DC Says: Fear

4) Fear. These folks are just too afraid of something bad happening on the road, so they are all tensed up and they just look ahead of the road, fearing if they look at the side or rearview mirrors for a moment… disaster would happen. These are the scaredy-cats (SDC).

I personally know of folks like these… because they are related to me. For the sake of personal well-being, I shall not mention how closely we are related.

They are usually the ones who are too afraid to take their eyes off the road directly ahead of them. They tend to drift slowly, very slowly from one lane to the next, and may or may not use the signal lights. They rarely take their eyes away from the road, and think it is the safest way to drive, which is not true, because you need to know what is at the sides and behind you.

It’s a sad state of affairs when someone ceases to function once behind the wheel, due to fear. Fear can come from many sources. For instance, if someone was scarred from a car accident, it will take years (or never) to get over the fear. Then you have those on the other end of the spectrum who are perpetually afraid of driving for no apparent reasons.

My relative made a choice to be driven, by friends or via public transport. Unfortunately not everyone has that option available to them. So they have no choice but to get behind the wheel, on a daily basis. Most experience a nervous breakdown almost every day, but survive largely unscathed. Others get into more mishaps and compound the situation.

Solutions? None that I know of. Maybe seeing a psychologist may help… or maybe not help.

One way is to master the fear, which is easier said than done. Sit down, and think where the fear stems from and address it at the source. Another way is to be a better driver and be more in control of the vehicle. This is an often overlooked aspect of driving, the more proficient you are, the more confident.

Obviously, these SDCs would want to drive in non-peak hours, if possible, and certainly on the far left lane. Really… stay on the left lane… please. Thank you.

But if all else fails... there is always the hypnotism route. Just make sure the hypnotist is from UK or a commonwealth country… or you may be driving on the wrong side of the road.