Dull Men's Club

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I want to face my fear of driving. Looking for kindness and advice, thank you. (Long) (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by howler@lemmy.zip to c/dull_mens_club@lemmy.world

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So... I got my diver's license as soon as I turned 18. It was a very stressful period of my life, and I hated everything about driving. They promised me freedom, but I got shackled.

Passing the exam as a nightmare (took me 3 attempts) and even during the lessons the professor saw how horribly tense I was. I got sick just by thinking about the car.

Once I passed, my family decided that I'd get over my fears by forcing me to drive, every single day, for weeks, with the whole family in the car, yelling, mocking me...

I had several panic attacks that were dismissed as lack of maturity, and I stopped driving. It's been years.

But now I'm going to have to get better at this due to circumstances, and I'm scared.

I feel that I can't focus on all the elements of the road, I have a very hard time calculating distances because I'm very short (edit: 1'50m, if that is relevant) and barely see above the wheel, I have to move the seat so close to the wheel that I fear that if one day the airbag jumps, I'll suffocate. My blind spots seem infinite.

My car is automatic, so no stick to worry about.

If you have read all I wrote, I'll greatly appreciate any advice or encouragement. Thank you

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[–] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Good responses here already, just wanted to try and address the airbag concerns a little. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (part of the US Department of Transportation) has a page about them here but I'll pull some quotes:

(From the section about on/off switches)

There are few circumstances under which the risk of sitting in front of an active frontal air bag outweigh the safety benefits... [e.g.] A driver must sit within a few inches of the air bag, typically because she or he is of extremely small stature (i.e., 4 feet 6 inches or less).

(In the FAQ)

To minimize the potential of any air-bag-related injury, NHTSA still recommends keeping a 10-inch minimum between the air bag cover (in the center of the steering wheel for drivers and on the dashboard for the right front passenger) [and the driver's breastbone]

Maybe going out with a ruler / tape measure to see how much distance you have to work with will provide a little peace of mind. On the other hand, if you are short enough to qualify for the on/off switch exception (more info on the page linked above), that's something else to consider. If you're outside the USA, check your local laws to see if they have restrictions on airbag toggle switches and, if so, a way to get an exception similar to what's described by the NHTSA.

[–] howler@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago

I'm in Spain, so I'll check what you said. I didn't even know you could turn off the airbag!

I'm definitely far closer to the wheel than 10 inches. Thank you!