconscious thought processes and eventually getting driving phobia, which becomes an automatic reaction hence hard to beat.

Road safety experts say the imagination of past driving calamities can result in gruesome bad experience. They say that past car accidents are the most common causes of driving phobia. It can be horrific especially among women.

When some drivers had met or seen an accident, they tend to develop driving phobia and some never drive again. In addition, driving in different conditions put minds at fear. The repetitive thoughts and fears of many scenarios may then cause the person to avoid driving.

The fear of losing control and lack of confidence may also lead to driving phobia. If drivers imagine the worst and expecting what should not be expected, it makes the mind active in imagining the worst, which is not healthy for driving.

Experts also say being nervous can make life harder for drivers. Nervousness include fear of inexperienced drivers who might make a mistake while driving, fear of driving on highways or narrow roads or in bad weather conditions like rains and hot sun.

A good number of people in Oman may be having driver's licenses but they are never comfortable driving. “I got my driver’s license 19 years ago but I am never comfortable driving. When I drive, I am always in fear of someone crashing into me. In addition, most of the times, I think of accidents that occur on daily basis in Oman and then I begin to panic. However much I have tried to drive, I just can’t drive long distances,” Fathia Khalaf, a mother of three, said.

Conquering the fear of driving is possible but it usually requires help. “Lack of confidence, new roads, stress while driving, near-accidents scenarios and past accidents lead to driving phobia. When driver's fear pattern is triggered, this pattern causes panic and anxiety. Drivers can only deal with this problem by gathering their mind in a positive way,” said psychiatrist based in Muscat.